Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins
Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins. Scanning device in foreground.
The National Park Service in conjunction with the Florida Park Service worked to
restore the Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins in Citrus County, Florida, a National Register
Site. The mill, constructed in 1851, was part of a large plantation owned by David
Levy Yulee, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
The mill operated until 1864, providing products for southern troops during the
Civil War. In 2006, the National Center in Preservation Training and Technology
at the National Park Service worked with the Florida Park Service and volunteers
from the University of South Florida and Gulf Coast Archaeological Research to remove
previous restorative additions of non-porous Portland cement from the structure.
The cement, commonly used in past decades to re-point historic masonry, was replaced
with lime-based mortars more consistent with original construction techniques and
now a standard for masonry conservation projects. As part of this effort, the Alliance
for Integrative Spatial Technologies (AIST) at the University of South Florida were
brought in to fully document the site prior to restoration using High Definition
Documentation Survey (HDDS) techniques including 3D laser scanning of the entire
site.
See images below.
Example of ability to pull measurements in the scan data, with chimney measurements depicted. (Figure 1)
Figure 1
Point Cloud of Scan Data : millions of points, each with an x, y, & z coordinate, make-up a precise,
measurable image of the site.
Notice target placements on wheel, middle of feature and boiler of site. Targets are used to mesh the various scan view taken,
with known coordinates established on each target. In this way, the site can be measured, scans can be
meshed together and the site can be placed in the "real world". (Figure 2)
Figure 2
Examination of areas for mortar repair and portland removal. (Figure 3)
Figure 3
Virtual Preservation -
Previously, time consuming drawings were made of select wall portions, examining the mortar detail (GARI 1997).
Laser scanning and HDDS survey has now collected all the wall surface features in high detail pre-restoration, with complete
analysis possible of mortar and construction methods. (Figure 4)
Figure 4