Honor a Legacy: The Nakashima Family House Preservation Project

In 1942, George Nakashima, his wife Marion, and their daughter Mira were forcibly removed from their home in Seattle, WA and incarcerated as Japanese Americans in Camp Minidoka. The Nakashima Family was sponsorsed out of Minidoka by Antonin and Noemi Raymond, and they moved to the Raymond Farm in New Hope, PA in 1943. 

In 1945, they moved to a small cottage on Aquetong Road, and in 1946, George discovered a property with a gentle, south-facing slope. George was able to purchase the initial 3 acres in exchange for labor, and he eagerly began building what eventually became a woodworking and architectural campus on 8.8 acres.  

After completing part of his woodshop, George turned his attention to building the Family House. George’s wife Marion and young daughter Mira lived in an army tent on the property while George worked. 

The home’s construction is the result of George’s own labor and experimentation with available materials.sert, adorn cabinets and doors inside. He dug and poured concrete for the foundation, built a stone wall, the wooden framework, and a cistern to store water. He found trees in the woods to make posts to hold the roof up, an old barn beam strong enough to span its width, designed and built the concrete fireplace, and poured all the concrete roof-tiles for the first roof. He did all the plumbing and electrical work himself; Bitterbrush handles harvested from the Idaho desert adorn cabinets and doors inside. 

Today, the Family House urgently needs our help. Thanks to grants from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the Foundation has a comprehensive preservation plan that outlines the work needed to stabilize the House.

A detailed Historic Structure Report, created in 2024 in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania, focuses on critical upgrades to the environmental systems of the Family House to ensure the long-term preservation of the historic structure, collections, and interior finishes. This includes heating and cooling, dehumidification, electrical, and fire detection upgrades, as well as professional conservation planning.

Your gift will help us take the next step: putting that plan into action.