Black Sash Restoration LLC was founded by Jackson and Katja Evans out of a love for old buildings and a desire to help owners of those old buildings retain their original or early windows while achieving a greater level of energy efficiency and weatherization.

A fifth generation Vermonter, Jackson cut his restoration carpentry teeth working with Weather Hill Restoration in Charlotte, Vermont during the summers while attending college. It was these summers travelling the northeast to reassemble historic houses and barns where Jackson really gained an appreciation and understanding of early American architecture and an introduction to the tenets of historic preservation. While not on the road with Weather Hill, he studied film and photography at Ithaca College, focusing his lens primarily on older and abandoned buildings around the Finger Lakes Region of central New York. The stories that unfolded and were lost to time in these old buildings became fascinating subject matter and never failed to inspire. 

Following his graduation, Jackson spent a few more years in Ithaca working various construction and independent contracting jobs (including a stint as the manager of a large antiques cooperative housed in a restored chicken barn). Returning to his native Vermont Jackson found a new focus in life after volunteering with the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation. This work with the State provided him the opportunity to learn more about the field of historic preservation which in turn lead him to attend the University of Vermont's Historic Preservation Graduate Degree Program. Upon graduating in 2006, Jackson formed a preservation consultancy with one of his classmates from UVM and continued to work with the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation on their digital survey program.

Black Sash Restoration was formed 2008 with the intention of taking advantage of the nation's  interest in energy efficiency and "green" building. With so much well intentioned excitement being put towards making our buildings as energy efficient as possible, the couple worried that this could mean the largely unnecessary replacement of historic, original and early windows in many homes and commercial structures. Through their work they hope to help the owners of older and historic buildings by offering a cost effective, sustainable, and in many cases, equally energy efficient alternative to replacement windows.