NEWS RELEASE
	For further information contact:
	Donna Herring, dmherring@earthlink.net, 740-924-0516
	Karen Holt, karenholt@compuserve.com, 740-924-9355
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (February 28, 2007):

HISTORIC CAPTAIN SCOTT HOUSE IN DANGER

The faded blue Victorian home at the corner of state routes 161 and 37, known as 
the “Captain Scott” house, is in danger of demolition to make way for the new 161/37 
highway interchange -- if $80,000 cannot be raised in the next month, half of it in 
the next two weeks.

The Friends of Captain Scott committee will hold a Civil War Supper and live auction 
on March 10 at the Alexandria Elementary School to raise funds towards the $80,000 
goal. Beans, breads and applesauce will be served starting at 4:00 pm, and donated 
items will be auctioned starting at 6:00 pm, with festivities and the supper to 
conclude around 8:00 pm. Donations of all kinds of auction items are needed, from 
cookbooks and music lessons to weekend getaway packages.

“We have a wonderful donated location to move it to, and $27,000 so far in donations 
of services and materials needed in its new location,” said Donna Herring, chair of 
the Friends of Captain Scott committee of the Alexandria Community Council, the 
nonprofit group that is raising funds for the historic preservation project. “But 
we have very little cash, and that’s what we need now to get the house moved and 
to put a basement and utilities in at the new location.”

The new site for the Captain Scott house has been offered by Brookside Materials/Kurtz 
Brothers of Columbus, on a former dairy property on the west edge of the Village of 
Alexandria. The in-kind donations include excavation, landscaping, architectural 
services, photography, financial services, grant writing, and website services. The 
relocated home would be used as a public museum and community center after its 
restoration.

“We only started this effort in late October, and didn’t get the new location 
confirmed until February 10th,” said Herring. “So we’re slow out of the gate and have 
a lot of ground to cover in an extremely short time. But the community has 
been responsive and I hope we can get all the resources in place soon enough.”

“In addition to auction items, direct cash donations will also support the relocation, 
and we are accepting pledge letters,” said Herring. “A pledge letter might say 
something like ’I’ll donate X dollars in April if you are able to save the house.’ We 
could use those letters as evidence of community support, to help in requesting 
matching dollars from foundations and larger benefactors.”

The home was built shortly after the Civil War in the Italianate style of the time, 
for Captain Joseph M. Scott, an outspoken abolitionist and prominent local farmer and 
historian. It sits in the way of the widening project for State Route 161, and ODOT 
has given the house to the Village of Alexandria if the structure is contracted to be 
moved by March 16th. The Village has no funds for a historic preservation project, 
and the Community Council has stepped in to get the project organized and funded.

And if the Alexandria Community Council cannot raise enough money to move the house 
by the deadline? “I don’t like to think about that, but cash donated to that date 
would be used for other historic preservation efforts in the Village and Township,” 
said Herring. “Instead of that negative thinking, let’s just decide that if Brookside 
Materials/Kurtz Brothers can make space for this house, we can get the house over 
there, and let’s get it done.”

Send your tax-deductible donations to the Alexandria Community Council, Friends of 
Captain Scott Committee, P.O. Box 234, Alexandria OH 43001. For further information or 
to arrange to donate an auction item, contact Donna Herring, Secretary of the 
Alexandria Community Council (740-924-0516), or email CaptainScott@AlexandriaOH.org .