NEWS RELEASE

For further information contact:
Donna Herring, dmherring@earthlink.net, 740-924-0516
Karen Holt, karen.holt@yahoo.com, 740-924-9355
www.CaptainScottHouse.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (March 15, 2007):
---Photos available---

PARK NATIONAL BANK STEPS UP FOR CAPTAIN SCOTT HOUSE

Park National Bank has pledged $5000 for the effort to relocate and restore the
Captain Scott house. This pledge has made it possible for the Alexandria 
Community Council to sign the house mover’s contract and meet the ODOT deadline 
of a March 16 commitment to move the house. An additional $18,000 must be 
raised in the following month to complete the relocation, but this once-grand 
Victorian home is no longer in danger of demolition. 

“Park National has always been supportive of and involved in the communities of 
Licking County, and we really appreciate that they saw the need here and 
stepped forward,” said Donna Herring, chair of the Friends of Captain Scott 
committee of the Alexandria Community Council. “After we get the house moved 
and stabilized on a new foundation, we’ll be able to think about the 
restoration phase of the project.”

The additional $18,000 in relocation expenses still needed includes the last 
$3000 of the house mover’s fee, expenses associated with the move itself, and 
certain expenses at the new location. Fence line trees must be trimmed or 
removed along the path to the new site, police escort will be necessary on the 
short stretch the house will travel on state route 37, utility line 
interruptions or temporary relocation will be required. The unsalvageable 
chimneys must be taken down and the slate roof repaired over the gaps. 
Plumbing, heating, and air conditioning must be installed for the basement; 
utilities for the historic part of the house will be planned during the 
restoration phase.

“But there wouldn’t be any restoration phase to think about,” said Herring,  
“without the $10,000 seed money given to us by an anonymous donor earlier in 
the month, the AEP pledge of earlier this week that gave us hope and a renewed 
determination, and this Park National pledge that allows us to meet the 
deadline.”

“Hundreds of other donors have been cheering us on, too, and it really feels 
good to be able to say, “Together, we DID it!” said Herring. “What we did, 
however, was buy a pedigreed puppy. Now we’ve got a lot of care and feeding to 
do to finish the job, to turn out a fine example of its type.”

The home was built circa 1870 for Joseph M. Scott, an outspoken abolitionist 
and locally prominent farmer and historian who earned his captainship in the 
Civil War. A classic example of the Victorian Italianate architectural style, 
the home was built on a grand scale and includes an original spiral staircase. 
Current plans for the home when relocated are that it would be used as a public 
museum and community center after its restoration.

The new site for the home has been donated on the west side of the village of 
Alexandria, by Brookside Materials/Kurtz Brothers of Columbus. Most of the 
construction of a basement and other infrastructure has been offered in-kind: 
Aebersold Construction of Johnstown for footers, Endsley Grading & Drainage of 
Johnstown for excavation, Hutchinson Materials of Alexandria for the floor, 
Gutridge Electric of Newark for electrical service, Baker’s Acres for 
landscaping, and Z Architectural Services for siting and drawings. Other in-
kind donations offered to help in the effort include preservation consulting, 
landscape design, interior design, photography, financial services, grant 
writing, and website design services.

The house presently sits at the busy intersection of state routes 37 and 161, 
and must be moved immediately to make way for the ODOT 161 widening project. 
ODOT gave the house to the Village of Alexandria on condition that the 
structure be contracted to be moved by March 16, and is actually moved very 
shortly thereafter. The Village has no funds for a historic preservation 
project, and the Friends of Captain Scott committee of the Alexandria Community 
Council organized the effort to raise funds. The Alexandria Community Council 
is a nonprofit group active for over 75 years in support of community events 
and projects in the village and St. Albans township.

Preparation of the house for the move is expected to begin in the next week. 
Bill Dingey, of Dingey Movers, Zanesville, indicates the preparation will take 
about two weeks and anticipates his company will be ready to roll the house 
away from its present position in the first week of April if all goes well.

The $18,000 still needed to complete the relocation phase of the project must 
be raised in the next month, and the second, restoration, phase will begin when 
the house is stabilized in the new location. Send your tax-deductible donations 
to the Alexandria Community Council, Friends of Captain Scott Committee, P.O. 
Box 234, Alexandria OH 43001, or contact Donna Herring, Secretary of the 
Alexandria Community Council (740-924-0516), email 
CaptainScott@AlexandriaOH.org. For further information see the website 
www.CaptainScottHouse.org.

------end-----