NEWS RELEASE

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (March 23, 2007):
---Photos available---

PLANS FOR CAPTAIN SCOTT HOUSE ON DISPLAY AT LIBRARY

Starting April 3rd, three possible site plans for the relocation of the Captain 
Scott House will be on display in the meeting room of the Alexandria Public 
Library. Public comment is welcomed, and the Friends of Captain Scott committee 
of the Alexandria Community Council will meet April 10 at the library to choose 
the final site plan and finalize the work plan for the relocation.

Donations are still needed for the relocation, including about $12,000 in 
expenses associated with the house-moving, and certain expenses of the new 
location. Fenceline 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. At the new site, 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.

The house presently sits at the busy intersection of state routes 37 and 161, 
and must be moved immediately to make way for the SR 161 widening project. Land 
for the new site has been donated on the west edge of the village of 
Alexandria, by Brookside Materials/Kurtz Brothers of Columbus, which owns a 
former dairy property there. Dingey Movers of Zanesville will begin lifting the 
house next week and is expected to move the house within three weeks, mainly 
cross-country along the Raccoon Creek flood plain, over the creek, and up to 
the dairy barns. 

Most of the construction of a basement and other infrastructure in the new 
location has been offered in-kind. Alexandria businesses Hutchinson Materials, 
Holbrook Custom Concrete, Baker’s Acres, W-H & Associates, and Z Architectural 
Services are contributing, as are Johnstown businesses Aebersold Construction, 
Endsley Grading & Drainage. Businesses from Newark (Gutridge Electric, Lewis 
Roofing) to Columbus (Benjamin D. Rickey & Associates) and New Albany (EMH&T) 
are also contributing to the Captain Scott House relocation project. Other in-
kind donations offered to help in the effort include legal services, interior 
design, photography, financial services, grant writing, and website design 
services.

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 Ohio Department of Transportation 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.

The $12,000 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.

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