NEWS RELEASE

For further information contact:
Donna Herring, dmherring@earthlink.net, 740-405-4594
Karen Holt, karen.holt@yahoo.com, 740-924-9355

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (July 9, 2007):
---Photos available---

FOUNDATION AWARDS $12,900 FOR CAPTAIN SCOTT HOUSE

The Licking County Foundation has awarded $12,900 to support the relocation expenses 
of the Captain Scott House in Alexandria. The grant, awarded to the Licking County 
Historical Society, will pay for expenses of the basement and associated work needed for 
the initial stabilization of the house in its new location on the west edge of the village.

"The Licking County Historical Society has supported our effort to save the house from 
the very beginning," said Donna Herring, chair of the Friends of Captain Scott committee 
of the non-profit Alexandria Community Council, the group that organized the house 
move, "including some early financial support and restoration expertise. The officers and 
curator helped us hang in there when things looked tough. They agreed that someone 
needed to save this house, and that Alexandria would have to make it happen if anyone 
could."

"We feel very honored by the acknowledgement of the trustees of the Licking County 
Foundation," said Herring. "I understand that they liked the idea of a project that had 
some history behind it and also a future providing services for a diverse segment of the 
county. Like so many other people, they had been watching this house for decades and 
thought its architecture was too beautiful to just let it be knocked down."

The house was built circa 1870 for Joseph M. Scott, an outspoken abolitionist and 
prominent farmer and local 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 a hand-carved spiral staircase. The house had to be moved to 
make way for a highway interchange project of the Ohio Department of Transportation, 
at the intersection of state routes 37 and 161. 

The Captain Scott House is currently on wheels a few hundred feet from its intended new 
location. The new site was donated by Brookside Materials/Kurtz Brothers, a Columbus-
area sand and gravel company. Barns from a former dairy operation have been 
demolished to make way for the house, courtesy of Endsley Grading & Drainage, Waste 
Management, Rumpke Waste, Preferred Management, Brookside Materials, Jake's 
Property Services, Joyce Iron & Metal, and Ohio CAT Rental. Demolition of two large 
silos will be contributed shortly by Complete Clearing, followed by site surveys donated 
by EMH&T and the donated excavation of the new basement by Brookside Materials. 

"For the basement, Hutchinson Materials has pledged a lot of cement and other materials, 
and Foundations Plus has pledged half their labor costs for the poured walls," said 
Herring. "Holbrook Custom Concrete will be donating the finishing work on the floor, 
Gutridge Electric is donating services, Aebersold Construction is forming the footers, Z 
Architectural Services has done the permit drawings, W-H & Associates did the sanitary 
design, Contract Lumber is donating materials, Almendinger Sawmill is donating 
custom-cut hardwood. Local and Columbus-area businesses have been very generous to 
us in this new-site phase of the project, just as a different set of businesses supported us 
in the actual moving of the building from the original location."

Once the house is on its basement and stabilized, including exterior painting pledged by 
All Aspects Coatings, American Crane, and Pittsburgh Paints, the restoration phase of the 
project will begin. Current plans are for the first floor to be a community center, possibly 
with a gallery room, and for the second floor to be a museum.

"Unfortunately, we will not meet our original goal of having the house exterior painted 
by Fun Days, because the house won't be ready for paint yet," said Herring. Fun Days is 
an annual homecoming event in Alexandria, which raises funds for the township fire 
department and is scheduled for July 18-21 this year. "We had hoped to have a few tours 
of the interior then, too, but when you're doing nearly everything by donation, your 
contractors have to work you in to their schedules and things have to give here and there. 
Weather is always an issue at this stage, too. We'll be working on the basement by then, 
though, and we will definitely have an informational booth at the Fun Days grounds."

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. To 
support this historic preservation project, visit our Fun Days booth, or 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-----