jrnl: did some work on fort klock piece

1 files changed, 30 insertions, 7 deletions

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@@ -234,6 +234,7 @@ People have forgotten how important the sun is. You can die from lack of sun.
 
 ## Fort Klock
 
+
 We left the shores of Lake Ontario on a blustery, cold, and windy day. Fortunately the wind was from the north west, so it blew the bus down the Mohawk Valley to a small town on the shores of the Erie Canal where there was marina that also had a few campsites. 
 
 <img src="images/2023/2023-10-08_123254_st-johnsville.jpg" id="image-3753" class="picwide" />
@@ -244,22 +245,44 @@ The campground wasn't much, there was a train track about 100 feet from the back
 
 With the tailwind we were at our campsite by lunch time and started looking around for something to do. Part of the reason we're here in upstate New York and headed through the mid Atlantic was to show the kids some American history sites, so when Corrinne found something called Fort Klock, A Fortified Stone Homestead, we figured it'd fit right in. What kid doesn't love the sound of a "fortified homestead"?
 
+<img src="images/2023/2023-10-08_124343_st-johnsville.jpg" id="image-3754" class="picwide" />
+
 To be honest we weren't expecting much from Fort Klock, but it turned out to be the best historical site we've visited. We enjoyed it more than Jamestown, Yorktown, and definitely more than Williamsburg (more on those soon). What made it the best place we've been was the people, or rather the person, Les.
 
-We were the only people around and when we walked in the only other person was Les who had been in the kitchen, tending the fire. He asked if we wanted the tour and we said sure. We paid $20 for the five of us and Les prodeeded to lead us on a three hour historical tour of the property, and by extension through his stories, a good portion of life over the last three hundred years in the Mohawk Valley.
+We were the only people around and when we walked in the only other person was Les who had been in the kitchen, tending the fire. He asked if we wanted the tour and we said sure. We paid $20 for the five of us and Les proceeded to lead us on a three-hour historical tour of the property, and by extension life in the Mohawk Wall over the last three hundred years.
+
+It would be impossible for me to try to capture it here because part of it was that when he was talking about cooking, there was a fire in the hearth, when he talked about making far tools out of wood, he was showing us how to drag a draw knife, how to save the shavings to start the fire, and how to work a loom. 
+
+There were no glass walls cutting you off from Fort Klock. There were some railings here and there, but for the most part you could touch and interact with artifacts in a way that you never can at most historical sites. For the kids that's the whole point. They don't care about the abstraction we call history -- those people back then. The kids want to know how people lived, what the kids did, how things work, what the food smells like, how you load a muzzleloading rifle, how you fire a cannon, how you make a canoe, how you sail a wooden square rigger. I'm the same way. I don't really care about who own the battle, I want to here the stories of the people who fought, or farmed, or traded, or hunted. That's what Fort Klock was: history that's still alive.
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+Klock's fortified homestead is a stone farmhouse built in 1750 with walls over 2 feet thick. It sits on Kings Highway, the main thoroughfare of the valley at that time, and on the edge of the Mohawk River. It was a major trading post in the area and one of the primary defensive structures around. 
+
+It was built from the ground up with defense in mind. There are little portals on all sides with angled access on the side to provide a wide range of fire. The windows could be covered by sturdy wood shutters and -- the real key to its defensive capability -- it was built over a spring, which still bubbles up in the cellar. All the Klock's has to do was lay in some food and ammunition and they were ready to withstand a siege. Which they did, several times.
+
+Fort Klock was used during both the French and Indian war and the American war for Independence, as both a refuge and trading post (there were other such fortified homes in the valley, but this is the only one that's been restored and has public access). 
+
 
 
+Rather amazingly the home remained in the Klock family through the 1950s, though it was largely abandoned when the family moved back to town in the '30s. In the early 1950s the Tryon County muzzleloaders (re-enactors interested in collecting and shooting antique guns) were looking for a place to shoot and came across the property. The last descendant of Klock had been looking for someone to restore the property and so they struck a deal. The muzzleloadiing group raised money and rebuilt the property and eventually opened it to the public.
 
-in the Mohawk River Valley of Upstate New York
-he home remained in the Klock family through the 1950's. After Lipe Klock passed away in the 1930's the family moved to town, unable to manage the farm.  Abandoned, it fell into disrepair. In 1953 Willis "Skip" Barshied Jr., and his newly organized Tryon county muzzleloaders ( 12 young men interested in collecting and shooting antique guns) were seeking a "home base", to become their meeting place. They found the property; run down,  and in dire need of repair. There were no doors or windows, the floors were rotted and walls crumbling, but Barshied  arranged to meet with then owner Alexander Don, a descendant of Johannes. Alex had long dreamed of restoring the old fort and preserving it for future generations.  He joined the muzzleloaders and convinced that they were sincere in their avowed purpose of a historic restoration of the fort, gave them a long term lease. The rent was 1 dollar a year for 20 years, with the option t renew for an additional 20 years.
+Today it is owned and operated by the Fort Klock Historic Restoration group. The non-profit was spun off of the muzzleloaders group because the National Park Service refused to give the National Historic Landmark distinction to a muzzleloading club. Fortunately the muzzleloaders had the humility the government lacked and they set up a separate foundation and eventually got the historic designation. Don't let the name fool you though. The truth is a bunch of people who love shooting muzzleloading rifles saved and restored this place and continue to maintain it.
 
-The Fortified home of Johannes Klock is owned and operated by Fort Klock Historic Restoration,  a group of dedicated, ordinary citizens working together to preserve this historic site.  The house while retaining original features, has been restored and in 1973 was designated a National Historic Landmark; a site "of exceptional value in commemorating or illustrating the history of the United States”. The organization is designated as not for profit (501-C-3), and  is an educational institution chartered by the New York State Education Department Board of Regents.  The primary goal of our organization is to preserve and accurately interpret the story of this unique historic site.
+There is something sad about a house that is no longer a home. We've been in many over the years, and I always get the feeling that the walls feel lonely after generations of families running through them, the silence is greater for the sounds that are no longer there. It's as if an entire way of life falls silent when the families leave. Fort Klock was the opposite. It still smelled of woodsmoke and life and that, combined with Les's stories, which always seemed to wander from the past, to the present, the grandparents of someone down the road, the ancestors of the man who still has a working blacksmith shop just over the ridge in... history was not something abstract, but real. That barn, in that person's family, that did this, and so on for three hours. It was the best $20 I've ever spent.
 
-OUR STORY
 
-Klock's fortified homestead is nestled in New York's picturesque Mohawk Valley about one mile east of St. Johnsville. The stone structure has walls over 2 feet thick and is heavily loopholed on every side for defense , windows could be covered by sturdy wood shutters. A spring bubbling up in the cellar provided fresh water to the occupants. The self contained Fort Klock was utilized during both the French and Indian war and the American war for independence, as a place of refuge for family and neighbors, there are several Fortified homes in the valley. Johannes (John) Klock built the stone house for his family in 1750, the kitchen addition dates to the 1760's. Klock was a member of the Tryon county committee of safety, he was a militia member and  patriot. Owing to this and  given the location on the river and king's highway, the Klocks (and other valley residents)  may have played hosts to notable historic figures who traveled in the area during and after the revolution. Of note; the  Battle of Klock's field, which was the last battle of the destructive 1780 loyalist raid on the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys, is said to have been fought just to the west of the fort, on land owned by George Klock.
 
-[^1]: The Great Loop is a route that brings together various waterways, making it possible to  travel along the Atlantic seaboard, Gulf Intracoastal Waterways, Great Lakes, Canadian Heritage Canals, and the inland rivers of America -- like the Erie Canal -- to make a big loop. There are a few routes, but the Erie portion seems to be one of the more popular ones.
+[^1]: The Great Loop is a route that brings together various waterways, making it possible to travel along the Atlantic seaboard, Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, Great Lakes, Canadian Heritage Canals, and the inland rivers of America -- like the Erie Canal -- to make a big loop. There are a few routes, but the Erie portion seems to be one of the more popular ones.
 
 ## Before The Motor Laws