PBS filming home in Stockade First published: Tuesday, March 4, 2008
SCHENECTADY -- Members of a PBS television show will be filming in the city's Stockade neighborhood this week, trying to determine whether a house on Front Street was significant in the French and Indian War.
"History Detectives," a nationally-syndicated program, will examine a home at 9 Front St., a show spokesman said. Show host Elyse Luray will team up with Schenectady County Historian Don Rittner to visit the home from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, and at the Efner History Research Library in City Hall from 5:30 to 7 p.m. today. The house's owners, Daniel Partington and Sharon Cole, assumed their 19th century home was similar to the other homes in the historic neighborhood until they found four stone walls in their attic. That piqued their curiosity: did it mean the home was older, possibly part of the defenses in the original British fort that stood in the 18th century? The episode is slated for broadcast sometime this summer.
Stockade mystery gets TV attention PBS' "History Detectives" to investigate whether home was military blockhouse
By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer First published: Thursday, March 6, 2008
SCHENECTADY -- When Dan Partington and Sharon Cole bought their historic dream house in the Stockade district two years ago, Partington climbed a shaky wooden ladder into the home's attic and stared quizzically.
A portion of the attic walls were made of stone -- highly unusual for a wood-and-brick home supposedly built in the 19th century. "Something's up," Partington remembers thinking. Now, with the help of a PBS investigative television show, Partington, a Navy reservist and canal lock operator, and Cole might learn whether their house was actually a military blockhouse used by settlers of the original Stockade fort in the 1700s. A six-person crew from the show "History Detectives" descended Wednesday on the house at 9 Front St. to film an episode about the home's historic past. The show is expected to air on PBS stations in July. The show's crew examined maps and documents in City Hall's Efner History Research Library and ran the particulars of the house by an architectural expert. Wood ring specialists at Cornell University are going to date the wood and determine whether the structure may have been an outpost from before the French and Indian War. Blockhouses, as military outposts were called, were constructed to hold gunpower and armaments. Soldiers took up arms inside them to shoot at approaching enemies. The investigation actually began after Schenectady County Historian Don Rittner walked by the house and noticed one side was made of stone. That side is wedged up against another home, and it can be difficult to see the stone. The other walls are covered in stucco. Considering his earlier suspicions about the attic, Partington wasn't surprised when Rittner knocked on the couple's door and told them about his theory. The previous owner had said the house was built around 1890. But that was likely only an addition. There are no other known blockhouses left in the Stockade. Rittner later contacted "History Detectives" to shed more light on the significance of the house. "I don't think America knows the rich history of Schenectady," said the show's host, Elyse Luray, a former Christie's auction house appraiser. On Wednesday, Partington's and Cole's house was filled with lights, electrical cords and camera equipment as the crew shot scenes in their living room and the attic. The crew had to carry equipment up the ladder, which was the only way into the space. Cole got to see firsthand how television shows are filmed. She pretended to talk on the phone and re-enact conversations she had about the house. The crew also rearranged her living room furniture. But the couple is excited to give their pride and joy national exposure. "This is pretty amazing," Partington said. PBS won't release what the final conclusion will be until the show airs. But Carol Griggs, the Cornell dendrochronologist who took wood samples from the home's basement and attic, said some beams appear to date to 1727. "They're leaning toward that fact," Partington said about his home's blockhouse roots. Stanforth can be reached at 454-5697 or by e-mail at lstanforth@timesunion.com.
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