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Historic Schenectady adventure just a step away
Sunday, July 19, 2009
By Kathleen Moore (Contact)
Gazette Reporter

SCHENECTADY — Only Don Rittner could turn an old log into the cornerstone of a historic walking tour.
The city’s historian, who also serves as county historian, decided this year to write walking tours that would interest children in history. He has just published the first two, both focusing on the Stockade. He plans to write a total of 100 throughout the entire county, including each city neighborhood.
And although adults can use them to find and appreciate historic structures, Rittner sees them as a conversation between adult and child.
“It’s not just a walking tour. I’m trying to get a parent and child to talk to each other, to talk about why history’s important,” he said.
His children — who have suffered through a decade of such discussions — served as the guinea pigs, he said.
“Now the older ones pretend history isn’t cool, but every once in a while, something comes out of their mouth — something rubbed off — and I just give them a grin,” Rittner said. His children are 17, 15 and 12.
Among the talking points on the Stockade Industrial Period tour is a wooden water pipe behind the Schenectady County Historical Society.
The city’s first water system, built in 1836, used log pipes. It worked well until 1872, when one man had the bright idea of tapping the ample supply of water in the Mohawk River.
Rittner hopes children will consider that and ask, “How did you know it was clean?”
“And you’d say, ‘Remember, hundreds of people died of typhoid,’ ” Rittner said.
His tour notes that the water system “carried typhoid germs and death to every section of Schenectady.”
That’s the sort of detail that would capture a child’s attention, he figures.
“What I’m trying to do is to change the attitude, so it’s cool to know history,” he said.
The city also wants to draw history-loving visitors, and walking tours are considered key to that effort. But most history tourists are adults, said Gail Kehn, Chamber of Commerce vice president of visitor services.
And there are not that many adults coming here either.
“Honestly, it’s not huge,” Kehn said. “A large part of the problem is people are unaware of what we have. The oldest building is the Stockade in 1690, but that’s older than any Boston neighborhood, or Philadelphia. I think we’re a well-kept secret.”..................>>>>>>>...........>>>>>>>..............http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2009/jul/19/0720_history_walks/