When I took a walk with my schnoodle Tabby on Tuesday, I armed myself with a little notebook so I could write down information from any historic markers I passed. I thought it would make my walk more blogworthy.
Steven suggested I use one of the mini composition books he had put in my stocking at Christmas. I have quite a fascination with notebooks, pens, index cards, binders, clipboards, and other tools of writing. Anyone who shares this interest (I know my Mom likes notebooks) will understand that my walk suddenly became even more interesting.
We walked by the 1834 Jail. The historic marker informed me that the jail had housed Chester Gilette during his trial for the murder of Grace Brown in 1906. I wrote it down, but in fact I did not need to. I know a lot about Chester Gilette. I even wrote a blog post about him once.
I think the other side of the marker told about Roxlanna Druse, who I believe was the last female executed in Herkimer County. That, I could have benefited from writing in my notebook. Unfortunately, Tabby was pulling me in the opposite direction, and since she had already nicely waited while I wrote about Chester Gilette, I followed her. I’ll find out more about Roxlanna for a future post.
No historic markers as we walked down Main Street. Tabby looked longingly at our church, Christ Episcopal, but it was not a good time to cross the street. Anyways, I didn’t know of any historic markers in that direction. Then she wanted to go through the park next to Basloe Library, which I agreed to since it was on the same side of the street. No historic markers, but a couple of interesting trees for her to sniff. So far a good walk for a schnoodle. For my purposes, not so much.
We walked through Meyers Park. I knew there were historic markers there. First I saw a stone fountain. At least, I guess it used to be a fountain. It’s dry now. It was erected in memory of Elisha Washburn in 1909. There may have been a story behind that, but the engraving did not say so. I moved on to the historic markers.
One told me the park had been the site of a burying ground. The graves had been moved to create the park. The other marker talked about Fred’ck Staring, also know as Frederick Starns on the Virginia frontier. He lost sons and grandsons in the Revolutionary War, and was the patriarch of a prominent southern family. The marker was erected by his descendents in 1998. Left unexplained was what Fred from Virginia had to do with Herkimer. I thought I might to an internet search and see if I could learn more, but, um, I didn’t. I guess if I was a dedicated blogger of local history, I would make time for such things. And so we come to the ugly truth about me. But I digress.
To exit the park we walked by a statue of some guy who lived from 1802 to 1890. The engraving said he was proud of being instrumental in women working for the government. I don’t know who it was, because they did not show his name, only his signature, which I found quite illegible.
So that was my historic walk. I’ll head in a different direction next time and see what I can find.
Mohawk Valley Girl 
Neat entry! Here’s a bit more on Roxalana Druse (she’s quite infamous with the locals) – http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F4091EF8345513738DDDA80894DB405B8784F0D3 ; http://thedailystar.com/columns/x112888343/A-true-tale-of-horror-found-in-Herkimer-County?keyword=topstory (although, growing up, I’d heard that she also tried to feed some of his remains to the pigs…) Also, the trial that led to this case was also held at the same courthouse as Druse and Gillette: http://www.amazon.com/Lullaby-Morons-Ronald-Keith-Siegel/dp/1595310118. The first trial for insanity, yet! 🙂 Not that you asked, but it’s some more neat local history, in case you’re interested!
Thanks for the links! I look forward to reading about Roxalana (I thought I had spelled the name wrong; silly me!). We took another walk today with no historic points of interest.