Joe's Third Idea: Interview Somebody

[On Friday July 21, 2017 I decided to just interview somebody. After stopping at a couple places and coming up short, I landed this interview and now am posting my 'article' I made from it. Enjoy!]

Part-Time Historians: Uncovering Local History at The Stillwater Blockhouse

by Joe Hoffman, 7/23/2017

Though he says he's just biding his time here until shipping to Parris Island for boot camp, I can see the sparkle in Gabe's eyes as he discusses the differing strategies of the French and the British in the eighteenth century.

Afternoon sunlight streams into the cozy Stillwater Blockhouse from the wide wooden doorway. It's a local mini-museum inside a replica of a French-and-Indian-War-era military encampment. With only about 500 square feet of floor space, the various placards, weapons, replicas, and exhibits practically engulf you. Which, for me and my fellow museum-lovers, is heaven.

I'm sitting at the humble front desk talking to the soft-spoken young man, Gabe, who's working there. "The French were converting the Native Americans to Catholicism, which meant the Indians could keep a lot of their way of life," he tells me, "while the British were Protestant, which was very strict." Gabe had downplayed his interest in history before, but now it was evident that he knew his way around some of the little-known nooks and crannies of the colonial days.

"We know for a fact that George Washington torched Native American villages during the French and Indian War," Gabe says with a much less incriminating tone of voice than I would have used when relaying that piece of information. Washington burned villages? That certainly isn't something we all read in our grade school history textbooks.

In the same way, as I talk to Gabe and look around the museum, I get a sense that I'm in a gold mine hiding in plain sight. It's a perfect little nugget of history, sitting matter-of-factly on the bank of the Hudson River in Stillwater, New York. Before having visited, I passed it up as not of particular significance (it's a replica, and not the actual site of a battle), but now I'm seeing the beauty in the dark wooden structure overlooking the river. There's a lot you can learn from quaint, local establishments.

When I ask him what we can learn from the French and Indian War, Gabe pauses to think. "Unintended consequences," he murmurs, rubbing his chin. "The British made the colonists pay massive taxes for the war, but still didn't give them representation. That really helped start the Revolution." Even though in 1763 Great Britain thought the war was helping them keep control of the New World and oust the French, in the long term it significantly contributed to Britain losing control of America to the colonists.

Theresa, the other worker at the Blockhouse, greets a mom and her two kids as Gabe and I talk. It's refreshing to see local people passionate about history and working a job where they can express that interest to others. Tess (as she calls herself) and Gabe, even though they both admit that working at the Blockhouse is a temporary gig, both exemplify the lasting power and value of history for local communities. Understanding past exploits of nations and how they have failed or succeeded can teach us to be more careful about policy decisions or choices in everyday life. In addition, commemorating historical events or time periods like the Blockhouse does brings citizens together and gives them a sense of heritage, pride, and belonging.

I thank Tess for her time and wish Gabe good luck at Parris Island before heading out to my car. Smiling wide, I take a look at the sunlight dancing on the Hudson and pull out of the parking lot. I'm taking away a lot from these quick fifteen minutes; first, that just deciding to go interview somebody is a lot of fun, if not a tad daunting and awkward in the beginning. But mainly I come away with a deeper appreciation for history and for the hidden-in-plain-view local experts who so elegantly educate New Yorkers on it.