Write a commentOn Wednesday, June 19th (Juneteenth), representatives from Fort Ontario and CiTi BOCES cut the ribbon on two newly restored barracks rooms at Fort Ontario.
Historic Site Manager Paul Lear had his eyes set on completing this project for nearly 40 years, beginning in 1986 in long-term planning sessions with previous Fort Ontario staff member Joe Thatcher.
Prior to the barracks, he worked with the Friends of Fort Ontario to restore to historical accuracy and then maintain the guard houses, officers’ quarters, sergeants’ quarters, and washroom and urinal, along with other, smaller-scale projects like creating and adding powder barrels throughout the fort that were built to the military specifications of their day.
The ribbon cutting was Lear’s last official event as Site Manager before his retirement at the end of the day, after a career spanning 39.5 years. His successor, Matt MacVittie, will take the helm beginning on Thursday, June 20th.
“As my knowledge of army and military life increased [over my career], I grew aware that the soldiers’ barracks were the heart and soul of any 19th century army post,” Lear noted during the event’s opening remarks. Knowing this, debuting the two restored barracks was a fitting capstone to a career dedicated to restoring historical accuracy at Fort Ontario.
The newly restored squad rooms, separated only by an interior wall, are truly unique. The first has been restored to the way barracks were used in the 1850s with three-tiered wooden bunks, woven haversacks for each soldier, and a large central fireplace. Volunteer sewing bee events held earlier this year helped the Friends of Fort Ontario outfit the first room with haversacks for each of the barracks’ 55 bunk spaces.
The second squad room was restored to its condition in 1868, with individual steel bedframes, footlockers for soldiers’ belongings, and a woodstove. These two contrasting time periods were chosen to show the improvements in soldier life that came about in the years during and just after the Civil War—in particular, the newer sleeping arrangements cut down significantly on bugs and vermin in the barracks.
Lear and Friends of Fort Ontario President Daniel Laird both explained that the project would not have been possible without the support and talents of two classes of welding students at CiTi BOCES. Under the leadership of welding instructor Barbie Jo Gray, the students—who come to CiTi’s campus in Mexico from high schools across Oswego County—worked from a reproduction to create 25 new, period-accurate steel bedframes. The frames are precisely like those used by soldiers who were stationed at Fort Ontario in the 1860s. The work took approximately 3 school semesters to complete, starting in the spring of 2023 and finishing up just a few weeks prior to the exhibits’ opening.
“These students must have saved us about $40,000 on this project,” remarked Lear, expressing his gratitude. “And now they can bring their children, their grandchildren here to see this, because it’s going to last a lifetime.”
The students’ takeaway? “One girl looked at the paint we chose for the frames and said, ‘Hey, that’s John Deere green!’ And it was,” Lear said with a chuckle. The color chosen to match the original bunks is, in fact, John Deere green.
Barbie Jo Gray, the CiTi BOCES instructor who led the bedframe project, spoke of her role in the classroom as a facilitator more-so than an instructor. “I fade into the background,” she said, a stance which allows the students to take on more of the leadership roles, such as building out patterns based on an iron reproduction and determining how to replicate the look of antique tool markings. “They took it under their wing and ran with it, giving them the opportunity to gain welding job experience and do community service.”
The project shows the power of volunteerism and community service, having had several key aspects carried across the finish line by supporters across the county, from high school classes to on-site sewing marathons. To learn more about the fort or get involved with volunteering, visit https://historicfortontario.com/join-us/.
