Headed out this morning with the intention of seeing a Grist Mill that was mentioned in some local brochures I had found. Got over to it though and found this really sad old building with a broken down water wheel, there wasn't even any water to speak of. Didn't spend much time there, instead it was off to the big city for me, in this case the village of Johnstown. Wandered around the old downtown area for several hours looking at all the old buildings and houses and exploring some of the quaint old shops they had there. Had a bit of lunch at one nice little cafe, hot turkey sandwich and some wonderful ice tea. They didn't even ask me if I wanted sweet tea or non.

    Didn't really buy anything there except in this one local dollar store, the kind where everything really is a dollar, not a multiple of one. What they had, which is hard to find anymore, was tins of smoked oysters for a $1. They aren't good all of the time, but sometimes at night ya just want something like that and a good cracker to munch on while watching a movie. So I bought 10!

   Otherwise the day was pretty uneventful, got back to the trailer around 7:30 and read for a couple hours, did a crossword puzzle and did the dishes. One nice thing about today, even though it wasn't all that exciting, the sun came back and it almost got warm. Wish there would of been a dance somewhere in the neighborhood tonight. It appears as though this area is a contra dance desert, the closest one being all the way over in Albany. Come Sunday, that drive may not sound as bad as it did tonight when I looked it up.

    Here are the rest of the photo's I shot yesterday over at Fort Klock. Still hope for some interior shots at some point.


A most interesting structure... this is called a Hay Barracks. Built on four post's sunk into the ground, dried hay, or grain is piled under the roof structure to be protected from rain and snow. Each post has a series of holes drilled in it and a peg is used to support the roof framework. When more height is needed because the stack is getting to tall, the whole roof system can be raised up or lowered as needed. I would think that with a small block and tackle setup one person could do it all. But with 2-3 people helping you could probably do the whole procedure in 10 mins or less.

A sign posted nearby that explains it better than I did.

A closeup of one of the posts and the holes drilled through it. The roof frame is notched in a half-lap joint and pinned together with a wooden peg, but the support pin going into the post is a metal rod.

A view of the roof structure from underneath, looking up. All the major joints were joined using post and beam construction joints and pegged with hardwood pegs.

A sign on the property talking about the Revolutionary War battle of Klock's Field which was fought just west of this location. Taking place on Oct 19, 1780, this was a battle between units of the 'Kings Royal Regiment', made up mostly of Indians and loyalists, and the 'Palatine District Regiment' of rebel forces of the area, under the command of Brig. General Robert Van Rensselaer with several assistants, including Col. Jacob Klock actually directing the battle. My interpretation seems to show that we won, but the British forces still managed to escape across the river and continue burning and ravaging the countryside. So it wasn't a total victory. Still; hurray for the Rebels! (Note: Wikipedia has a pretty good description of it all... just type in Battle of Klock's Field).

The one room school house located on the property. Not sure how long this building has been here. Yet another question to ask when I meet up with an actual person.

A plaque located on a large rock near the road. Placed there by descendants of Johannes Klock.

A limestone block building used as the blacksmith shop. Stone would of been a good material for a smithy... less chance of fire that way.

The Highway Dept's sign pointing to Fort Klock.