What I’ve Been Up To….

Adventures with Courtney will be adventuring beyond Northern New York in the very near future.

I have some really awesome news as to where I’ve been the past couple of months…I’ve spent a lot of time on a number of research projects that I plan on sharing with you on this platform, below is one of the projects I’ve been working on.

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I'm in the process of writing a blog post on the Military Turnpike Road in Clinton County. This cemetery is located on that route between Plattsburgh and Ellensburg, NY. The stones were inscribed in the 1930's by Hugh McLellan, his son Charles, and daughter-in-law Hulda. The nearly identical large stones seen in this image are for Lydia Johnson, who died in 1842 at age 52 and her son, Andrew, who passed in 1840 at age 22. #localhistory #clintoncounty #preservation #cemetery #adventurewithcourtney

A post shared by Courtney Doyle (@doylecl192) on Jan 10, 2017 at 6:49am PST

In the mean time though, I wanted to share some other really awesome news.

Since graduating from the University of Vermont, I’ve worked not exactly ideal positions, worked as a consultant on the side, and have applied to countless positions related to the field of historic preservation. The number of consultant projects and this blog have been a great way to keep myself involved and “actively” using my educational background to share awesome history stories from around Northern New York and my other travels.

BUT, applying to numerous positions, and not getting hired for any, has been tough and mentally exhausting. Most recently, back in November and December, I went thorough a round of interviews for a position with a preservation organization. Ultimately I was not hired. Then the unusual happened. The same week I was given the news about one job opportunity falling through, I was contacted about another job opportunity with F. E. M. A. (Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security). I had applied to F. E. M. A. way back in July!

The really awesome, cool news is that I was hired by F. E. M. A. to be a reservist historic preservation specialist! Since being hired a majority of my free time has been spent on filling out paperwork for the new position. There’s been a lot of paperwork. More paperwork than you would imagine. I actually have a folder of all the paperwork I had to fill out.

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Arrived in Washington DC. Super excited to start orientation for my historic preservation job with FEMA! #travel #washingtondc #potomac #cityview #preservation #adventurewithcourtney

A post shared by Courtney Doyle (@doylecl192) on Jan 22, 2017 at 10:02am PST

Fast forward to now, I just got back from orientation for F. E. M. A., which lasted for two weeks in Potomac, Maryland. Potomac is located about 30 minutes outside of Washington D. C. There was a lot of information to take in and paperwork to hold onto. It’s been really exciting to be offered this position because I’ll get to use my education to help communities rebuild after disasters occur. It’s exciting and nerve-racking at the same time to think about what I will be doing and as a reservist I will be required to travel a lot.

The orientation was located at the William F. Bolger Center, which is owned by the U. S. Postal Service. The property is used for training, as a hotel (both business and regular travelers), and parts of the center can be rented for weddings, social events, etc. It’s a really nice place and the food was soooooo good!

This is the Osgood Building. It was constructed in the 1930’s and was used as a Catholic convent. In 1980, the U.S. Postal Service purchased the property for use as a conference and training center.

So the Osgood Building is named after this man: Samuel Osgood. Osgood was appointed as the first Postmaster General by President Washington in 1789 under the new Constitution; he served until 1791.

Within the Osgood Building there’s a “Stained Glass Hall.” Besides being used as a convent, the building was also a school for disabled children. The room must have been a type of auditorium when it was used as a convent and school. This is the ceiling of that large hall.

These are the stained glass windows! There are about 5 or 6 on each side of the room.

The Bolger Center is owned by the Postal Service and there happens to be a number of artifacts displayed pertaining to the history of the post office. This cart is located in the Franklin Building, where orientation was located. The building is named after Benjamin Franklin, who also was a postmaster for a majority of his life. He was named the first Postmaster General by the Second Continental Congress in 1775.

So the Bolger Center has a very nice walking trail that encircles the entire campus. This was a photo I took while walking around one late afternoon.

On another walking adventure, I scared the daylights out of some deer. There are two deer in this photo, can you spot them?!?

The cool thing about being at the Center, is that the hotel offered shuttle services into Bethesda where there’s a metro station. So the weekend I had off during the two week orientation, I was able to go into Washington D. C., which I’ve never been to!!!! I saw a lot of really awesome stuff yet limited my visit to the National Mall and a couple of places really close to the Mall because of the lack of time I had in the Capital. That means I will probably split what I saw in Washington D. C. into two separate posts: Morning Adventures in the Capital and Afternoon Adventures on the National Mall… oh boy. I need to get better at titles.

Here are some images of what’s to come!

A view of the interior of Union Station in Washington D.C. It just had a lot of restoration work done on it.

Some of the monuments that are visible from the fence out front of the White House.

For more information about the William F. Bolger Center this is their website: http://www.bolgercenter.com/.

Information about the history of the Bolger Center came from one news article… I wish I could have found more information because the Osgood Building was very cool. Peggy Vaughn,”Bolger Center Opens Doors to Weddings, Parties,” The Gazette, Oct. 13, 2004,  http://www.gazette.net/gazette_archive/2004/200442/potomac/news/240005-1.html.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments about the Bolger Center or if you could find both of those deer in the woods!

Thanks for reading!

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