Recently, Governor Pataki and Mayor Jennings in Albany announced a plan to reconstruct Fort Orange, Albany's second Fort, on the banks of the Hudson.

I don't mean to burst any bubbles here, but it seems ludicrous when the REAL Fort is lying underneath Broadway waiting to be rediscovered-again! Recreating a Fort out of context, and without knowing enough about the original, is a short sighted attempt to cash in on the increasing demand for heritage tourism. It's the Disneyfication of history.

I have nothing against recreations, especially if they are accurate, but this project isn't remotely defensible. Some $300,000 has been earmarked for a feasibility study?? Why not take that the money and study the feasibility of excavating the real Fort!

The State and city blew it once before when Fort Orange was rediscovered in 1968 by historian John Wolcott. Wolcott had pinpointed the site on a 1790 map drawn by Simeon Dewitt, a meticulous Albany surveyor (formerly director of George Washington's Geography Corp). Wolcott submitted his map to a DOT official and Paul Huey, an archeologist who later oversaw the Fort Orange excavations. DOT was designing Interchange 540, the spaghetti road system now known as I-787.

Wolcott's map helped Huey convince DOT to allow excavations, although DOT confined them to a small wedge of property. The cutoff point was the original east side of Broadway. The west side was confined to a 1933 railroad embankment. In essence, there was a whole block that could have been dug but not allowed.

Excavations occurred from September 1970 to March 1971. About 10% of the entire Fort was excavated, according to a map published by Huey in the Dutch journal KNOB in Amsterdam in 1985.

They found an acute triangular wedge shaped area, a segment just inside the moat and the curtain wall, and the ruins of part of a house just inside the southeast corner of the quad of the Fort. Tons of artifacts were found.

Archaeologists could see the moat lined with river cobbles on the inside slope. However, there were more questions than answers.

The curtain wall (main wall) was missing. Wolcott believes the curtain walls were not made with upright posts (as depicted in Len Tantillo's painting of Fort Orange) because there was no evidence found. The wall was found missing and it's believed the square-hewed timbers may have been taken and reused over the years. Some evidence should have been there - either horizontal or vertical. And if vertical, they should have found post molds or pieces still stuck in the ground. There were none. Wolcott thinks they were horizontally laid, but there was not enough archeology to prove it either way.

Furthermore, we don't know enough detail about the roof construction of the houses, or absolute detail about the buildings inside the Fort Quad area as opposed to the buildings that lined the inside wall. We don't know anything about the Bastian construction (the corners of the quad). Not even a piece of one was found.

The counterscarp (outside edge of the moat) was stone faced, but were there any casemates or countermines, or outer extensions of the defensive works beyond the moat such as horns, crowns, or ravelins?

We don't know enough about the village that surrounded the fort, called the Fuyck.

We don't know about the construction of the water gate and land gate, or possible dock or boat ramp.

Finally, there are no elevations known of the entire Fort or buildings.

These are important points if an accurate reconstruction of the Fort is to take place.

DOT could have altered the original plans and saved Fort Orange in 1971, even without changing the RR or road positions. According to Smith and Mahoney, consulting engineers for the city of Albany, "the site could have been protected for future exploration by spanning the Fort area with a bridge type structure."

Perhaps the real reason for the location of this recreation project is the area next to the real Fort Orange is destined to become a high tech center by Mercer Realty. What lies buried about 14 feet under fill is the main part of the village that existed between 1648 and 1652, and preceded Beverwyck.

Fort Orange was controversial then and will continue with this new proposal. This is not unusual for Albany. When the British captured Manhattan (New Amsterdam) in 1664, one of the councillors, Johannes deDecker, escaped by boat and came to Albany (Fort Orange). He made an attempt to rally the citizens to defend Fort Orange and Beverwyck. The citizens, including soldiers from the Dutch West India Company, were apathetic.

The British took control of Albany without a shot.

Things have not changed much in Albany.