Have you ever heard of a French Connection to Ballston or wondered about what the town was like 100 years ago?
Those answers and more will be revealed by Town Historian Rick Reynolds in a presentation entitled “History Isn’t Old, It’s New” on Tuesday, May 22, at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall Community Room on Charlton Road.
He’ll also be discussing some recent discoveries, including a lot of mystery surrounding a tabletop desk found in the attic of a town resident.
According to Reynolds, the legless desk was used by town clerks before town offices were built. It’s no surprise the desk was found in a home, but he promises that there is much more to the story that he will expose at the presentation.
Reynolds gives several presentations every year as historian and before taking the post in 2004, he taught social studies for 37 years at O’Rourke Middle School. Now retired at 62, he enjoys being able to continue to share history with the community.
“He was a favorite of many students, including my own children, ”Town Supervisor Patti Southworth said.
She added that he’s “very passionate about history” and that comes across especially when he performs re-enactments, which he has done in the classroom and as historian.
“I’ve always had an incredible interest in local history. … I totally enjoy what I do, it gives me the opportunity to research and analyze a lot of the history of this area and I just plain love history,” Reynolds said.
Past presentations have included a look back at the town during each century since the 1700s, the history of the BHBL School District and where names in communities come from. He has also written a book about the area, “From Wilderness to Community,” published in 2005.
One of the stories Reynolds shares with audiences about community names involves how Burnt Hills got its name. There is an interesting, though somewhat gruesome, back story, depending on what version from the late1600s tale you believe.
The first account holds that the people of Schenectady would often see the surrounding hills ablaze as Native American set the brush on fire. New growth attracted deer, providing the Mohawk Indians with food and hides.
“This area became known to the people of Schenectady as ‘the land of the burnt hills.’” Reynolds said.
The second story says Native Americans traveling in the woods draped in deerskins were seen by settlers who realized getting the deerskins would be easier “if they stole them from the Indians rather than kill the deer themselves.”
“So they killed the Indians and stole the deerskins, and burned the area to cover up their crime. Everybody always tells me they like the first story better,” said Reynolds.
He added each version is folklore, and thus hard to prove. But, the second scenario may have a little bit more credibility since settlers and Native Americans “didn’t get along so well.” Then again, Ballston is said to be unique because the relationship between the two groups was not perceived as a problem there.
Lively stories like this and the way he tells them enable Reynolds to keep the community interested in history. And it came in handy for his students as well. So, what’s his secret?
“There are a couple of things that I truly believe. Number one, history is not about the past. History is about the present, because everything that we are is because of what we were,” he said.
He also said history is “just like the word: stories” and he promises audiences will hear a lot of them.
Those stories are often aided by lively re-enactments of characters that originated in the classroom. He portrays United States Treasurer Samuel Meredith (one of his own relations) and Brian the hippie from1969. Still enlisting their personages, Reynolds has been presenting them in area schools, social organizations and his own presentations for the past 20years.
“He has a way about him to captivate the audience by the way he presents the material,” said Southworth.
For the past several years, Reynolds has also had the good fortune of having middle school students help him preserve the town’s history through community service projects.
“Oftentimes the students do photograph preservation. … Each photo is preserved in a three-layer preservation technique. … Since I have hundreds of pictures, this is a very long task. … They ask questions about the pictures, giving me the opportunity to talk about some of the history of Ballston to them. They are a huge help as I would never have the time to do all this myself,” he said.
Reynolds also said that he’s very lucky to live in Ballston, where residents are “very interested in their history.”
