Three Rivers
Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie
History From America's Most Famous Valleys

Answer to charges brought against Fort Klock Historic Restoration
In 1936, these photos were taken of Fort Klock by the Historic American Buildings Survey.
Click on this site to see the photos for yourself.
LONG before it became an historic restoration!

Please check this link and purchase the book by Ken Johnson. In it he clearly tells where the Ellwood property was located, on the SOUTH side of the river!

The Van Horne Patent map from Ken Johnson, shows where the Elwoods are. The book states," A map of 1775 of the Van Horne Patent states a Hendrick Hoeber and the widow Elwood own homes in Lot One of the Second Allotment Of the Van Horne Patent" (Alexander Papers, Box 19A); page 445 of Ken's book.

Note: According to this document, the BUILDER of Fort Klock is William Pick, Master Mason. This is from HABS, Historic American Buildings Survey. 1936-1937.

You can clearly see the deterioration in the left front part of the building. This was repaired by the restoration work. HABS photo also.

Next Item. Notice the triangle in the upper area.HABS photo.
Obviously it was not put there by the restoration, as charged by one of our visitors to the web page.

"Ft. Klock is NOT Ft. Klock, and it was not BUILT by a Klock. It was built by my ancestor Richard Ellwood. His children, among them, his son, my ancestor, Richard Ellwood, Jr. were born in and lived in that house. Richard Ellwood, Sr. was commissioned, with one other man, by Sir William Johnson, to BUILD that place, and after Richard Ellwood's death in 1754, it ended up in the hands of the Klocks, who added an addition to it. The place was known, far more properly, for many years, as the ELLWOOD/Klock Stone house. It is NOT the Ft. Klock of history, as your site properly points out. That my ancestor who actually built the place, is no longer EVEN MENTIONED, is a great injustice, keenly felt by his descendants. I am in possession of several clear photographs, showing that the stones over a niche that once held the carved initial E for ELLWOOD, have either been reversed or replaced so that the E for ELLWOOD no longer is visible, and dark repointing mortar has been plastered over the original inscription of the TRUE BUILDER OF THIS STONE HOME RICHARD ELLWOOD, and false initials scraped into this modern and obviously fake surface. Elwood descendants are aware of this deception, and are very distressed that the contribution of our ancestor Richard Ellwood, and his place in history has been willfully and wrongfully erased. My ancestor Richard Elwood, the son of Richard Ellwood was BORN in that house now called "Ft. Klock". The Klocks did not come into possession of that place until after Richard Ellwood's death in 1754, and added only a small addition, to which the Klock initials were added. I would like an explanation of the actions of the "restorers" of "The Ellwood-Klock Stone Home" in destroying historical TRUTH by deliberately defacing and effacing Richard Ellwood's initial and signature. Sharilyn Whitaker sharilyn@northcoast.com "

(Note from Webmaster: Please check the Deed, 1742, between Johannes Klock and John Wendell. Johannes Klock was the owner of the land from 1742. There has been no "deliberate defacing of the stone house". Just the fact that the Klocks have lived in the house since the mid 1700's until the time it was turned over to the trust should be enough to name the site "Fort Klock".) Deed and Harrison Patent Land Map.

Possibly the Ellwoods owned some land in the area. The widow Ellwood owned a piece of property across the river, not too far from Fort Klock, according to one old map. We will continue to research. This message has been very upsetting to our organization. Still another possibility was that Mr. Ellwood built the northern addition and lived with the family during this time. This was commonly done. There still doesn't seem to be proof of the Ellwood's owning the house, just someone saying they did is not proof.