Something to write home about
George Relic, center, and Chip Nelson, National Park Service unit manager for Friendship Hill, are shown in West Overton’s formal parlor with registrar Stephanie Koller looking over the letter signed by Albert Gallatin. The letter will be formally presented May 1 to NPS, which manages Gallatin’s estate at Friendship Hill National Historic Site.
The red wax from Albert Gallatin’s stamp can still be seen on the envelope of the 193-year-old letter to La Rochelle Port in France.
POINT MARION – A nearly 200-year-old letter, which had been buried in the archives of a Scottdale museum for years and written by one the country’s pre-eminent diplomats, soon will be displayed at the historic estate of its author.
The content of the letter itself from Albert Gallatin, a politician and treasurer secretary during America’s earliest years, is nothing “earth-shattering.”
It’s described as routine bureaucratic correspondence written by Gallatin in 1823 while he was ambassador to France explaining new maritime trade agreements between America and the French La Rochelle Port.
“There’s nothing earth-shattering about the letter,” said National Park Service Ranger Brian Reedy, the chief of Interpretation and Visitor Services at Friendship Hill and Fort Necessity. “It’s typical business he would’ve written while ambassador to France. Still, visitors like to see that stuff.”
But the marvelous condition of the 193-year-old document with Gallatin’s handwriting and signature still legible – along with his red wax seal on the envelope – is being hailed as a treasure that will bring history buffs back to the 19th century.
The letter and envelope will be handed over to the National Park Service for placement at Friendship Hill National Historic Site, Gallatin’s estate in Fayette County near the banks of the Monongahela River just north of Point Marion, during a ceremony at 2 p.m. May 1.
“The fact it’s still intact is very significant,” said George Relic, president of the Friendship Hill Association. “Practically speaking, it’s just a normal document with the humdrum of bureaucratic proceedings.”
It has remained in such condition, Relic said, because of the care it received while in archival storage at the West Overton Village Museum in Scottdale. The problem, however, is that although members of that group knew the “Gallatin Letter” existed, they didn’t know where it was located for years.
Stephanie Koller, a registrar at West Overton, said two volunteers began working a couple years ago to document their archives piece by piece. They found the letter in pristine condition. The group worked closely with the Heinz History Center to confirm its authenticity and restore the document, which Koller said didn’t take much work.
“Finding something that was signed by Albert Gallatin, it was really exciting for us,” Koller said. “It’s just not something that happens. The next step in the process was to restore it and conserve it.”
But the letter did not fit in West Overton Village’s museum collection, which was a historic rye whiskey distillery and also the birthplace of renowned industrialist Henry Clay Frick.
The group sought out the Friendship Hill Association, which was all too pleased to have a piece of Gallatin’s professional history at the site. Reedy said the linen paper aided in preserving the document, although no one knows the lineage of the letter or how West Overton gained control of it.
“It’s definitely a mystery,” Reedy said. “Regardless, to be in its condition and very readable, someone obviously took great care of it.
“We’re fortunate that we have a friends group that could help pay for the conservation costs, and it can be displayed at a place where it can be appreciated by the public.”
Gallatin was a U.S. senator and congressman briefly before serving as treasury secretary for 13 years in the early 1800s. He then spent another seven years as ambassador to France. Locally, he is better known for helping to calm the Whiskey Rebellion and pushing for federal funding to finance the National Road while treasury secretary.
Relic said the letter came not long after the end of the War of 1812, which pitted Britain and America in a rematch of the Revolutionary War and brought France in as an even closer ally to this country. The oceans, Relic said, were the “equivalent of the internet” in that day, making the maritime instructions from Gallatin to his counterpart in France answering questions about American ship tonnage an important correspondence.
“Control the ocean, and you control knowledge,” Relic said.
Relic is hoping the ceremony next weekend will remind people of local history and Gallatin’s influence on early America.
“I’m hoping for local pride,” Relic said. “He was so involved in the fabric of America and he’s been forgotten. This was just dropped into our lap.”
Friendship Hill is located at 223 New Geneva Road just north of Point Marion. For more information about the ceremony, call 724-725-9190 or go online to www.nps.gov/frhi.