I love how these articles develop. Sometimes I think about a topic for days and nothing comes together and finally in the course of a conversation, a word or phrase will hit me, and I have a topic just like that. For instance, this week’s piece came together in a similar way. I spoke to someone about something and wham — topic. In this case, the topic was discovered while talking about one of my favorite things — antiques.

I love antiques, and the more the merrier, as far as I am concerned. Sometimes though, practicality and space is a concern, not to mention money. With that consideration, my collecting ebbs and flows depending on how deep the pocketbook is.

Recently, someone I know compared collecting to taking a free trip to the past. That is certainly true for family heirlooms as well. A small object or item, while not valuable to most, could hold immense sentimental value and just by the mere fact of picking it up, one can be transported to another time and place.

For me, that could be the same for museum collections, too. Here at Historic Fort Steuben, we have a number of objects that speak to our history. One of my favorites is the original map of the fort created in February 1787 by officers stationed here. The map was created for the occasion of the visit of Maj. Erkuries Beatty. Beatty visited the fort to inspect the soldiers and staff stationed here. One of the officers was instructed to create a plan and a map detailing the placement of all the buildings, sites and uses for the buildings, including how big the complex was.

That map returned with Beatty and was part of his papers. Fast forward more than a few decades, his son, Charles Beatty, became a Presbyterian minister and founded the Steubenville Female Seminary, among other things. The Beattys were prominent and respected members of the Steubenville community in the early to mid-19th century. Beatty was extremely interested in the story of Fort Steuben and when there was discussion about rebuilding the fort, even in his time and place, he was interested. He remembered the map his father had in his papers and was able to secure the original page. That page is now part of the fort collection at the Visitor Center. During the reconstruction of the fort complex after 1986, it was extremely valuable to those working to rebuild the site.

Thanks to Beatty, his son Charles, and his officers at the time, we have a better understanding of the fort, the construction of the buildings and their placement here.

Other objects we have here in our collection are a few land patents signed by presidents. One of my favorites is one by Thomas Jefferson. These are really cool because they are the continuation of the history of Fort Steuben. The fort was built to protect the surveyors of the Northwest Territory. The surveyors were here to open the territory to settlement. The first sales occurred in Steubenville in August of 1797. The first federal land office opened shortly thereafter. When someone came to buy land, they had to pay in hard money — no cash — and the minimum purchase was 640 acres at a dollar an acre. Once the sale was finalized and recorded, one would receive a land patent.

These documents were signed by the president personally prior to 1833. So if you have a land patent prior to that year, the president was required to personally sign it, and you have yourself a genuine signature. To us at the fort, having a document signed by Jefferson is a wonderful thing and a piece that complements our collection. History is circular because Jefferson, of course, was the impetus behind the Lewis and Clark expedition.

As we know, the group passed Steubenville on its way west. Meriwether Lewis and his group set out from Pittsburgh and camped on Browns Island before passing Steubenville. His boats got caught up on some riffles and he had to get some help from Steubenville to pull them off, but not without paying $2 for the assistance.

Working at historic sites in general has given me a good opportunity to see some exciting objects. Years ago, when I was working as an intern at the Fort Pitt Museum, I had the opportunity to see an original post from the fort’s palisade, that is the wooden fence that was built around the site to protect it. We have them here at Fort Steuben, too, but this one was massive. If memory serves, it was excavated in the 1950s at the site and has been in storage ever since. Still, a fantastic piece of local history.

Objects can be buildings, too. Thinking of just a few here in our area, I would say the Peter Tarr furnace, the First Federal Land Office in Steubenville and the Truax House, are fantastic local survivors from the 18th century right here at home. I am certain that in attics or basements around here, there are other important objects that share important local history that are waiting to be brought to light.

These objects truly are a passport to the past. Whether that is a trip down memory lane relating to family history or local history, connecting to that past is important. I am blessed to be a part of bringing that history and those stories to life each and every day at the fort, and with these articles as well. Thanks for reading.

(Zuros is the executive director of Historic Fort Steuben)