Park ranger keeps history current

Bill Valosin tends to lose track of time. He says that's what happens when you work at an historical site.

The parishioner of Immaculate Conception Church in Glenville is a park ranger at Saratoga National Historical Park, the site of the 1777 Battles of Saratoga, a turning point in the Revolutionary War.

The park actually includes three separate sites: Saratoga Battlefield in Stillwater, the Saratoga Monument in the town of Victory and the Gen. Philip Schuyler House in Schuylerville.

Into the past

Dressing as an 18th-century militiaman or managing a park's website are not exactly what Ranger Valosin planned to do with his life. Though National Geographic magazine and the PBS show "Nova" were staples of his childhood, Gettysburg was the only historical site he ever visited.

Instead, he planned a career teaching social studies to middle- and high-schoolers. But jobs were hard to come by, so he took a position with a small environmental education center in Massachusetts.

Then a friend called, saying, "I'm doing an internship at Saratoga Historical Park, and there's a ranger position opening here. I'm not qualified for it, but you are."

"This is a bit unusual, but I could do this," Ranger Valosin thought. Fast-forward more than five years, and the ranger now declares: "This job has been a combination of many areas of interest -- Scouting, history, education. It's all come together here. I love my job."

New amid old

There's no such thing as a "typical day" for the park ranger. On any given day, he might be manning the battlefield's front desk, updating its website, conducting an educational program for a group of visiting students, or showing off his skills in a musket, woodworking or tinsmithing demonstration.

"Not a week goes by when I'm not learning something new or developing my abilities," Ranger Valosin noted.

Take, for example, a 45-minute program for schoolchildren: How does an educator get them enthusiastic about history? Ranger Valosin sometimes starts by pointing to a display of 18th-century toothbrushes on the wall and asking why they have no bristles.

When a student correctly guesses that they've rotted away, Ranger Valosin explains that they would have been made of boar bristles -- boiled, of course, before the colonists used them for oral hygiene.

Picture this

Since New York State's educational curriculum requires that students learn about the Battles of Saratoga, Ranger Valosin tries to get their imaginations going by having the students picture themselves as American soldiers fighting the British for independence.

He talks about soldiers getting new uniforms each year, comparing the condition of a uniform after a year of wear to the condition of each student's favorite sneakers after the same amount of time. Students can even try on a replica of a uniform.

Artillery is a favorite subject of Ranger Valosin's; he's had specialized safety training for antique firearms. For some "living history" demonstrations, he dresses as a militiaman or Continental soldier and shows how muskets were loaded and fired, explaining that armies had to line up in rows for "rank-and-file firing" because they could only fire one shot at a time.

"The tactics follow the technology," the ranger noted.

On-line and on foot

On other days, the ranger might spend hours putting a collection of photos onto the park's website, www.nps.gov/sara, and writing the accompanying text.

He said that because he "learned by experimentation" how to manage the park's website, he's become its webmaster and spends more and more time on the computer.

Tours of the Schuyler House or talking to hiking Boy Scouts about the walking trails that once felt the footsteps of British soldiers are also on the ranger's agenda. He has even become something of a seamstress, saying of his fellow rangers: "We all dabble in sewing. There's always a repair that needs to be done on the uniforms or accoutrements."

Learning center

But whether it's technology or history, there's always more to learn. Even after five-plus years there, Ranger Valosin dreads visitors who know every tiny detail about the Battles of Saratoga and challenge him on facts. He refers such mavens to other rangers with very specific areas of interest.

"I didn't want to work at a place like Gettysburg because you have people who've been studying this [site] for years and know the most picayune details," he explained. "I'm a generalist."

Since most visitors to the park are travelers passing through, the ranger is used to fielding confused questions like, "Where were the Confederate troops?"

He also has to explain that the bit of the park visible from the visitor's center's main overlook doesn't show most of where the actual fighting took place.

The most frequent question visitors ask, however, is one Ranger Valosin answers most easily: "Where are the bathrooms?"

Church involvement

In addition to being a park ranger, educator and webmaster, Mr. Valosin is an active member of Young Adult Ministry for the Albany Diocese (YAMAlbany) and participates in a Scripture-study group at Corpus Christi parish in Round Lake.

At one point, he even thought of combining his faith and career by portraying a Revolutionary War-era military chaplain, but he found the training was too intense.

Still, he noted, "the Supreme Court said that whatever your religious persuasion, you don't have to check your faith at the door [at work]. I like to think I take my faith wherever I go. Without it, would I be a good employee? Probably not."

He even believes God led him to his job. When he first heard about the park ranger position opening up, he recalled mentioning it to a fellow catechist at the parish he was attending in Massachusetts.

"This fell into your lap," the catechist replied. "That's usually how God works."

(Saratoga National Historical Park's visitor's center is open year-round except Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. It is located at 648 Rt. 32, Stillwater. Call 664-9821, ext. 224, or visit www.nps.gov/sara. Upcoming events at the park include a candlelight tour of the Schuyler House Oct. 18 and a holiday open house at the visitor's center Dec. 7. For information, call 664-9821, extension 224. The Schuyler House and Saratoga Monument are open seasonally.)

(10/16/03) [[In-content Ad]]