To the Editor:

The possible eventual demise of the Hilton-LeVie barn on Route 85A near Voorheesville emphasizes the need for a listing of historical sites and landmarks in the town of New Scotland that should be protected from owners and future owners of those properties.

There are a finite number of historical properties located within this town and the decision to resurrect or destroy them should be pre-determined by the community in order that we might preserve our American heritage before it is lost to modernization. A landowner must have rights, but when they take ownership of an historic property in the town of New Scotland they must acknowledge essential and necessary conclusions that sensitive properties will not be drastically changed or destroyed.

Enjoy ownership of historic properties as they are or sell them to someone else who will appreciate them, as they are! The action to save our important places and history recognizes the respect we should all have for our ancestors and the people who pioneered our community.

Whether it is the seller of the Hilton-LeVie barn or the developer of the eventual homes on that site, I cannot believe they need money so badly that the only course they can take is to remove or destroy this barn. These people are probably respected businessmen in our community so why would they want the community sore at them?

By the way, I would like to know exactly, by name, who is responsible for threatening the existence of such an historical icon like the LeVie-Hilton barn. Let us know their name that we can record it on the historical marker that will one day adorn the side of the road where the barn once stood.

The sign might read as follows: Here stood a magnificently unique and historic barn that was torn down by so-and-so who didn’t really need the money but may have been a little greedy. A name that will be recorded in infamy as a destroyer or remover of New Scotland’s history.

You should not be able to so easily enter into our neighborhoods and destroy our history and landmarks just because you can afford to. Some things outweigh money, like personal integrity and honor! Preserve the history of our America!

Timothy J. Albright

Meadowdale

Town of New Scotland