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The Captain Scott House started a slow journey to its new location at 8:45 a.m. Sunday, and movers hoped to have it to its new site by today (Thursday).

Donna Herring, chair of the Friends of Captain Scott committee of the Alexandria Community Council, said Monday morning that Dingey movers had transported the house to about a half-mile from its final destination.

"If the weather were perfect, it would be a three-day trip," she said. "It could be Thursday to get where we're going. It's a slow process. They have to leap frog steel plates to keep the ground from compacting. There are only so many steel plates, but they're an incredibly efficient team."

In order to move the house, many permits had to be approved, phone lines were dropped and a pipeline company was on notice.

The Captain Scott House had been at the corner of state Route 37 and 161 for nearly 140 years. The house needed to be moved to make way for the 37/161 widening project of the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT).

The Ohio State Highway Patrol closed state Route 37 between state Route 161 and Granville Street (Raccoon Valley Road) in Alexandria in order to move the house.

The process of moving the house -- over 42 feet at its widest and 80 feet in its longest dimensions -- involved traveling north on 37 about 1200 feet to the first farm drive, then turning west into a field, which is currently being prepared to plant corn. About three days later, weather permitting, it is to arrive at its new location on 37 west of Alexandria, having traveled about a mile over farm fields at a rate of 100-150 feet per hour.

""We're clearing brush from fence lines as we get there," Herring said. "There's one tree we have to take down that we knew we would. It's crawling to its destination."

Land for a new site has been donated, and much of the construction of a basement and other infrastructure in the new location has been offered in-kind as well. About $7,000 is still needed to complete the relocation.

Once the house is stabilized, the restoration phase of the project will begin.

"It has been going smoothly," Herring said. "We're out of ODOT's way and a third of the way to our destination. There are two holes in the roof that need to be checked. A chimney came down and a hatch for a widow's walk."

Three barns must be removed to make room for the house at the former Brookside Dairy location, now owned by Brookside Materials/Kurtz Brothers, a Columbus-area sand and gravel company.

"We were able to help Brookside find a buyer for the oldest barn," Herring said. "And the big white barn nearest 37 will stay. It seems to be the one more people have sentimental attachment to."

The big red barn at the dairy, built in 1865, is being disassembled and will be shipped and reassembled in South Dakota.

While the barns are being removed, the Captain Scott House will be on wheels nearby.

"We'll be working on the final site plan, permitting and basement construction," Herring said. "We only have 28 days' storage on the house mover's equipment, and then we have to start paying a rental fee so there's a good incentive to finish up this phase very soon."

Another good reason to get the house down on its new basement as fast as possible, Herring said, is that there's a donor for the exterior painting.

"We're aiming to get it done by Fun Days," she said.

Fun Days is a summer carnival and homecoming event in Alexandria, which raises funds for the township fire department and is scheduled for July 18-21 this year.

All Aspects Coatings, of Newark, is donating painting services for the exterior, and brought in their suppliers as donors too, including Pittsburgh Paints and American Crane.

The home was built circa 1870 for Joseph M. Scott, an outspoken abolitionist and locally prominent farmer and historian who earned his captainship in the Civil War.

A classic example of the Victorian Italianate architectural style, the home was built on a grand scale and includes an original spiral staircase and stone fireplaces.

ODOT gave the house to the village during the eminent domain procedure for the property, at request of the village. The village did not have funds for a historic preservation project, and has transferred the house to the Alexandria Community Council, which has raised the funds and in-kind donations for the project.

The Alexandria Community Council is a nonprofit group active for over 75 years in support of community events and projects in the village and St. Albans township.

The $7,000 needed to complete the relocation phase of the project must be raised in the next month, and the second, restoration, phase will begin when the house is stabilized in its new location.

Tax-deductible donations may be sent to the Alexandria Community Council, Friends of Captain Scott Committee, P.O. Box 234, Alexandria 43001. Contact Donna Herring, secretary of the Alexandria Community Council (740-924-0516) or e-mail CaptainScott@AlexandriaOH.org.