THE GEORGE E. FRANCHERE EDUCATION CENTER

                                                                                                                                                 CONSTRUCTION

The George E. Franchere Education Center is the newest building added to the Mabee Farm Historic Site in Rotterdam Junction, NY. The oldest,
of course, is the Mabee farmhouse that dates to 1705.  The Education Center was  conceived in the mid 1990s, shortly  after the Farm was gifted to
the Society by George Eugene Franchere.   Architect Keith Cramer of Albany began its design in 2001;  the decision to name the future  building for
Mr. Franchere was formalized in 2004, the year of his death; and fund raising began.  After a ceremonial  ground  breaking in 2009,  the design was
completed; bids were solicited; construction began in July 2010; and the ribbon cutting for the finished building was held on October 7, 2011.
(See the Society's November-December Newsletter.)

The Franchere Center is a "green building,"  so called because of its solar panels on the roof of its picnic  pavilion and for the geothermal heating and
cooling emanating from a  closed system of 15 geothermal wells sunk 400 feet into the ground. A new Club Car is available to transport visitors to and
from the Center at 1100 Main  Street to the historic part of the Mabee Farm to the east at 1080 Main Street. The principal reasons for the construction
of the Center were to allow presentation of programs all year long and not just seasonally;  to provide badly  needed space for the storage and care of
artifacts; and to provide adequate space for classroom instruction and historic displays.

The George  E.  Franchere Ed Center consists of three floors that comprise 13,000 square feet, most of which supports formal programs  held  therein.
Necessarily, a certain  amount of space, mostly at the basement  level, is devoted to operation of  the  extensive heating and cooling  system related to
the geothermal  system and to the solar panels that serve as the roof of the picnic pavilion.  The basement level features the John & Sally van Schaick
Lecture Hall, a 120-seat area that can serve as  either a dining  room with a nearby  kitchen or as the locus of overhead  projection of  either a  Blu-Ray
movie, a live HD TV program, or educational  presentations  emanating from a laptop operated by a guest speaker, whether the content  has  been pre-
recorded or invoked live from the Internet.  The Hall is dividable into two isolated  sections, the larger of which is supported by overhead  projection and
the smaller by a wall-mounted large-screen TV, one of four located throughout the building.

The south-side entrance steps that lead up to the  Dutch  door shown in the photo are quite steep.  For logistical  reasons, they had to be,  and that has
rendered the south entrance mostly ceremonial.  There are two functional  entrances on the east side with a ramp leading to each.  The lower and level
one is recommended for handicapped access.  The leftmost and higher ramp brings one to the main entrance and thence into a reception  area on what
is called the "first" floor.  Passing through after registration, one encounters a warm  and welcoming gift shop, one that replaces the former gift shop that
was crammed into the porch of the Mabee  farmhouse.  Straight ahead is the Orville & Marion  Mabee  Gallery, used for display of artifacts, documents,
and art with a common theme that is changed every few weeks. The office of  Director-Curator  Ryan  Mahoney  is just to the right of the main  entrance,
and the office of Patricia Barrot, Mabee Farm  Events  Planning Manager, is next to the Gift Shop.  Down  the  corridor  opposite the main  entrance one
passes the elevator, rest rooms, and enters the  Almy & Anne  Coggeshall  Conference Room, which can  comfortably accommodate up to 22  persons
for meetings, supported by a telephone and a large-screen TV usable as a computer monitor.  The floor above this main floor, contains  office space for
Assistant Curator-Educator Jenna Peterson, plus a very large collections storage area.  This floor is not  ordinarily  open to the public, but is  accessible
to visiting researchers who make prior arrangements with the Director-Curator.

From May through October, both the Center and the Mabee farmhouse and grounds are open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Visitors start
at the reception area on the main floor of the Center, where they may elect to tour both sections of the Site for an admission fee of $8, or one or the other
for $5  (but  free  to  members  and young children). From November through April, the Center hours are the same, but the Mabee farmhouse is open only
by prior appointment.

In addition to its primary function in support of the mission of the Schenectady County Historical Society, the Mabee Farm Historic Site in general and its
George E. Franchere Center in particular serve as a community center, the community being not just our neighbors in Rotterdam Junction, but also those
in our County and beyond who are interested in occasional rental of our facilities. There have been, for years, a certain number of weddings on the farm-
house grounds. Now, there are likely to be many more, some of whose celebrants will want to bring in a caterer and use the van Schaick Lecture / Dining
Hall for their reception. The rentable resources are: