History, Natural History & the Arts
The Black River Canal ran from Rome, NY north to Lyons Falls. This feeder canal system connected the Erie Canal to the Black River and had profound economic impact on Rome and other communities where the canal flowed through.
In the city of Rome, the Black River Canal was filled in and is known today as Black River Boulevard. Sections of the original canal system are still visible in parts of Oneida County. [Read more…] about Black River Canal Program at Rome Historical Society
Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor is inviting New Yorkers to take part in the Canalway Challenge in 2022 to trace history and track miles on the New York State Canal System and Canalway Trail.
The free program invites participants to choose a personal mileage goal and then walk, run, cycle, or paddle to achieve it and receive recognition. [Read more…] about 2022 Canalway Challenge Kicks Off
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced $4.5 million is being awarded to the State University of New York’s University at Buffalo to create a new Center for Plastic Recycling Research and Innovation and support crucial work to reduce plastic waste.
This expanded academic partnership will improve plastics recycling by researching the development of secondary recyclable markets to ease the financial burdens on municipal recycling programs and streamline the recycling process, especially with certain types of lower-grade plastics. [Read more…] about $4.5M for Buffalo Center for Plastic Recycling Research and Innovation
In December 1813, during the War of 1812, there was a human catastrophe as a result of the burning of the Niagara Frontier. Only one home was spared along the 37-mile-long border and upwards of 6,000 refugees fled into the snowy forests heading for the Genesee River and safety.
Richard V. Barbuto’s book New York’s War of 1812: Politics Society and Combat (University of Oklahoma Press, 2021), looks back to the War of 1812, from the beleaguered Fort McHenry to the burning White House to an embattled New Orleans. [Read more…] about 1813: Fall of Fort Niagara & Burning the Niagara Frontier
Genesee Country Village & Museum, located in the town of Wheatland, Monroe County, NY, about 20 miles from Rochester, opens for the 2022 regular season on Saturday, May 7th, welcoming guests to immerse themselves in the rich history and natural environment of NY State’s Genesee Valley region.
As one of the largest living history museums in New York, GCV&M encompasses over 600 acres and includes 68 buildings in the Historic Village, a significant collection of wildlife art and 19th-century garments in the John L. Wehle Gallery, and over five miles of trails and habitats at the Genesee Country Nature Center. [Read more…] about Genesee Country Village & Museum Opens May 7
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is asking the public for information about a deer poaching incident that occurred on April 25th, 2022, in the area of Pillar Point in the town of Brownville, Jefferson County, between midnight and 5 am. [Read more…] about Public’s Assistance Sought With Jefferson County Deer Poaching
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents throughout New York State. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people.
What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers. [Read more…] about Rangers Respond to Brush Fires, Injured Hiker
In the nineteenth century Lewis County settlements east of the Black River were just getting established; most of these included at least one saw mill. By 1820 these settlements were beginning to push their way up the rivers into the Adirondacks, and new mills were being built along their courses. A Copenhagen, NY farmer on Tug Hill, viewing the Adirondack panorama spread out to his east, wrote the following in a Journal & Republican article titled “North Woods Wonder:”
“All the wilderness is strewn with lakes as if some great mirror had been shattered by an Almighty hand, and scattered through the forests for Nature to make her toilet by … And how the rivers meander the woods as the veins of a human hand. There are Beaver, Moose, and Indian, Bog, Grass and Racket… And how rough and shaggy the wilderness is with mountains … Let them pass unnamed.”
One of these “shattered” gems was Twitchell Lake. [Read more…] about Logging The Adirondacks From The West (1800-1820)
The Genesee Country Village & Museum, a 19th-century living history museum covering more than 600 acres located in the town of Wheatland, Monroe County, NY, about 20 miles from Rochester, will open “Duck, Duck, Shoot! The Story of American Waterbirds,” a new exhibit in the John L. Wehle Gallery focused on the history of waterfowling in nineteenth-century America, on Saturday, May 7th. [Read more…] about New Exhibit, The Story of American Waterbirds, Opens Saturday
Few New York State farms had electric power in the 1920s. Even as late as 1930 ninety percent of farm families nationwide had no line-run electricity. On long winter evenings city dwellers could read and sew long past sunset, but farm families sat in near darkness and did chores, such as milking the cows, in the dim light of kerosene lanterns.
Some farmers used Delco-Light Plants made up of ranks of glass-jarred lead-storage batteries located in dirt-floored basements for electric power. As Delco’s slogan was, “Delco systems sell best by night,” Delco salesman cleverly arrived at dusk with small Delco systems to demonstrate to farmers how these DC-units, when sufficiently massed, could bring to the farm what folks in the cities enjoyed. But Delco systems were expensive, and the batteries had to be recharged with a generator powered by a gasoline engine. [Read more…] about The Night the Lights Came On: Electricity on New York State Farms