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Seneca County

Wildfire At Bennington Battlefield One Of Several Across New York State

June 2, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

wildfire at bennington battlefield state historic site in may 2023New York State Forest Rangers and local fire departments have been battling numerous wildfires that burned about 13 acres around New York State since May 23rd, including one at the Bennington Battlefield State Historic Site. Several of the fires were started from illegal burning. Several tickets were issued and other fires were still being investigated on Thursday. [Read more…] about Wildfire At Bennington Battlefield One Of Several Across New York State

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Mohawk Valley, Nature, Recreation, Western NY Tagged With: Bennington Battlefield SHS, Ellisburg, Forest Ranger Reports, Forestport, Hoosick Falls, Jefferson County, Lakeview Lakeview Wildlife Management Area, Nassau, Oneida County, Rensselaer County, Seneca County, Seward, Walloomasc, wildfires

Erratic Fisher Spurs Emergency Response

March 17, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

fisher provided by Adirondack Wildlife RefugeOn February 17th, Environmental Conservation Officers (ECOs) Gross and Levanway responded to a call from a teller at the Lyons National Bank in Seneca Falls, Seneca County, NY, reporting a fisher running laps around the building. [Read more…] about Erratic Fisher Spurs Emergency Response

Filed Under: Nature, Western NY Tagged With: ECOs, fishers, Seneca County, Seneca Falls, Wildlife

Historic Preservation: Landmark Society Names Five to Revive

January 30, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Hotel CadillacThe Landmark Society of Western New York has announced its 2022-23 Five to Revive – a list that identifies opportunities for targeted, strategic revitalization. The announcement was made at a news conference last week at the Landmark Society headquarters in the Warner Castle in Rochester. [Read more…] about Historic Preservation: Landmark Society Names Five to Revive

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Architecture, Department of Corrections, Finger Lakes, Finger Lakes Land Trust, Historic Preservation, Landmark Society of Western New York, Monroe County, Ontario County, Rochester, Seneca County, Seneca Lake

Smallmouth Bass State Record Broken on Cayuga Lake

July 3, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

NYS record smallmouth bass courtesy Thomas RussellA new state record for smallmouth bass was set on June 15th, opening day for bass season.

Thomas Russell Jr., of Albion reeled in an eight-pound, six-ounce smallmouth bass from Cayuga Lake, Seneca County. Russell’s bass surpassed the previous record by two ounces, a tie between fish caught on Lake Erie in 1995, and in the St. Lawrence River in 2016. [Read more…] about Smallmouth Bass State Record Broken on Cayuga Lake

Filed Under: Nature, Recreation, Western NY Tagged With: Cayuga Lake, fish, Fisheries, fishing, Seneca County

Under Threat: Willard State Hospital at Seneca Lake

June 20, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Willard State Hospitals Hadley Hall c 1887Willard State Hospital in Romulus, Seneca County, NY has defined the physical landscape and cultural environment of its rural corner of the Finger Lakes region for nearly 175 years. The hospital complex was the largest of its kind in the 1870s, with dozens of buildings, open space, and working farms.

Once comprising over 1,000 acres, its current size is about 400 acres including a mile of Seneca Lake shoreline and an institutional cemetery containing approximately 6,000 burials. Despite the loss of several architecturally important buildings, about 70 buildings still stand today. [Read more…] about Under Threat: Willard State Hospital at Seneca Lake

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Architecture, Crime and Justice, Department of Corrections, Empire State Development Corporation, Finger Lakes, Historic Preservation, Medical History, Preservation League of NYS, Public Health, Romulus, Seneca County, Seneca Lake, Willard State Hospital

Central-Finger Lakes Segment of Statewide Birding Trail Opens

May 14, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

bird watchers courtesy DECNew York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the grand opening of the Central-Finger Lakes segment of the New York State Birding Trail to highlight the state’s world-class and wide-ranging birding opportunities.

The Central-Finger Lakes segment includes 54 locations throughout 15 counties, providing a variety of quality birding experiences for New Yorkers and visitors to enjoy. [Read more…] about Central-Finger Lakes Segment of Statewide Birding Trail Opens

Filed Under: Mohawk Valley, Nature, Recreation, Western NY Tagged With: birding, birds, Cayuga County, Chenango County, Cortland County, DEC, Finger Lakes, High Tor WMA, Lake Ontario, Livingston County, Madison County, Monroe County, Montezuma National Wildelife Refuge, nature, New York State Birding Trail, Oneida County, Onondaga County, Ontario County, Oswego County, Otsego County, Seneca County, Tompkins County, Wayne County, Wildlife, Yates County

Simeon DeWitt: America’s Surveyor General

April 25, 2022 by Peter Hess 2 Comments

The Roemer map of Albany 1698 showing fort orange and BeverwyckTjerck Claeszen DeWitt immigrated to New Amsterdam (now New York City) from Grootholt in Zunterlant in 1656. Grootholt means Great Wood and Zunterland was probably located on the southern border of East Friesland, a German territory on the North Sea only ten miles from the most northerly province of the Netherlands.

By 1657, Tjerck DeWitt married Barber (Barbara) Andrieszen (also Andriessen) in the New Amsterdam Dutch Church and moved to Beverwyck (now Albany). While in Beverwyck, he purchased a house. At this time Albany contained 342 houses and about 1,000 residents, about 600 of whom were members of the Dutch Church. [Read more…] about Simeon DeWitt: America’s Surveyor General

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Albany Rural Cemetery, American Revolution, Aurelius, Brutus, Camillus, Cato, Cayuga County, Cicero, Cincinnatus, Dryden, Fabius, Galen, Geography, George Washington, Greece, Hannibal, Hector, Homer, Ithaca, Junius, Kingston, Locke, Lysander, Manlius, Maps, Marcellus, Military History, Milton, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, New York City, Onondaga County, Ovid, Pompey, Rome, Romulus, Schenectady County, Scipio, Sempronius, Seneca County, Simeon DeWitt, Solon, Stirling, surveying, Syracuse, Thompkins County, Tully, Ulster County, Ulysses, Virgil, West Point, Yorktown

Sampson State Park’s Remarkable Military, Education & Public Health History

July 11, 2021 by Bill Orzell 1 Comment

Sampson Boot sculpture by Felix W. de WeldonThe site of the present Sampson State Park in Romulus, Seneca County, NY was formerly the site of the Sampson Navy Base. As the United States found itself at war following the attack on Pearl Harbor in late 1941, the U.S. Navy had an immediate need for sailors. Basic training bases, or boot camps, were constructed across the country to meet this emergency requirement. [Read more…] about Sampson State Park’s Remarkable Military, Education & Public Health History

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Air Force History, Aviation History, Finger Lakes, Korean War, Maritime History, Military History, Naval History, Navy, Nelson Rockefeller, Sampson State Park, sculpture, Seneca County, State Parks, tuberculosis, World War Two

Geneva, NY’s Veterans Memorial Fountain: A History

July 4, 2021 by Bill Orzell Leave a Comment

Our Lady of Peace sculpture in GenevaThe Veterans Memorial Fountain has stood in Geneva, New York’s Pulteney Park for more than 80 years. It is a gray marble sculpture of a full-size female form, on one knee, thrusting a Hoplite sword into the ground, allegorically symbolizing the cessation of hostilities.

The sculpture, created by Jean MacKay Henrich (1909-2002) and entitled “Our Lady of Peace,” is mounted on a pink marble base and is surrounded by a stepped pool, also of pink marble, from which fountains of water issue upward. The entire Veterans Monument in Pulteney Park was designed by noted architect and professional photographer, Thomas Lyon White of Geneseo, and was partially funded by the Works Project Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression.

The design plan was to symbolically memorialize Veterans of all struggles, rather than any particular person or campaign. The architect and sculptor worked together to develop a simple yet warm tone in the memorial by which Geneva would preserve forever the love of country and sacrifice made by those who did not return home. [Read more…] about Geneva, NY’s Veterans Memorial Fountain: A History

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: art, Geneva, Geneva Historical Society, Military History, Ontario County, sculpture, Seneca County, WPA

Aerial Photos: New York Rural History From Above

January 5, 2015 by Bill Casey 60 Comments

aerial photograph centered in Syracuse Onondaga County New York 1938Aerial photos can be helpful research tools for historians. Google Earth, which provides access to a vast collection of aerial photography stretching back 20 years, is just a sampling of the many aerial photos that have been made since French balloonist Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, known as “Nadar,” took a photo over Paris, France in 1858.

Much of New York Sate was photographed with the camera pointing straight down, an oblique presentation that is less useful to some historians. An effort to capture all of New York in an orthophotographic perspective (corrected to a uniform scale) started in 1936 with a contract to C.S. Robinson of Ithaca, NY. These images are particularly valuable resources for historians of all stripes. [Read more…] about Aerial Photos: New York Rural History From Above

Filed Under: History, Nature Tagged With: Agricultural History, Architecture, Cayuga County, Cortland County, Environmental History, Gardens - Landscape Architecture, Online Resources, Onondaga County, Photography, Seneca County, Tompkins County, Wayne County

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