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Susquehanna River

Early Inhabitants of the Finger Lakes Region

August 14, 2023 by Guest Contributor 2 Comments

Lamoka Site diorama at the New York State MuseumAccording to archeological records, groups of nomadic Paleo-Indians traveled through the Finger Lakes region approximately 8,000 to 9,000 years ago. Small bands of these hunters and gatherers followed large game during the last stages of the Ice Age when the glaciers that formed the area’s notable lakes were receding.

Somewhat more recent early archaic archeological sites scattered across Western New York reflect a culture that was highly mobile and left little in terms of an archeological record. [Read more…] about Early Inhabitants of the Finger Lakes Region

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Algonquin, Archaeology, Broome County, Canadice lake, Canandaigua Lake, Cayuga County, Cayuga Lake, Cayuga Nation, Chemung County, Conesus Lake, Cortland County, Finger Lakes, French And Indian War, fur trade, Geology, Grass lake, Haudenosaunee, Hemlock Lake, Honeoye Lake, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Ithaca, Keuka Lake, Lamoka, Lenape, Lenape - Munsee - Delaware, Livingston County, Material Culture, Monroe County, New France, New Netherland, Oneida Indian Nation, Oneida Lake, Onondaga County, Onondaga Lake, Onondaga Nation, Ontario County, Otisco Lake, Owasco Lake, Paleontology, Pennsylvania, Rochester, Schuyler County, Seneca County, Seneca Falls, Seneca Lake, Seneca Nation, Seven Years War, Skaneateles Lake, Spencer, Steuben County, Susquehanna River, Syracuse, Tioga County, Tompkins County, Treaty of Fort Stanwix, Tuscarora, Valley Heads Moraine, Waneta-Lamoka WMA, Watkins Glen, Wayne County, William Johnson, Yates County

Chautauqua Fish Hatchery & NY’s Muskellunge Fishery

April 28, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Muskellunge courtesy DECChautauqua Fish Hatchery is located on Prendergast Point, midway on the west side of Chautauqua Lake, off State Route 394 near Mayville, in the town of Chautauqua, Chautauqua County, NY. It’s the only hatchery in the New York State that raises pure strain muskellunge – the largest freshwater sportfish in New York. Each spring, hatchery staff collect and fertilize about 1.5-2 million eggs from wild muskellunge, usually from Chautauqua Lake. Fertilized eggs are then hatched and reared at the hatchery. [Read more…] about Chautauqua Fish Hatchery & NY’s Muskellunge Fishery

Filed Under: Nature, Western NY Tagged With: Allegheny River, Chautauqua, Chautauqua County, Chautauqua Fish Hatchery, Chautauqua Lake, DEC, fish, Fisheries, fishing, Great Chazy River, nature, Susquehanna River, Waneta Lake, Wildlife

Freedom in New York: Chenango County, the Underground RR & US Colored Troops

April 4, 2023 by Harry Bradshaw Matthews 11 Comments

Chenango County, NY Map (1897)During Black History Month 2023, I received an email from Jill Mirabito, a longtime resident of Norwich, Chenango County, NY, and Associate Vice President for University Advancement at SUNY Oneonta. The note pertained to the Chenango County Historical Society having honored Benjamin J. Tillett, an African American resident of Norwich during and after the Civil War. He had been a slave in Northeast North Carolina before arriving in Norwich.

In November 1863, Tillett enlisted in the 11th United States Colored Heavy Artillery (also known as the 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery). He returned to Norwich after the war and died there in 1902. Before his death, he had a membership with the E.B. Smith Post, GAR, A Knight Templar of Palestine Commandery, and attended religious services frequently at the local AME Zion Church. The admiration that Tillett received from his adopted residence caught my attention. I was intrigued. [Read more…] about Freedom in New York: Chenango County, the Underground RR & US Colored Troops

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Abolition, Black History, Cemeteries, Chenango County, Chenango County Historical Society, Civil War, Genealogy, Military History, Norwich, Otsego County, Religious History, Slavery, Susquehanna River, Underground Railroad, US Colored Troops

Burbot: New York’s Misunderstood Cod Cousin

February 25, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

burbot courtesy Achim R. Schloeffel In the midst of winter, the ice-covered lakes of the Northeast seem quiet. It may, however, be a bit noisy below the ice. Winter into early spring is the spawning season for burbot, when males produce sounds to attract mates. [Read more…] about Burbot: New York’s Misunderstood Cod Cousin

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Food, Nature, Western NY Tagged With: Alleghany River, burbot, Canandaigua Lake, Climate Change, fish, Fisheries, fishing, ice fishing, Lake Champlain, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, Oneida Lake, Otsego Lake, St. Lawrence River, Susquehanna River, Wildlife

Bobcat Ranney: The Hermit of Dogtown

October 27, 2022 by Dave Waite Leave a Comment

Bobcat RanneyAccording to “A Who’s Who of Adirondack Hermits,” in the Fiftieth Anniversary edition of Adirondack Life magazine there were only two in Warren County: artist John Henry Hill at Phantom Island on Lake George and Archie “Bobcat” Ranney of Baker’s Mills.

Hill only lasted six years, from 1870 until 1876: the year he was picked up and sent to an asylum, never to return to the county. Archie, on the other hand, made his mark in Adirondack history and lore by “hermiting” for twenty years in Baker’s Mills, a hamlet in the town of Johnsburg. [Read more…] about Bobcat Ranney: The Hermit of Dogtown

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Bakers Mills, Binghamton, Broome County, Endicott, Johnsburg, Newspapers, Penn Yan, Pennsylvania, Publishing, Schenectady, Susquehanna River, Vermont, Warren County, Yates County

Lt. John Jenkins: Guiding The Clinton-Sullivan Campaign

August 11, 2022 by John Conway Leave a Comment

Rich JenkinsOn August 11th, 1779, at the height of America’s war for independence, General John Sullivan arrived at Tioga Point on the Susquehanna River at the Pennsylvania-New York border with a large force of men and began construction of what would become known as Fort Sullivan. [Read more…] about Lt. John Jenkins: Guiding The Clinton-Sullivan Campaign

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Western NY Tagged With: American Revolution, Chemung County, Fort Sullivan, Haudenosaunee, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Military History, Pennsylvania, Sullivan_Clinton Expedition, Susquehanna River

Restoring American Shad in the Susquehanna River

July 9, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

American Shad restoration programNative and colonial Americans fished for shad for sustenance, often smoking the flesh and consuming the roe as a delicacy.

American shad continued to be an important recreational and commercial fishery throughout the 20th Century. However, the shad stock has since dramatically declined due to shoreline development, pollution and over fishing, and as a result all recreational and commercial fisheries for American shad were closed in 2010.

As part of an effort to restore American shad (Alosa sapidissima) in New York, DEC Fisheries staff, in collaboration with the PA Fish and Boat Commission, recently stocked 322,000 American shad fry (young fish) into the Susquehanna River in Endicott, Broome County, NY.

[Read more…] about Restoring American Shad in the Susquehanna River

Filed Under: Recreation, Nature, Western NY Tagged With: Broome County, DEC, Endicott, fish, Fisheries, fishing, nature, Susquehanna River, Wildlife

Upper Susquehanna Watershed Dashboard Launched

December 15, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Upper Susquehanna Watershed Progress DashboardDEC has launched an ArcGIS Dashboard to provide stakeholders with a simple and direct platform to access data and information relevant to the Upper Susquehanna Basin and Chesapeake Bay TMDL in New York State. [Read more…] about Upper Susquehanna Watershed Dashboard Launched

Filed Under: Mohawk Valley, Nature, Western NY Tagged With: Chesapeake, DEC, Geography, pollution, Science, Susquehanna River, water quality

Roberson Museum Commemorates the Civil War

December 12, 2011 by Gerald R. Smith Leave a Comment

150 years ago shots were fired on Fort Sumter off the coast of South Carolina signaling the beginning of the Civil War. A century and a half later, Roberson Museum and Science Center has assembled hundreds of objects and stories to tell the story of how that conflict affected this area in a new exhibition appropriately named The Civil War. [Read more…] about Roberson Museum Commemorates the Civil War

Filed Under: New Exhibits Tagged With: Broome County, Chenango County, Cortland County, Delaware County, Roberson Museum, Susquehanna River, Tioga County

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