Monthly Archives: May 2017

Join Us For a Walk and Some Stories — in Bath

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So how about Bath? Arch Merrill, half a century ago, called it “the grande dame of the Southern Tier.” Older folks remember it as the region’s market town, lit up like a Christmas tree on Friday and Saturday nights as farm families came in from miles around. Charles Williamson planned it as the great metropolis of western New York, and accordingly laid it out with the green squares and broad straight boulevards that it still enjoys.

*Bath is the seat of Steuben, home to the clerk, the courthouse, the surrogate, the county office building, the prison, the county historical society – not to mention the county fairgrounds. It’s the place where people go to get help.. from the ARC, the V.A., the Davenport Hospital, and (from 1863 to 1958) the Davenport Home (or orphanage) for Girls.

*At 4 PM on Friday (June 2) I’m leading a free historic walk through the village, sponsored by Steuben County Historical Society. We’re going to start at Historical Society headquarters, the 1831 Magee House (old Bath library, next to the new Bath library). It’s going to be kind of a mixed bag, taking in architecture, church history, transportation history, community history, and tales of days gone by.

*Take Pulteney Square, for instance. This is said to be where Charles Williamson and his party first started clearing trees in 1793, making space for the new home that he had already named Bath. Until 1910 the Land Office faced the Square, still selling off those 1.2 million acres that Williamson represented. Desperate farmers sent angry delegates where after the Erie Canal opened and collapsed their land values. They demanded, and finally received, revaluations on their mortgages.

*William Jennings Bryan thundered forth here in the 1900 presidential campaign, condemning imperialism and calling for a government that worked on behalf of its people.

*The courthouse faces the Square from the east side. This is where draft contingents gathered every month during World War II, to be sworn in and then marched (very badly, I suppose) to the depot and off to their fates, while the Old-Timers Band (augmented by a few callow youths awaiting their own call-ups) serenaded them.

*John Magee erected the large brick building facing the Square from the west as home for the Bank of Steuben, the first bank in this county. He built it at the same time as he built the Magee House, and later generations would know it as the Masonic temple.

*Facing the Square from the south is the magnificent First Presbyterian Church, with its rose window, its monumental stonework, and the carillon that from time to time fills the Square with music.

*Running straight north from the Square is Liberty Street, long the business and shopping district of Bath and indeed, as we said earlier, of the whole countryside. Alexander Graham Bell knew this street, while Glenn Curtiss and Charles Champlin knew it intimately. Civil War general William Woods Averell made his home on Liberty Street. James Wetmore, who grew up in Bath and became Acting Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department, made sure that Liberty Street got a fine new post office in 1928. He came to lay the cornerstone himself, and treasured that trowel forever after.

*Liberty Street is where you went to the movies (at the Babcock); where you bought shoes (from Orr’s or Castle’s); where you sent or received funds at Western Union; where you got your prescriptions (at Dildine’s, among others); where you did your Christmas shopping (at Grant’s), got an ice cream (the Olympia), grabbed some lunch, or even had Thanksgiving dinner (at the Chat). You could even go bowling on Liberty Street.

*You can do Town or Village business on Liberty Street, or get help from the Village police. Up at the north end, you can go to church (Methodist or Episcopal). Take a few more steps, and until fairly recently you could go to school. A few steps more, down East Washington, and you could go to the fair… since before the Civil War.

*All in all, Bath is worth a visit! Come join us, hear some stories, and share a few of your own.

Good Places to Hike, With Easy-On/Easy-Off: Part I

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Suppose you want to take a walk or a hike in our area. There are LOTS of places where you can do it. We have the Finger Lakes Trail system, state and county lands… we’re really blessed with opportunities.

*But sometimes the great places to hike are a pain to get to, depending on the time you’ve got available. So here are two GOOD places to walk or hike, outside the urban spaces, that are easy-on/easy-off trails.

*(1) Sperr Park, on Kahler Road near Big Flats, has the easiest trail… the former rail trail is straight as a die and almost perfectly level, except for a humpback where it crosses the road. Off east of Kahler Road, the Big Flats Trail runs through wooded space, and trees form a vaulted bower overhead as you stroll along. Here you might find chickadees, robins, grackles, and wood thrushes.

*Cross the road and you walk through the little park space and along the pond. I’ve found beaver and muskrat work in there, plus of course there’s plenty of waterfowl and also such water-loving birds as red-winged blackbirds.

*If you want to divert off the trail, you can cross a wooded causeway between the two ponds, then either double back, or circle the smaller pond. If you’re lucky you might spot a kingfisher, while in the west pond there are often great blue herons and other wading birds. Herds of turtles lounge on both sides when the sun shines warm.

*Back on the main trail, your walk takes you past the pond on one hand, and brush or meadow on the other. I often see American goldfinches here, and occasionally bluebirds – not to mention the geese and other birds in the pond and wetland. While this is a good walk, and an easy walk, some people might find it a strain on their attention span. Once along the second pond the terrain and the vegetation don’t change much, and you can look straight ahead down the trail about as far as the eye can see. No problem, though… when you’ve had enough, just turn around and walk back.

*WHAT’S NEARBY: Big Flats, Arnot Mall, the Consumer Square area, Harris Hill Park.

*WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: (a) You must approach from the north – the little humpbacked bridge on the south is still out. (b) Kahler Road has its own exit on I-86. (c) An existing space was developed and named for Trooper Andrew J. Speer, who confronted and was killed by two bank robbers here. He wounded them both, leading to their prompt capture.

*(2)Keuka Lake Outlet Trail, from Penn Yan (on Keuka Lake) to Dresden (on Seneca Lake) is also a rail trail. There’s a little more upping and downing than there is on the Big Flats Trail, but not much. There are several different surfaces – dirt, gravel, asphalt, boardwalk – and none are truly challenging. On the other hand, it’s a lot of fun.

*In this case there are several sites at the Penn Yan end where you can park the car and step right onto the trail. You’ll be walking along the Outlet, which drains Keuka Lake into Seneca Lake, and thence up to Lake Ontario. Pioneer prophetess Jemima Wilkinson sent disciples up to spy out the land where she was thinking of founding her own Jerusalem. Those were water-power days, and the scouts instantly recognized the industrial potential of the Outlet. So did Jemima, who came with the rest of her followers.

*The trail runs beside the Outlet, along the old railbed, which itself ran along the track of the even older Crooked Lake Canal. There are pools where you can watch ducks, and spots where you can stand to watch falls or rapids pounding away. There are also traces of the old industrial and canal infrastructure, making this to some extent a historical walk.

*You may not spot the beavers, but keep an eye peeled for their work. Squirrels and woodpeckers play in the trees, frogs peep or croak the summer long, butterflies flit around, snakes and turtles bask in the sun. Given that a good part of the trail lies in Penn Yan, at times it seems like a (narrow) public park… families with small kids, teens on bikes, Old Order folks taking short cuts to and from the store, joggers, bird watchers, people walking dogs… you name it. Some long-distance folks are really concentrating, but otherwise I’ve found it a friendly smiling place.

*Even though a mile or so of trail lies pretty much within Penn Yan, most of it’s overgrown enough that you’d still think you’re in the woods… and where that’s NOT the case, you get an interesting water-level view of the village.

*WHAT’S NEARBY: Penn Yan, Keuka Lake, Yates County Fairground (west end), Dresden, Seneca Lake (east end).

*WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: (a) There are stretches where uncivilized people have used the slopes leading down to water level as a junkyard, so at least if the leaves are down you may see litter, tires, appliances. (b) There are spots where the trail crosses a street or road, but the traffic’s not heavy. (c) Yates County History Center has some very interesting exhibits on Jemima Wilkinson. (d) Apart from a couple of outhouse/latrines, there are really no “facilities.” There’s a seasonal ice cream shop at the Dresden end – hikers find it very welcome!

“Sacred Spaces” Weekend (and Beyond)

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On the weekend of May 20-21, the Landmark Conservancy is hosting a Sacred Spaces open house across New York. I know that two monumental Bath churches are involved, but after that I’m stalled – maybe you’ll have better luck with their web site than I do. But you might enjoy checking out these interesting places of worship, whether they’re officially on the tour or not.

*St. Thomas Episcopal Church has the oldest edifice in Bath, and arguably the most magnificent. It anchors the southeast corner of Washington Square Park, and stands at the head of the Liberty Street Historic District. Its needle-like spire pierces the sky, and is visible for blocks around. The stone fabric whispers of an appropriately-Episcopal dignity, and an appropriately-Episcopal elegance. Not to mention an impressive strength befitting the mother of the church who rode 90 miles to have her baby baptized in the early 1800s, and lived to see an Episcopal church established, just as she’d demanded for years, in Bath.

*First Presbyterian Church of Bath stands at the other end of Liberty, gazing across Pulteney Square and northward up the street – and it’s the OTHER most magnificent church in Bath! Like St. Thomas it’s a stone structure, but a little bit more modern, with a rose window and an asymmetrical front. Those on the street or in the park can enjoy the carillon at noon. Those within can delight in the Louis Comfort Tiffany sanctuary, donated by Ira Davenport Jr. in memory of his brother. Visitors come literally from around the world to see the only complete Tiffany sanctuary that remains.

*Town Line Church, on County Road 119 near Cameron Mills, is at the other end of the scale from those two dramatic edifices in Bath, but it predates both of them by decades. Town Line was a rural church built in 1845, serving a small congregation in a small community, though over 3000 people rest in its cemetery. It’s remarkable for its pure serene New England lines, including the two doors leading to two aisles. Back in the 1600s New Englanders were proud to stand against “Popery.” Catholic churches each had a single central aisle, so New England churches would have pews in the middle, and two aisles toward the sides. There’s no congregation here any more, but on Sunday, May 21 there will be a service, followed by hot dogs, hamburgers, Civil War re-enactors, a cemetery tour, and more.

*Town Line Church at least survives. Harrisburg Hollow Methodist Church is now only a memory and a steeple, startling the traveler like a lamppost in Narnia. Its community has long since evaporated away, and the steeple stands in silent isolation.

*Garrett Chapel perches dramatically on Keuka Bluff, built of stone in the Norman style by broken-hearted parents to memorialize a son who died far too young. Services are held on summer Sundays.

*Reverend Thomas K. Beecher (brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe) led a building project at Elmira’s Park Church and created the modern community center church. His statue stands nearby.

*Why isn’t Savona’s Epicopal Church of the Good Shepherd on the National Register of Historic Places? It’s a delightful jewel-box cobblestone structure.

*St. Januarius Church in Naples has a unique and eye-catching exterior, complementing the vineyard on the edge of which it sits. Seldom do we see a better customization of a church to its setting. Well done!

*While St. Michael’s Church in Penn Yan has a fine attractive edifice, there’s perhaps nothing remarkable about it. But it deserves to be celebrated because of the night 90 years ago when the Ku Klux Klan demonstrated in front of the church in opposition to Catholics and Catholicism. The pastor came out and told them that if they didn’t leave, he’d kick all their asses. He was a very large man, and the Ku Klux Klan slunk away. Hooray for St. Michael’s, and its indomitable pastor!

Our World — A Hundred Years Ago

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Germany rolled the dice in 1917, accepting war with America by an aggressive unrestricted u-boat campaign that sank anything approaching the British Isles in hopes of starving Britain before America could get organized to fight. When the Germans also used American facilities to send a coded message to Mexico urging war against the U.S., the roof caved in. America was in the Great War.

We’d had three years to get ready, and hadn’t done much of anything. A “Home Guard” quickly formed to protect Corning from attack, and almost as quickly faded away. (The county paid for their shoes and uniforms.) A draft was soon in effect. The Curtiss plant in Hammondsport worked around the clock; when people came over the hill from Bath, they could hear the aircraft engines roaring in their test stands near the Glen.

Thousands of prospective pilots started training on Curtiss Jennys, mostly made in Buffalo. Willys-Morrow in Elmira became a Curtiss subcontractor (making engines), and did Fay & Bowen in Geneva (making seaplane hulls). Katherine Stinson, flying a custom-made Curtiss biplane, set the American distance record at 606 miles. Corning Glass Works produced tons of laboratory glass, formerly made almost exclusively in Germany.

America bought the Danish Virgin Islands, and made Puerto Ricans U.S. citizens. An early spring revolution in Russia toppled the Czar, while an early winter revolution brought Lenin’s communists to power. Three children reported visions of the Virgin Mary at Fatima. Exhausted French soldiers began a series of mutinies. Lawrence of Arabia captured Aqaba. The first Pulitzer Prizes were announced. Lions Club was formed. Race riots in East Saint Louis killed perhaps a hundred or more people.

Mata Hari was executed. Arthur Balfour declared that the British “look with favor” on the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The U.S. made brutal attacks on people suspected of not fully supporting the war. Germania Winery near Hammondsport changed its name to Jermania. On November 14, prison guards attacked and tortured 33 suffragettes in Virginia. Clemenceau, “the Tiger of France,” became his country’s premiere and announced his policy: “I make war.”

The National Hockey League was formed. Allenby took Jerusalem. In Halifax, the biggest man-made explosion until the atomic bomb killed 2000 people.

New York voters finally approved a constitutional amendment providing for women’s suffrage (Steuben, Chemung, Schuyler, and Yates Counties each voted against.) New York women started voting two years ahead of the national amendment.

Folks in Wheeler and in Mossy Glen (South Corning) formed Granges for themselves — the Wheeler Grange is still in operation.

Buffalo Bill died, along with Admiral Dewey and Count von Zeppelin. So did Scott Joplin, Edgar Degas, Auguste Rodin, and Mother Cabrini.

Births for 1917 included Zsa Zsa Gabor, Desi Arnaz, Ernest Borgnine, Cyrus Vance, Hans Conried, Ella Fitzgerald, Raymond Burr, Dean Martin, Lena Horne, Andrew Wyeth, Phyllis Diller, Robert Mitchum, Jack Kirby, John F. Kennedy, and Man o’ War.

By the way, 1917 marks the last year that the western world stumbled along with two calendars. The Bolsheviks, eager to modernize Russia, quickly ditched the obsolete Julian calendar and joined the rest of the west in Gregorian dates.