On Saturday morning I told my wife I thought I’d run over to Angelica. Let me do the dishes, she said, and I’ll come too. And 45 minutes later, we were on our way.
*Another 45 minutes and we were easing our way around the circular village park, and pulled up on Main Street, in the shade of a long row of maple trees. Angelica is a beautiful place.
*On that particular Saturday the Lakeshore Model A Club had also taken a drive to Angelica, so we got to inspect half-a-dozen of these fine old Fords. A couple of decades back I impersonated Henry Ford for the Lakeshores, and I hosted many vintage car tours when I was at Curtiss Museum, so I’ve always got a fond spot for such outings. Yes, vintage car folks do this for their own pleasure, but I’ve found them to be unfailingly welcoming about sharing their pleasures with the public.
*After admiring the Model A collection, I used the library rest room and we strolled down to Delectable Collectibles, an antique store in an old garage. I enjoy this store very much, for its setting but also because it usually has lots of “pop culture” stuff, including comic books, which was the point of Saturday’s trip. We made our way through aisles and around corners, and studied a chest that has potential for our front hall, but all I actually got that day was a Little Audrey comic book ($3), which I wanted for my Harvey Comic collection.
*We walked back down Main under blue sky and bright sunshine, stepping into a couple more antique shops before coming to the Circle.
*This traffic circle raises the small village from the pleasant to the memorable. Five churches stand on the outer rim of the Circle, along with town hall, several residences, and the 19th-century post office.
*Inside the circle is a large grassy park with a tree-lined walk, where we bought a basket of ultra-fresh strawberries at the Saturday farmer’s market before turning back to the shopping district, where I had a fine Greek salad (Joyce got quesadillas) at The Canteen, from which we watched a motorcycle tour trundle through before we returned to our car for the 45-minute drive (all on I-86) back to Bath, enjoying the vultures, deer, and horses all the way. And the daisies. Dame’s rocket. Blue sky. White puffy clouds. Glorious green. All this, and Angelica too.
ABOUT ANGELICA
*Angelica, in Allegany County, is at Exit 31 on Interstate Route 86 – RIGHT at the exit, so you don’t have a drive once you get there. Many folks know Angelica in the winter. At Christmastime folks make the trip just to visit the post office, and get angel postmarks on their Christmas cards. In late winter and early spring folks pass through on their way to Cartwrights’ Maple Tree Inn, or stop on their way back.
*Angelica is also home to Allegany County Fair. It has a public library, part of the Southern Tier Library System. Houghton College, Alfred State, and Alfred University are all within short drives.
*Angelica is a village within the town of the same name, commemorating Angelica Schuyler Church, daughter of a Revolutionary War general and sister-in-law of Alexander Hamilton. The Churches owned substantial land in the area, and built the huge Belvidere mansion.
*That 1804 mansion is on the National Register of Historic Places, as is the 1819 town hall (old county courthouse), the Angelica Park Circle Historic District, and the 1809 Moses Van Campen House.
*Angelica sometimes claims to be the birthplace of the Republican party, though that takes a little convolution to assert. A more reliable claim is that it was a Civil War bugler from Angelica who first played “Taps.”
*If you like antiques, if you like pleasant small villages, you should make the trip to Angelica. We do!