Dumb truck!

Oh, this is better.

Fraunces Tavern is where George Washington said his farewell to his officers in 1783 after years of military service in the Continental Army. It is said that many men openly cried while Washington gave his speech. Little did they know that the Great American Experiment was just beginning. Washington would be back in a few years, inaugurated as President of the United States at nearby Federal Hall on Wall Street.

The original building is gone, having suffered a series of fires and renovations so that no one knows exactly what the building looked like before 1890. Originally, on this site a house was built in 1671 as a residence for wealthy New York Mayor New York Mayor Stephanus van Cortlandt. It was replaced with another residence in 1719. Samuel Fraunces purchased the building in 1792. He converted it into a tavern and named it The Queen’s Head.

The New York Sons of Liberty secretly met at the tavern before and during the American Revolution. Did you know that New York had its own little version of the Boston Tea Party? In 1765, fed up with taxes and encroaching liberties from England, a handful of patriots dressed as American Indians infiltrated a British cargo ship carrying the dreaded British tea. They forced the captain to apologize for the cargo, and promptly dumped the tea into New York Harbor. And thus our love for coffee was begun.

We lunched in the dining room before perusing the museum upstairs. Our lunch experience was so-so; read my review of lunch at Fraunces Tavern at my other blog, WowChowCooking. Admission to the museum upstairs is free if you purchase a meal in the dining room. That was a pleasant surprise.

The upstairs is filled with paraphernalia. We watched a brief movie about the history of Fraunces Tavern and then wandered the rooms at our own leisure.

This is a photo of the Clinton Dining Room, so named because Governor George Clinton dined here.

I love the Federal style architecture and decor.

This is the bowl that held the turtle soup reincorporating the New York Chamber of Commerce at the Clinton dinner. Turtle meat seemed to be a delicacy for such occasions (according to menus of the past that served it regularly for important functions). I have never had it. I doubt anyone would eat anything lugged from the Hudson anymore.

We saw many amazing pieces of odd paraphernalia, including a portion of Washington’s wooden coffin, some of Washington’s hair and his dentures! Rome may have dozens of nails that pierced Christ’s limbs but we have Washington’s hair!

Assorted relics of pre-modern warfare littered the display cases. Some treasures were discovered by little boys digging in their back yards. 

Fraunces Tavern Museum also keeps the precious original diary of Colonel Benjamin Talmadge. We have read some of his memoirs and find his accounts of the Revolutionary War fascinating!

The tavern museum also had some very interesting paperwork regarding the history of the building. After the Revolution, the Treasury, War and Foreign Affairs departments were based here while New York City served as our first capital of the country. Everything was later moved to Philadelphia when the capital was there, and now to Washington, DC.

By 1900, the tavern was poised for demolition, to make way for “progress.” The Sons of the American Revolution wanted to buy the building, but the tavern owner refused all offers. The Daughters of the American Revolution begged the owner to sell, but all offers were refused again. I found it very odd that the owner was so determined to see the building destroyed, despite the monetary offers and knowing about the incredible history of the site.

The City intervened and created the Hewitt Act, enabling the Sons of the American Revolution to purchase the property and restore it for posterity. The building opened on December 4, 1907, the 124th anniversary of Washington’s farewell speech.

Did you know that there was a terrorist act at the Fraunces Tavern? On January 24, 1975, at 1:35pm, a bomb exploded at the entrance door to the tavern’s Angler’s and Tarpon Club. The bomb exploded in the middle of lunch hour, killing four people and injuring 53. A Puerto Rican nationalist group, F.A.L.N. (Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional) cliamed responsibility for the bombing. The FALN said that the bombing was retaliation for “the CIA-ordered bomb that murdered Angel Luis Chavonnier and Eddie Ramos, two innocent young workers who supoorted [sic] Puerto Rican independence” and the “maiming of ten innocent persons…in a Mayaguez, Puerto Rico dining place on Saturday the eleventh of January, 1975.” No one was ever arrested or convicted for the crime.

Fraunces Tavern Museum, Pearl Street, New York, NY

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New visitors are strongly urged to visit the visitor’s hall and view a movie about the fort. Even though we are very familiar with Fort Ticonderoga history and importance in battles, we sat and enjoyed the video. I was especially intrigued with the history of its restoration. You can read about that in my previous post, A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga, Part 2.

There is SO much to see inside the buildings that I cannot possibly do it justice here. I only highlight what I found interesting, and even then I must condense it. I highly recommend that you visit the Fort, there’s something for everyone there.

Both stories of the buildings are loaded with fort memorabilia and quite a number of breathtaking archaeological finds. I was awed by this: one of the old metal armor breastplates presumably made by the first French soldiers here in the 1750s. The plaque card says the armor was discovered in 1941, built into the wall. Because of its unusual position in the wall construction, archaeologists believe the armor is a votive offering by the French masons, for “good luck.”

There were many such artifacts to be seen:

This blew me away. A piece of her wedding dress?!

A watch key was a small metal device. With it, the watch owner could wind the watch. Amazing!

George Washington had good ol’ snuff. Well, at least the snuff BOX.

I loved this.

There were many, many such engraved powder horns like this. Even Ethan Allen and Philip Schuyler had scrawled on theirs! This is one of Schuyler’s horns given to him from Paul Revere. The engraving is a verse from Proverbs.

Here is Ethan Allen’s powder horn. Ethan Allen is the famed hero of Fort Ticonderoga. He easily took the fort from the British in 1775, confiscating the stores of ammunition for the needy American army.

This is Ethan Allen’s sword. Click the image to go to the Flickr site. From there, you can view larger images.

Ethan Allen’s gun, engraved with his name.

There were quite a few personal artifacts from the Schuyler family. Alexander Hamilton married Eliza Schuyler, daughter of the great general Philip Schuyler from nearby Albany, NY. This is a four-leafed clover in a locket that had belonged to Angelica Schuyler Church, Eliza’s sister and Alexander Hamilton’s good friend.

Angelica’s wax seal. The town “Angelica, NY” in western New York State is named for Angelica Schuyler Church.

Alexander Hamilton’s sword is here!

Rosary beads, probably dating before the British and American ownership of the fort. The Brits and Americans were definitely and overwhelmingly Protestant, so the beads probably belonged to a French occupant.

This is an imposing display. Looks to be a Mohawk Indian. Mohawks were the fiercest of the Iroquois Indian tribes, probably as fierce as the Canadian Hurons.

Interesting chair. Looks to me to be something from the 1890s, perhaps.

Cool bull’s eye glass.

All in all, it was a terrific visit. I really recommend this place, just go see it!

A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga, Part 3

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After soaking in the glorious sights and enjoying a musket drill, we entered the interior ring of the fort that once housed the soldiers, their families, and the stuff that made it all tick: ammunition.

The structures that stand here are not original to the colonial and Revolutionary days. After serving faithfully for about 30 years in which it had seen nearly half a dozen attacks and had passed through the hands of France, Britain, and the United States, the fort was abandoned after the American Revolution. Its stones and metal were stripped by local residents for the building of houses and businesses in the local small towns. A renewed interest of the Revolutionary War in the late 19th century brought curious onlookers to the site, but the old fort was merely a ghostly shadow of its former glory.

A wealthy importer from New York City, William Ferris Pell, purchased the land and constructed a summer home nearby, naming it The Pavilion. The elegant house still stands but is in terrible disrepair. The home was abandoned by William Ferris Pell after a tragic accident that killed his eldest son. The story is taken from the official Fort Ticonderoga website:

It was customary for the cannon at The Pavilion to be fired in honor of Pell’s return to The Pavilion at the beginning of spring. In 1839, Pell’s eldest son, 35 year-old Archibald, was killed when the cannon exploded while he fired it to honor his father’s return to Ticonderoga. Pell was so devastated by his son’s death that he never returned to The Pavilion and, according to family legend, died from a broken heart the following year.

The gardens of the house are still beautifully maintained, but the house is in poor shape. The Fort Ticonderoga association hopes to restore the home in the future. We wandered the grounds; I’ll have more about the history of The Pavilion and our visit in another post.

The Pell family, seeing an influx of tourists thanks to the Erie Canal and railroads, decided to restore the old “Stonehenge Ruins of Ticonderoga” into a replica of the fort as it was during the American Revolution. Construction began in 1909. This was one of the first such historic restoration projects in the United States. Its grand opening was attended by President William Howard Taft on the 300th anniversary of the European discovery of Lake Champlain.

Some of the old stonework remains, although we did see some areas blocked off for repairs. I loved wandering the grounds, there were many nooks and crannies to explore.

Ethan Allen wannabees:

“Soldiers” posing for a photo.

After all this exploring, we had yet to venture inside the buildings! SO much to explore! We saw a DVD about the history of the fort, and wandered the halls for over an hour, peering at all the amazing historical artifacts and displays. I’ll have our story about that in the next post A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga, Part 3.

A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga, Part 2

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Sunrise, by Frederic Church

Moonrise, by Frederic Church

Many of the Hudson River School paintings depict clear scenes or illusory hints of Biblical themes and events. I love the Voyage of Life series because of the stories each painting tells, that of a man eventually finding his faith in God and the joys of heaven after a tempestuous life of sorrow. It’s simply…. beautiful.

Frederic Edwin Church was a young student of the illustrious Cole, staying with Cole’s family in Catskill, NY, and studying painting. This area of New York State bursts with inspiration, as it has been the birthplace of such legendary notables as Rip Van Winkle, Uncle Sam, and numerous other tales of fact and fiction.

Church was born in 1826 in Connecticut. Early on, his artwork showed immense talent. In 1848, he became the youngest associate of the National Academy of Design, an honor he still retains. Church married Isabel Carnes in 1860, and the couple purchased a parcel of land with magnificent views overlooking the Hudson River, the Catskill Mountains and the Taconic Hills.

CLick the photo to go to my Flickr website for a larger view.

The couple built a simple little cottage that they named “Cozy Cottage.” The structure still stands, but it is not available to tourists.

Two children were born early on to the young couple: Herbert in 1862 and Emma in 1864. Church painted two beautiful works after the birth of the children: Sunrise for Herbert and Moonrise for Emma. (See the two small images at the beginning of this post). Tragically, both children died in 1864 from diphtheria, and the parents never completely recovered from the horrible loss. Even after four more children were born to the Church family in later years, Frederic hung his Sunrise and Moonrise paintings in the family room, next to the fireplace where he often brooded and mused.

The family traveled all over the world, returning home with crates crammed with furniture and knick-knacks. Construction of a new home, perched high atop the mountain, had begun in 1867. Church designed the home himself in an eccentric mish-mash of Persian, Moorish, and Victorian styles. The home is colorful and lively. I just adore the design.

Photography is strictly forbidden in the house, so I nabbed a few photos from the Olana Historic Site website to give you an idea of the interior of the house.

The home is furnished with all the Churches’ possessions from all over the world. Church’s paintings saturate the decor. The dining room was the only room not filled with Church’s works; rather, it held dozens of paintings from other men all around the world, pigmented vignettes of his travels. I identified several Dutch masters’ works and a few Italian and German paintings, too.

The name “Olana” first appeared on a letterhead written by Isabel Church. According to the Olana website:

Scholars have linked the name to a translated volume of Strabo’s Geographica, a Christmas gift from Isabel to Frederic. Strabo’s publication describes the geography of the Roman Empire and references the city “Olane,” as one of the “treasure-storehouses” on the Araxes River, which offered a view of Mount Ararat, where Noah’s ark was said to rest. It is likely that the Churches appreciated the associations this name had their own Persian-inspired stone “fortress” situated high above the Hudson River with majestic views west to America’s promised land.

The house is lovely, simply exquisite. Our tour guide, Ellen, was filled with interesting information about the home and the Churches. I was delighted that Mark Twain often visited the home, reading portions of his works for after-dinner entertainment. The family also gave small skits or plays on the large wooden landing before the stairs, a heavy colorful tapestry serving as the “curtains” of the stage.

Colorful stencils and Persian tiles peppered the walls. I noticed that many of the door frames were stenciled with curly writing, which appeared to be Farsi (my husband spent time in Iran as a boy and introduced me to some of the culture). I asked Ellen about the meaning of the stenciled words, to which she replied, “It’s all gibberish!” There were only two places in the house that had “real” Farsi: above the door as you enter “All are welcome”; carved on the pink marble fireplace in the family room “I muse while it burns.”

The Churches lived here until the couple died in 1900. Frederic willed the property to his youngest son, who married and lived at Olana for the rest of his life. His widow remianed here until 1964, at the age of 96.

After her death, Olana narrowly escaped the auction block. The widow willed the home to a nephew, who didn’t like the house and wanted to sell all its contents at auction. A group of motivated people scrounged financial support to purchase the home. New York State pitched in, and Olana was preserved intact and deemed a state historic site. Most of the home is restored, but the children’s nursery, servant’s quarters and kitchen are not and therefore unavailable for viewing. This was a great disappointment, because I like seeing the kitchens and nurseries best of all in historic homes.

I have so much more to tell about the home and our visit, but it would fill books. The best thing I can say is go see the house for yourself. You won’t regret it. The 250-acre property also features numerous trails for hiking. Picnic tables and benches provide repose for visitors.

You can see more photos of Olana at my Flickr photo page here.

Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, NY

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The cheese industry in New York was the top in the nation for a while, even surpassing Wisconsin. Cheese was an important meat substitute for the diets of early Americans. Livestock was not eaten nearly as frequently as it is now.

The kids had a lot of fun exploring the various hands-on displays.

Cheesemaking and selling was a highly competitive and volatile market. Toward the beginning of the 20th century, cheesemaking in the United States was on the decline, and Canadian cheese rose to be the cream of the crop, so to speak. Domestic cheeses in New York State remained popular, until the Legislature passed a law forbidding taverns to offer free meals to the patrons. This essentially killed the cheese industry in the state. Figures. Stupid Legislature, still up to their old tricks!

After our cheese education, we wandered over to the town tavern for a drink. Free lemonade!

We explored the building a little. Here’s a real trundle bed.

And a little barber’s shop on the second floor.

The third floor was all open space. Lovely!

The Harden Museum was a huge barn full of old buggies, carriages, and sleighs. These vehicles were the main form of transportation for hundreds of years until the automobile.

The boys were more interested in what was in this little tunnel.

Nothing, it was just a display of a bridge that sleighs crossed.

We even saw an old hearse!

After this escapade, we went to see the old schoolhouse and Methodist church.

It is amazing how simple the school is. And the education far surpasses that what is done today. The Methodist church was beautiful in its simplicity, too.

It was almost time for the Packet Boat ride! I’ll have more on that— and a video– very soon!

The Erie Canal Village, Rome, NY, Part 2

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You can see all the photos I took here at my Flickr site. I’ll showcase only the basic photos for the blog posts. I think our visit, which incorporated seeing and learning so many different things, may take up a few posts. First, some history about the Village. It’s a huge, outdoor living museum where time stopped almost 200 years ago. Really, if it wasn’t for the sounds of traffic on the main road, or the power lines visible behind the fields, you’d think you were really in the early 19th century.

On July 4, 1817, the New York State governor was in this booming town of Rome, NY. This area was the location of the official beginning of the famous Erie Canal, said to be the most incredible engineering marvel of all time. It had been the brainchild of various New Yorkers shortly after the Revolutionary War, who wanted to open up the NY wilderness. Transportation in NY in those days was over rugged country and thickly-forested hills. A man-made waterway connecting the Hudson River/Atlantic Ocean to Lake Ontario and Lake Erie was the dream. Very few leaders were willing to sponsor this “insane” idea. Thomas Jefferson, when hearing about the plan, refused to give any federal aid to the project, saying, “You talk of making a canal 350 miles through the wilderness… it is little short of madness to think of it at this day!” Long before the Erie Canal was bringing in millions of dollars into New York’s coffers, it was called “Clinton’s Folly,” or “Clinton’s Ditch.”

The Erie Canal was completed in 1827, and brought instant wealth to the state. It also proved to be the springboard for Western Expansion, as this area of New York was the only passable way west from the eastern seaboard of the United States. Not long after the completion of the Erie Canal, the railroad system surpassed the Erie Canal as the main method of east to west transport. With the development of the automobile and the interstate highway system after World War II (and accompanying perks such as Liverpool Victoria car insurance!), the canal and railroad system became less used.

The Erie Canal Village, opened in 1978 when Rome, NY, was going through an historical awakening of it’s roots, takes us back to that “boom” time of prosperity in New York. There are numerous museums you can explore– a few settler’s houses decorated as if the families would be back at any moment; a blacksmith shop and horse corral; a schoolhouse and Methodist church; the Harden Museum filled with various horse carriages and sleighs depicting transportation of that era; an ice house, general store, railroad station, and tavern (where you can actually buy food and drink); a museum inside an old cheese factory showing the cheese industry of New York; and more! Best of all– a 30-minute ride on the old Erie Canal packet boat, horse-drawn. What a great day!

We started off by exploring an interesting little museum filled with vintage signs and farming implements. We explored the old barn and marveled at the craftsmanship of some of the tools.

Then, we saw THIS!!!

Wowee! For those of you who don’t know, I have been on a little investigation of the Oneida Indian Stone and how it relates to New York history. This must have been the sign marker that stood at Forest Hill, where the Stone was kept from 1849 to 1974. The Stone has been returned to the Oneida Indian Nation. I hope to see it someday, and take a photo. You can read more about my investigations into this mysterious Stone and its history here and here and here.

The entire village opened up to us from there. We didn’t know where to turn first. We could see a 18th century farmer with long whiskers and straw hat plowing a field with two draft horses; we saw a beautifully arched bridge slung over the Canal with a packet boat (all decked out in Fourth of July colors) below it; we saw a beautiful meadow with whispering yellow grasses and swallows spinning under the yellow sunshine; we saw a crowd of people with cameras and strollers sipping lemonade on the cool porch of the Tavern. What to do?

We decided to see the historic houses. They were from different periods (1801, 1840, and 1890s). It was fascinating to see how our lives and homes have changed in 200 years.

This house, called the Crosby house and modeled after a typical 1840 home, looks a lot like the style of our own home. Ours was built in 1855, and very little has been done to it. It is NO FUN living in a home like this!

This is the Victorian house. It is the Italianate style, judging by its boxy shape and elaborate “icing.”

Over the course of the house styles and contents, you can really see how Americans became more prosperous.

From there, we wended our way to the sunny-looking General Store. You could really buy candy and various little gifts inside. We chatted with the storekeeper, a friendly lady from the area, who explained to us that this store was “today’s WalMart” to the townspeople of yesterday. She showed us the old coffee-grinder. The coffee beans in it smelled w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l.

After seeing the houses, we wandered near the meadow. A farmer was mowing the field with a fascinating mower contraption. Watching the beauty of the draft horses, whose menial labor only heightened the grace in their motions, was mesmerizing. We stopped and were quiet. The smell of the freshly-cut grasses steaming under the warm sunshine was heavenly. Swallows twittered across the grass, undaunted by the strangers watching them as they gobbled up leaping grasshoppers.

The farmer noticed our idyllic state, and paused his mowing to chat with us. As he explained the methods of old-time farming and horse-care, the horses munched noisily on the meadow plants. I could have stayed there forever. It was like something out of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, but so much better, because we could feel the hot sunshine and smell the sliced grasses for ourselves.

I felt a twinge of deep regret that our modern lifestyles now shielded us from these experiences. I like my computer and my minivan like any lady, but I long for the slower pace and sweet communion of country-living sometimes.

We wandered to other places, wherever our noses led us. We had to be at the boat by 1 o’clock, so we popped in the smaller displays in a hurry. We saw the old icehouse…

a chicken coop, and the kids saw real chickens for the first time…

the train station…

and an old abandoned train caboose…

When I was here at the Village last, oh…. 26 years ago now (!) the Village had hosted a train ride with a little “train robbery.” I remember the robber trying to take my someone’s watch, lol. I thought it a shame that they don’t have train rides anymore. I loved it.

I’ll have more about our visit on another post. The best part– the packet boat ride– is soon to come!

The Erie Canal Village, Rome, NY, Part 1

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The house was built in 1807. It remains in incredible shape. All the furnishings were donated to the State by the family. Even the daily weather journal was given. The book rested on an antique desk, open to today in 1888 (it was recorded as 78 degrees F on this day in 1888– presently, we were sweltering at 87 degrees).

Admission for touring the mansion was $5 for an adult, $4 for a student, and children under 12 were free. Roaming the grounds and the carriage house (which holds a mini museum and a cool collection of original carriages and sleighs) was free.

We took advantage of the tour and got first-class treatment from the tour guide. Unfortunately, photographing the interior of Lorenzo was verboten, so I am pictureless. Sorry. We had a lively chat with the tour guide about the history of the site and about some of the artifacts on display. It was an excellent experience.

After our tour, we wandered the grounds. There is a great view of Cazenovia Lake from the front of the mansion. Originally, the property extended all the way to the lake shore, but today, Route 13 cuts across the front yard.

I really liked the gardens. I think the kids could have spent all day running around the paths and hiding under the looming pine trees. There was so much to explore! Little nooks and “secret” gardens were peppered across the grounds.

A sundial, a fountain, and stone horse trough added that “English cottage” atmosphere.

The flowers were all in bloom, too. It was beautiful.

The Lincklaens never had any children. Such a large house with fanciful gardens, and no children to fill it! They adopted a nephew who inherited the house, and he later had one child, a daughter. She grew up, but remained childless, too. The house was granted to the State in 1967. All the family’s furnishings, art, personal possessions (even clothing!), and everything else you can imagine, was granted with the house. To tour the house is like stepping back in time. I love living museums like that.

Lorenzo Historic Site, Cazenovia, NY

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It costs the state $300,000 to operate the facility, but lawmakers say with a little help they could do it for less. One idea that would follow in the footsteps of other park sites around the state, entering into a public- private partnership to keep the home in operation.

…”We were very much surprised to learn that the plan is for a permanent closure and efforts are already being undertaken to move artifacts, furniture, looms, to remove those and take them to People’s Island and that would be the end of the Herkimer Home. Many of us think if those artifacts leave Herkimer County they are never coming back,” said [NYS Assemblyman Marc] Butler.

The Herkimer Home is one of the finest national parks in Central New York. I first visited the park during a field trip in seventh grade, and have adored the place ever since. Additionally, the site serves as a very important reminder of New York’s great past, a time of severe struggle and perseverance during the fight for Independence.

$300,000 is a PALTRY sum compared to many of the other expenses that New York has. The artifacts should NOT be taken from the site. If the state no longer wishes to support the park, then hopefully a private investor will rise to the occasion. Until then, the park should remain open and the artifacts untouched.

Do school children even visit this site anymore? I’m sure there is much more that the state can do to promote the park. We owe it to General Herkimer and all the men who laid down their lives so that we could even HAVE a New York State.

Don’t Close the Herkimer Home!

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I had become greatly interested in the history of the Oneida Community after discovering and reading A Yankee Saint: John Humphrey Noyes and the Oneida Community by Robert A. Parker, years ago. Still curious, I had read Pierrepont Noyes’ My Father’s House: an Oneida Boyhood. The two books presented two vastly different views of this so-called utopian society. The book on John Noyes, founder the Community and father of Pierrepont, cast a glowing light on the Oneida Community. Pierrepont’s book was quite the opposite. It was written from the viewpoint of the child, forcibly bereft of maternal love and raised as cattle in an experiment hailed by leaders around the world (and socialists like H.G. Wells and Arthur Conan Doyle).

Pierrepont’s is quite the book about the dark side of socialism, particularly hard for the more vulnerable members of the group (i.e., young women and children). Needless to say, when John Noyes died, the Community fell apart. The children of “stirpiculture” had no desire to continue the eugenic socialist experiment of their fathers.

Pierrepont, the “black sheep” of the community, grew up to rescue the family’s business and made it into the world-renowned Oneida flatware company that we know today. I understand that Pierrepont Noyes was a generous CEO, giving his employees fair pay for fair work (compared to the other misers of that era), offering no-interest loans for employees to buy houses, and hosting company picnics and outings. The area of Sherrill and Oneida are quite prosperous to this day. Streets are clean and houses are beautiful. There remains a sense of community and cleanliness in these small towns.

Although the Community was a bit nutty when it came to Biblical doctrine, there is something to be said for their Yankee ingenuity and work ethic. They built an entire culture upon these acres of former Indian land. I was especially awed by the grand style of architecture.

The house is Empire style, which was popular in the mid-1800′s. The French mansard roof sets it off nicely. The slate shingles, if you can see them in the picture below (or click the picture for a larger photo), are different colors and set in pleasing patterns. The detail of the work is most admirable. Apparently, the Community members did all the work themselves. John Noyes routinely sent out his young men to places like Italy, to learn the art of fresco and sculpting for example, and the young men would return to apply what they had learned at the Community.

A lovely courtyard is at the back of the complex. The cafeteria-like dining hall and kitchen are back here, separate from the living quarters.

Each member of the Community had his or her own small room, similar to a dormitory room like colleges have today. A large shared living room, dining room, and a two-story theatre-room (where they often held recitals and plays for their entertainment) are in the main complex. Pierrepont Noyes recalled in his book that as a child, he never noticed the uniqueness of a kitchen built separately from the living quarters of a house. (Although, this is common in the south and southwest of the country, where the problem of cold weather doesn’t affect it as much). It was only as an adult, when he began visiting with others in the town (the “Gentiles” as the Community called the townsfolk), that he entered a house and was bombarded with the stale smells of cooking from the kitchen off the parlor room. I don’t know why I so particularly remember this part of the book. Perhaps it is because I don’t like kitchen smells in any room besides the kitchen.

At any rate, the kids and I wandered the grounds around the house, and I continued to give them some brief history of the Community.

Here’s a door into the lower part of the house. I love doors like this (under a porch). It looks so adventurous and secretive!

Here’s the front door, the front hall, and a snapshot of the interior.

The Mansion House offers tours of the complex (I had been through once before so I didn’t do it this time). Visitors can see the Jesse Kinsley Braiding Room for free, though, so we went into that.

Jesse Kinsley was raised in the Community. She was a gifted craftswoman, and created beautiful rugs, wall coverings, and linens. Some of these creations and some of her furniture is on display.

The Mansion House is now a high-end apartment building. It is nice to see that the place is being kept up and still has the lovely herb garden in the front yard.

If you’d like to learn more, check out AroundCNY. They have some good information.

Oneida Community Mansion House, Sherrill, NY

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Before there was Utica, there was Fort Schuyler, built in this area by the British in 1758. It was a critical spot for the new American settlers. Fort Schuyler was “a chain of forts built to protect the northern frontier from the French and their Indian allies, and to guard the great ford across the Mohawk Valley.” Fort Schuyler was named for Colonel Peter Schuyler, the uncle of the famous Phillip Schuyler (who later became Alexander Hamilton’s father-in-law). There’s a bit of confusion about the naming of the forts. During the American Revolution, Fort Stanwix in Rome (another British-built fort and was named for a British officer during the French and Indian War of the 1750s) was renamed Fort Schuyler, after Philip Schuyler. This Fort Schuyler here near Bagg’s Tavern was renamed “Old Fort Schuyler.” After the Revolutionary War, both Fort Stanwix/Fort Schuyler and Old Fort Schuyler were dismantled. When Fort Stanwix/Fort Schuyler was resurrected in the 1970s as a memorial, it was given it’s original name Fort Stanwix. Got that? There’ll be a test tomorrow… whew!

In 1794, Moses Baggs built a small but comfortable tavern near the fort, to house the many settlers and military men traveling from the eastern to western ends of New York State. George Washington and Marquis de LaFayette stayed at the tavern, as well as Henry Clay and General Ulysses Grant. It also became a stagecoach stop for mail delivery. In 1815, Moses Baggs’ tavern was torn down and replaced by a larger one made of brick. That, too, is gone. This newer stone building and park remain as a memorial to the important part Utica played as intermediary for travelers and ideals of revolution and reconstruction.

If I remember correctly, this area is where a huge revival was sparked in the 1820s, under the preaching of Charles Grandison Finney. Utica was one of the most affected cities. It was reported that all bars and houses of ill-repute were closed, because there was no business for such promiscuous living. Everyone was “getting religion” and didn’t want to sin anymore! This area was buzzing with revival that it became known as the “Burned-Over District.” Imagine, this happening in Utica, New York!

And then this plaque at the top of the tavern made us stop in our tracks.

How great is thy fall, O honorable and patriotic city! Why do we wander your streets as strangers, left to peruse the mere remnants of such a glorious past?

The little tavern building is not open to visitors. We drew closer to peer inside the windows.

The surrounding park is nice, if a little odd. It’s strange to be wandering around such an historical and ancient (as far as America is concerned) fatherland and have roaring 18-wheelers coasting above you on a highway. The Adirondack Railroad and Amtrak trains are in the back, too.

We went to investigate the old train displays next to Utica’s Children Museum, which is on the other side of Bagg’s Square.

Utica’s Union Station (a beautiful building that we will blog about sometime) is next to Bagg’s Tavern and the Children’s Museum. I found a very nice article about Union station here.

The city of Utica is in deep decline right now, as are most other Upstate New York cities. Utica was blighted during the 1930s-60s with an Italian mafia organziation that brought “prosperity” to some, but drug abuse, prostitution, and scab-attacks to others. It is so ironic that Utica, that “honorable and patriotic city” became known as Sin City. It has never really recovered. But I believe better days await the city. Like Samuel Adams said, who tirelessly pounded America’s conscience with a clarion call for national virtue, “It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.” Utica needs to be the Burned-Over District once again!

Bagg’s Square and Old Fort Schuyler, Utica, NY

New York Traveler.net This post is from New York Traveler.net and is copyrighted material.