Don’t Close the Herkimer Home!

According to WKTV, New York State lawmakers are considering closing the Herkimer Home– a NYS park and a member of the National Register of Historic Places– permanently. I’ve written extensively about Nicholas Herkimer and the Herkimer Home and his background. I find it unconscionable that the state would permanently close this park. It costs the [...]

Oneida Community Mansion House, Sherrill, NY

The Oneida Mansion House was built by the Oneida Community, a “free love” communalist cult that found refuge from persecution on Indian lands. These people built a virtual paradise for themselves, until bickering from within broke it all up. The Mansion is open for tours, and visitors are free to roam the grounds. I wrote a history of the cult– truth can be so stranger than fiction!

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

Before there was Utica, there was Fort Schuyler. And before there was Walmart, there was Bagg’s Tavern at Bagg’s Square. This site, located north of the city, was the first area in the area to be settled and maintained as a merchant center. It’s quite the experience, exploring this old little building with superhighways roaring around you.

The Old Main, or Utica Lunatic Asylum, NY

Renowned as the finest example of Greel Revival architecture in the world, the Old Main, or old Utica Lunatic Asylum, still stands. Barely. It sits aloof on its once pastoral grounds in the heart of Utica, NY. It’s history is incredibly rich and it is for this reason that this magnificent building still stands. This is my investigation of its history and the earth-shattering movement of treatable mental illness in this country.

Salt Glaze Ceramic Pottery at Fountain Elms, Utica, NY

In visiting the lovely Fountain Elms Historic Site in Utica, NY, recently, I noticed a very large room filled with displays of salt glaze ceramic pottery. I paused to look around and take a closer look. I believe my mother used to own some pottery like this when I was a kid; it’s very heavy [...]

Christmas at Fountain Elms in Utica, NY

I wrote a previous post that presented a Christmas decoration showcase of the formal rooms at Fountain Elms, here. Fountain Elms is a living museum in Utica, NY; it was once the home of Maria Munson Proctor. Her parents, Alfred Munson (a millionaire in the early 1800s) and Helen Watson Williams, built this house for [...]

Christmas Displays at Fountain Elms

Fountain Elms is the name of a lovely “living museum”: an historic house displaying the life of a wealthy patrician family who lived in Upstate New York in the late 1800s. There is no admission fee, and the home is open year-round. Next to Fountain Elms is Utica’s art museum, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, named for the [...]

Madison Co. Historical Society, Part 3

I’ve written in Part 1 and Part 2 about our visit to the Madison County Historical Society, housed in an 1849 historic home in Oneida, NY. The place is phenomenal! It’s like walking back in time, to the early 1850s. Most of the house has been updated and restored, and contains a lot of treasures [...]

Madison Co. Historical Society, Part 2

I’m continuing about our trip to Oneida, NY, to see the lovely Cottage Lawn house that is now the Madison County Historical Society. You can read the first part here. The house was built in 1849, property of the Higinbotham family in Oneida, a prominent family in pre-Civil war era. Believe it or not, the [...]

Madison County Historical Society, Oneida, NY

Almost two weeks ago, on a soggy, dreary day, the girls and I took a drive out to Oneida, NY, to see the Madison County Historical Society home. It was once the gracious home of the Higinbotham family of Oneida. The home was built in 1849, and remained in the family up until 1930s, when [...]

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