ruralscape

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MARKING THE LAND: MOE'S KART RACING

Moe's Karting World is located just outside Addison, New York, on State Route 417. I met a gal there named Skyler, who was a young speedster with a message for the boys who maybe still didn't get that a girl could be more than an equal in the racing game!

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BUILT ON THE LAND: A LINE OF DISHES

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THEN AND NOW

Driving east on 417 at the edge of Jasper, you'll find The Jasper Wigwams home of the Jasper Historical Society. It's open sometimes on Wednesdays and Sundays. They have a great collection of objects, tools, farm machinery, and pictures from the people of Jasper.

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MARKING THE LAND: Seasonal unpaved roads are common around here...and no, they don't always have a street sign.

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SITES/SIGHTS TO SEE: Lain's Cider Mill in Canisteo, just south of Hornell. The 100 year old cider mill has over 22 types of apples and makes cider and cider donuts. You can bring your own apples for them to press or buy theirs!

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PICTURES OF PICTURES

From the Richburg Historical Museum. “The town of Richburg didn’t have any laws about where you could set up a derrick.”

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SITES/SIGHTS TO SEE: RICHBURG HISTORICAL SOCIETY'S CROSS-STITCHED REPLICA OF THEIR TOWN.

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Sites/Sights to See: A.B. Bradley 1882 Building

If you are driving through Friendship, you'll want to take a look at the A.B. Bradley Building if it is still standing. It's right on the Main Street, in between the Hardware and Anntique's (Ann is the name of the owner, and she also owns all the other pink junk shops in town, most notably the 'full to the rafters' pink church across the street!)

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MARKING THE LAND: RICHBURG OIL

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PICTURES OF PICTURES

From the Richburg Historical Museum. "This is a copy of an old diagram showing typical patterns used during 'water flood' operations that began around 1920. This was the 'secondary recovery' that made Bolivar one of the most prosperous communities in New York State from the 1920's until the 1950's. Perhaps the most common pattern was the 5-spot shown on this map with the 7-spot and the reversed 7-spot. Water was injected at certain spots in these patterns, thus forcing the oil to another point in the pattern."

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Visit Original Link

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THINGS BUILT ON LAND: CUBA BLOCK BARN, a fire-resistant barn with Terra Cotta Tile from Alfred, built in 1909.  Today it's the home of the CUBA GARLIC FESTIVAL.  Learn more.

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How did I get here? Thanks GPS, for your never ending surprises.

MUTTERED MICHELLE AS SHE BRACED HERSELF FOR A ROLLER COASTER-SIZED RIDE DOWN RICHBURG HILL.

I arrived accidentally at the top of the hill, only a day after hearing a local historian recount jokingly about how he used to challenge his high school friends to take their new cars up it to prove the strength of the engine (and their bravery). It is a nearly vertical unkempt dirt road in the middle of the forest near Richburg, NY. I was on my way to the Hill Top Glamping Lodge for a Friday Fish Fry. Want to know what Allegany County 'glamping' is?  Go to http://www.hilltoplodge.net/ Look for their Gnome Forest!

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People Underground and the Places They Dwell

The entrance to UTOPIA.

After viewing an oil map from 1860 that noted the location of Utopia, we set out to find it. 

While there is no indication on a current map of the village, we knew of a cemetery called Utopia, so used that as our starting point. Our friend Diane joined us, and together we set out to find Utopia.

We first looked at all the stones for clues and were especially inspired by this unusual handmade headstone. We imagined that they were artists, from the palette shape (or was it a potato, referring to the Irish potato famine?) It says, John T. Sinnett, Born No. 9 Abbey St. Dublin, Ireland Oct. 18 1807, Died Utopia, NY May 4, 1891.

Di and I went off to interview the farmer across the street, and Brett stayed to get some more photos of the cemetery. Shortly he was joined by a neighboring farmer asking what he was doing. (Later we found out he was the feuding brother of the farmer across the street).

We both got loads of interesting info and further connections to story tellers of the area, but to shorten it here, basically the brothers both claimed that there was no town of Utopia. Tho both, as they spoke about the place where the post office sat and foundation of Pink School House, referred to the area as Utopia. They also made clear that if you were not from Utopia, you could not be buried in the Utopia Cemetery.

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People Underground and the Places they Dwell: Peterson Cemetery Visit

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People Underground and the Places they Dwell: Peterson Cemetery

Using a gps, we traveled to Peterson Cemetery last winter.