CELEBRATING PROGRESS!!!!

I started this blog over three years ago when the Montezuma Historical Society began making plans for an archaeological dig near the Lock 62 site on Clinton's Ditch. I remember the walk back from the site when Dave Babson, archaeologist and my friend, Margaret Sullivan, suggested a blog could be started to document the dig. "Hum, a blog?" I said. "I guess I better find out what one is." This marks my 100th post, and we now have had over 10,800 views. I've enjoyed keeping readers up-to-date on the progress that has been made over that time. Like any development of this scope, there have been plenty of ups and downs, and what at times seems like slow progress, or even no progress.  Looking back, I can see how far we've come. I've been privileged to work with wonderful dedicated volunteers, and the Highway Department that have made the difference in what you see here, and that's what keeps me motivated and inspired to carry on. There has also been wonderful support from Parks and Trails, New York;  the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor;  Mural Mania; Cayuga Community College; SUNY, ESF; and the County Planning Department. With the financial help of the Montezuma VFW,  Cayuga Community Foundation, A-Verdi Containers, Cayuga County Creating Healthy Places Grant, the William G. Pomeroy Foundation and Parks and Trails, New York, we've come a long way.

WOW -- what progress! THANKS EVERYONE!

March 2011

Last weekend was one of our  scheduled Fall trail work days in the park. Heavy winds and rain were predicted. A handful of workers came out to help: Mike Riley, Town Councilman Tom Fitzsimmons, Jim Decker, Stan and myself. With the sky threatening to open up any time, we decided to stay close to our cars in case we needed to take shelter quickly. Mike suggested we work on clearing in the Enlarged Erie Canal site on High Street next to the fire house. So off the guys went with chain saws and weed wackers into the canal bed. We ended up with a huge pile of brush, garbage, and stacked wood. It was amazing what a small group can do in a short time. It started raining late morning, but they made great progress in clearing the area. Denny and Dustin from the Highway Department brought the chipper down and cleared the pile of brush on Monday. We put a "free" sign on the stacked wood, which someone claimed this week.

April 2011

The "before" and "after" photos show how much this site has changed in a year and a half. Gone are the two old trailers, old shed, and piles of junk, since the Town Board voted to buy this historic site. Now we have a nearly completed mural, kiosk, memorial marker for the Byron Lapp Memorial Trail, and a historic roadside marker that honors this very important historic site in our community.

March 2011

Clean Sweep 2011

Our next scheduled Fall Trail Work Date:

Saturday, October 13th, starting at 9 AM 

at this High Street Trailhead near the firehouse.

August 2012

September 2012

September 8, 2012

September 2012

September 2012

Assemblyman Oaks Visits Montezuma

NYS Assemblyman Robert Oaks visited the Montezuma Heritage Park for a walk on the Richmond Aqueduct Trail yesterday. He recently took on Montezuma, Aurelius and Sennett from Cayuga County as part of the state redistricting.

Mike Riley, Canal Historian and Trail Boss for the Heritage Park, explained the importance of the historic sites in Montezuma that tell the dynamic story of the evolution of the New York State Canal System.

Along for the walk were  Park Design Committee members Paul Baker, Dan Randolph, and Stan Longyear, Town Board member, Tom Fitzsimmons, the Assemblyman's  Communications Coordinator, Louise Hoffman Broach, and myself.

3 EX-MARINES AND 2 HIGHWAYMEN HARD AT WORK

Fifty years after the Viet Nam War started, three former Montezuma Ex-Marines who served in the war.  Rich Vanderwalker,  now living in Texas, Dan Randolph and Stan Longyear work together to install the posts for the park's new kiosks. For these guys, service work has gone on to help out their communities. Denny and Dustin, highway department employees, worked with them to install the posts at the two trailhead entrances at High Street and Chapman Road yesterday.

THANKS, GUYS!

The kiosks are being funded by the Cayuga County Creating Healthy Places program.

Tour explores canal's relationship with town

Mike Riley explains how the Richmond Aqueduct carried the Erie Canal waters over the Seneca River at the August 11th Canal Splash Tour in Montezuma

Tour explores canal's relationship with town

Thanks to Mike Riley for leading another successful Canal Splash event and to everyone that came out for the tour!

MURAL MANIA COMES TO MONTEZUMA

Exchange Hotel at the  junction of the Erie and Cayuga-Seneca Canals is subject of a new mural in Montezuma being painted by Muralist Dawn Jordan.

The Town of Montezuma will soon receive the gift of a historic mural that will highlight the Town’s historic canal heritage. The Montezuma Historical Society has initiated the project on behalf of the Town for a new mural, and is being helped with a donation from A-Verdi Storage Containers and a grant from the Cayuga Community Foundation. A-Verdi is an owned & operated business in Montezuma for over 30 years and is the premier provider of Storage & office solutions throughout New York State. The Cayuga Community Foundation is a component fund of the Central New York Community Foundation that assists non-profit organizations with vital programs in education, health, social services, the arts, civic,  environmental concerns, and the preservation of historic resources in Cayuga County.

Mark DeCracker of Lyons, and creator of Mural Mania encouraged Montezuma to join with other communities along the Erie Canal to share the visual story of New York State Erie Canal history.  Today it is hard to visualize what Montezuma looked like during the early Erie Canal era.  MHS is providing the town with the mural to reconnect with its sense of heritage and place, and to share its important story with others. The original Erie Canal that joined with the Cayuga/Seneca Canal in 1828, and flowed through Montezuma have long been filled in. Gone are many the businesses that lined the canal streets. Since almost all of the original buildings with businesses that served the canal and community no longer exist, there wasn’t even a place to paint the mural. When Joe Verdi, owner of A-Verdi Containers learned of the dilemma, he generously donated a 8’ x 20 ‘ container to paint the mural on. 

Dawn painting the mural under her homemade awning.

Dawn Jordan, muralist, is painting the mural in A-Verdi’s parking lot on Route 31. Dawn, a talented artist has painted several local Erie Canal murals including Port Byron, Weedsport, Jordan and Lyons depicting Erie Canal history.  To help fund the project, the historical society has held several fundraisers.  The mural is based on a historic photo of the Erie Canal, the Cayuga/Seneca Canal, the crossover bridge, and the Exchange Hotel that burned in 1918. Comfort Tyler, early settler and visionary, who built of one of the first boats on the Erie Canal named for its namesake, “The Montezuma,” will be painted into the picture.  The mural’s permanent location will be at the site where the Exchange was built in the 1830's located at the trailhead entrance of the Montezuma Heritage Park on High Street.  Future plans include the mural becoming part of a replica boat façade of “The Montezuma.”

SAVING OUR VANISHING HERITAGE

Photo of the Richmond Aqueduct by Dennis Stierer, Lockport, NY

How we as small communities act—or fail to act— in the coming years will determine if we save our heritage, and realize the untapped economic opportunities our heritage and the sites it represents serves our communities. Saving Our Vanishing Heritage is a critical call to action to alert our communities that we need to focus precious investment of time, creativity, and funds on heritage conservation, a strategy that has proven to be one of the most effective and targeted ways to help communities thrive. 

If heritage defines our culture and tells us who we are, why is it so often ignored in our communities or considered of little importance? Why is it that our historic sites and landmarks that represent our common past are given no significant attention, investment or interest when it comes to preservation? Why is it not being seen as an opportunity to satisfy an emotional need that would give us a connection to the place we live and the potential to enhance our lives. Wouldn’t it follow that when our lives are enhanced our community would appear less depressed and experienced as a healthier and more stable place to live. 

Imagine if the Statue of Liberty or Mount Rushmore —the very symbols of the American nation—were damaged and destroyed through neglect or mismanagement. Loss and destruction is the status quo for many of our most significant national treasures that helped form our country are being ignored in our smaller rural communities, but no less significant. Over time our cultural and historic sites have been damaged and ignored of their importance. Much of this loss can be controlled through better planning, community involvement, and management, but these are often missing in smaller communities where the need is the greatest. Often we see our small towns and villages as insignificant with no ability to do anything about it blaming it on lack of manpower and money so we lapse into a powerless, conditioned pattern of thought that it’s useless to even try.  What we are giving up on is our duty and responsibility and the power we have to preserve our heritage for future generations. We are giving up on our greatest asset – our human potential to make a difference and serve our communities with our inherited gifts and abilities. We need to wake up to these abilities and find creative ways to come together on how to accomplish this. We need to let our elected officials know that we care and that we are here to use our skills and creative ideas to support and lend a hand to preserve what is important to us.

SPARE SEAT EXPEDITION PICNIC ON RICHMOND AQUEDUCT

Spare Seat Picnic at the Richmond Aqueduct, May 5, 2012

Clouds gave way to warm sunshine as our  UK visitors rowed into the park arriving from their stay over in Lyons, NY. We enjoyed talking with them over a relaxing picnic lunch on the Richmond Aqueduct.  I couldn't help but contrast the day to an earlier picnic at this historic location. Built in 1854, the aqueduct had 31 arches. Today there are seven remaining arches left after the Erie Canal was rerouted and dredged out in the Seneca River in 1917. You might also notice our picnic was a bit more informal.

Their journey started on the Erie Canal in Buffalo and will end traveling down the Hudson River to New York City.  Traveling the Erie Canal must seem like a kiddie pool to both Richard Harpham and Glenn Charles who have kayaked in some amazing challenging waters.

The event's main sponsor was I Love New York, and Cayuga County's tourism executive director Meg Vanek helped me to coordinate the day's event.  Lori Solomon-Duell, the Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor's director of tourism helped to organize it,  and is traveling to each community along the way to keep the trip on schedule and running smoothly. The event is bringing awareness to many upstate communities along the Erie Canal that are proud of our heritage, and to give visitors a chance to experience the rich natural and historic resources in our canal communities.

Called the Spare Seat Expedition, they are being accompanied on part of their journey in one of the spare seats by smiling Rosie Fuller who is an editor with UK’s Adventure Travel Magazine.  Others have been invited to join them for a ride along the route. Mark DeCracker traveled the 22-mile ride from Lyons to Montezuma. Taking the next twelve-mile stretch was Mike Riley, Trail boss for the Montezuma Heritage Park and canal historian took the spare seat to Weedsport.  (Although I will say, he was somewhat reluctant, but by the time he got to Weedsport he was very glad he went along for the ride.) From there Jeanne Baker opened the Old Brutus Historical Museum to visit the canal displays and exhibits there. They dined at Devaney's in Weedsport before heading to Seneca Falls for the rest of the weekend. Then it's back on the canal at Weedsport to continue their journey. You can follow the rest of their trip on their blog at: Spare Seat Blog

Thank you to everyone who helped to make it possible, those who came out to welcome our guests, and to Richard and Glenn for sharing this amazing journey with us. They told us they would be back again, this time cycling the Canalway Trail. We look forward to their return.

Mark your calendar to visit two National Historic Register sites at our next event on August 11, 2012, starting at 9:00 AM in Montezuma. Mike Riley will be back on land (Yes, he survived it!) to guide us with his popular Cayuga County canal site tour, "Following the Flow; A Tale of Two Erie Canals." . As Trail Boss for the Montezuma Heritage Park, Mike knows first hand plans for the development the park, and will lead a 1.6 mile walking tour sharing highlights of historic canal sites and new trails now open in the park. Mike will also meet anyone that wants to drive on to Port Byron to visit the Erie House with updates on the Canal Society's Erie Canal Heritage Park at the site of Lock 52. The Old Brutus Historical Society Museum will be open from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM with displays of canal history. For more information on the tour, details on the sites and photos, visit our blog at  Cayuga County Canals Tour