It's  Time

  mark your calendar....

 

 Enjoy History, Beauty and Culture of 19th Century Sites of the Original Erie

and Enlarged Canals, the Cayuga-Seneca Canal, Featuring Locks,

Drydock, and the Second Largest Aqueduct on the Enlarged Erie Canal

Followed by Dish to Pass Picnic

Entertainment by the Muckland Crooners Band

Special Presentation on Montezuma Heritage Park

Development Plans & Volunteer Recognition

Starts at 9:00 AM 

Byron Lapp Memorial Trail, High Street off Route 90 in Montezuma

(next to the firehouse)

Picnic to Follow in Pavilion Next to Town Hall, Dock Street

For More Information about Mike Riley's Cayuga County Canal Tours Visit:

http://canalsplash.blogspot.com/search/label/Canal%20Splash

Sponsored by:

  

Montezuma Historical Society

Town of Montezuma

New York State Canal Corporation

A Special Heritage Park Community Presentation

THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2013 - 3-5 PM

Montezuma Town Hall 

The Heritage Design Committee has been very busy the last few months meeting several times with 
edr Companies, the Landscape Architectural firm hired by the Town through funding from an Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) Planning Grant.  Doug Gerber, Landscape Architect, from edr has been working with Maren King, Director of the Community Center for Design Research and SUNY-ESF students Olivia Bennett, Peng Xu, and Kiva VanDerGeest who have quizzed us on our vision for the park.

It's been an exciting time as we discussed treating the hamlet as the central focus with a strong visual and physical connection to the park. One of the main considerations was to develop a Town of Montezuma identity that would include the historic Erie Canal and aspects of human development of land use to compliment the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge's environmental development land use.  Their work up to this point has been to perform an inventory and analysis, develop project goals, and program options, develop alternative conceptual approaches, and prepare a conceptual master plan.  There have also been to onsite visits to the park to identify important historic resources, and ideas for the plan. Now that the first phase of this project is completed, the edr and CCDR Project Design Team are ready to present their ideas to the Community.
 

 

Kiva VanDerGeest presents conceptual ideas to the Montezuma Heritage Park Design Committee.

 

Peng Xu, SUNY-ESF student show drawing of a turn around area near the Richmond Aqueduct and the Seneca River.

PARK APPRECIATION DAY

AN INVITATION TO ATTEND

Montezuma Heritage Park Appreciation Day

Dedication of the Historic Mural, Historic Markers and Park Enhancements

 

Guest Speaker, Mark DeCracker, MuralMania

with a Special Walk in the Park by Tour Guide Mike Riley

 

SATURDAY,  MAY 4, 2013 AT 2 PM

Off Route 90, High Street North of Firehouse 

sponsored by Montezuma Historical Society and

Cayuga County Creating Healthy Places to Live, Work and Play

 

Park Appreciation Day is being created to recognize and thank

 Muralist, Dawn Jordan, the funders and volunteers that have enhanced the park.

Thank you for the support the Town of Montezuma has received to make the Park a great place to visit and enjoy nature, walking trails and historic Erie and Cayuga-Seneca Canal sites. 

 

 

 

 

EMBARKING ON THE NEXT STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT

The Town of Montezuma has entered into a contract with the Office of State, Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation for an EPF  planning and development grant. We are happy to announce the acceptance of EDR Companies proposal to assist in the preparation of a master plan for the Montezuma Heritage Park.  Douglas Gerber, RLA, registered Landscape Architect with more than 13 years of professional experience, will be responsible for the project management and design.

We welcome the opportunity for EDR and Doug Gerber to support the Town in discovering the unique potential the park holds for our community. EDR is highly qualified for this type of work having planned and designed dozens of parks and hundreds of miles of multi-use trail environments in their 32-year history. Their multi-disciplinary, research based approach to these types of projects integrates landscape architecture, community planning, site/civil engineering, archeology, environmental and visual assessment. We look forward to involving the community in applying this very holistic approach to our project that will result in cultural, social, economic, ecological and aesthetic impacts.

It's exciting that EDR will be teaming with the Center for Community Design & Research (CCDR), and students from the State University College of Environmental Science & Forestry School of Landscape Architecture. CCDR's mission is to educate students, community leaders and citizens about the value of place and, through the shared practices of planning and design empower them to manage and direct change that will lead to sustainable communities. CCDR will be assisting EDR in continuing in the process of the community visioning started in Montezuma in 2010. This partnership will help continue the positive momentum, community involvement and fresh ideas for our community.

EDR in concert with CCDR will provide consulting services to perform an inventory and analysis, develop project goals, and program options, develop alternative conceptual approaches, prepare a conceptual master plan and prepare a schematic design with a cost estimate for a preferred first phase project area.

Now that's a recipe for success!

CELEBRATING: ART = TRAILS = PARK

Dawn Jordan put the finishing touches on our mural today! What a fantastic job she did, and what a pleasure it was to work with her on this project.  She worked under some pretty difficult weather conditions with the extreme heat we had this summer, but we both were smiling as you put her name and the year on the bottom right corner.

Look for an announcement in the spring for a special dedication and celebration of closing the gap of murals along the Erie Canalway. This completes Phase I of this project....now on to the next. Anyone know where we can find craftsmen boat builders? We're looking for volunteers who will help us build the boat deck that the mural will set on. Below is a model made by Design Committee member, Dan Randolph from plans designed by Town Supervisor John Malenick.

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.