USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > Rochester and Monroe County: A history and guide > Part 21
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At 20.3 m. is junction with State 64; the route turns L. on State 64.
At 24.1 m. is junction with State 5; the route turns L. on State 5.
SECTION D. JUNCTION STATE 64 AND 5; STATE 5, 65. HONEOYE FALLS 12.6 m. (see Tour 8, Section a.)
SECTION E. HONEOYE FALLS-ROCHESTER. STATE 65, 31. 19.5 m.
North of Honeoye Falls State 65 passes through a hilly farming region.
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LITTLE FINGER LAKES
MENDON PONDS PARK, 5.4 m. (R), containing 1,581 acres, is the largest of Monroe County parks. Much of it is devoted to a wild life sanctuary and a game propagation area for the benefit of sportsmen and nature lovers. Large areas of marshes, open water, and hills provide food and nesting sites for quail, pheasants, partridge, and several species of wild ducks and geese. Mud Pond is maintained as a game preserve; Hundred Acre Pond, adjoining two picnic areas, provides facilities for boating, bathing, and fishing. The wooded picnic areas are equipped with fire- places, shelters, tables and benches (no overnight camping). A bridle path traverses the park. The Rochester Council of the Boy Scouts of America holds its annual camporee at Mendon Ponds Park.
Leaving the park by the N. entrance at 9.8 m., the route continues on State 65 to Monroe Ave. (State 31). A left turn on Monroe Ave. leads through the township of Brighton and into downtown Rochester, 19.5 m.
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TOUR 8
BRISTOL VALLEY AND CANANDAIGUA LAKE
Rochester, Bristol Valley, Naples, Middlesex, Canandaigua, Victor, Rochester. State 2A, 251, County Road, State 2A, 65, 5, 64, 21, 39, 364, County Road, State 21A, 5, 332, 15. Rochester-Rochester, 109 m.
New York Central R. R., Canandaigua to Rochester; bus line Canandaigua to Rochester. Tourist houses at frequent intervals, with hotel accommodations in the larger towns. Roads mostly concrete or macadam and open throughout the year, with the exception of road on eastern shore of Lake Canandaigua, which might be bad in the middle of the winter.
The route passes a varied terrain; first the rolling farm lands of the Genesee Valley, then the Bristol Hills, the vine-clad hills in the heart of the grape country, changing vistas of the southern Canandaigua Lake region, and finally the placid farm and industrial sections E. of Rochester.
SECTION A. ROCHESTER-JUNCTION STATE 5 AND 64, STATE 2A, 251, COUNTY ROAD, STATE 2A, 65, 5. 32 m.
East from Four Corners on Main St. to South Ave. . R. on South Ave. (State 2A) to the Barge Canal. 3.4 m.
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CANANDAIGUA LAKE AND BRISTOL VALLEY
MAPLEWOOD CEMETERY, 6.5 m. (L), at the junction with the East Henrietta Road, one of the older county burying grounds, is now weed-grown and neglected. The oldest stone bears the date 1811.
HENRIETTA, 7.2 m., (535 alt., 1,800 pop.), was named for Lady Henrietta Laura, Countess of Bath, daughter of Sir William Pulteney, who owned vast tracts of land in the Genesee country in 1800. The history of Henrietta is older than that of Rochester. The town still retains two historic buildings, a church more than a century old, and the MONROE COUNTY ACADEMY, built in 1826, in its day a pretentious educational institution. One of its earliest graduates was Antoinette Brown Blackwell, first ordained woman minister in the United States. The building is now used as a high school.
RUSH RESERVOIR, 10 m. (R), is one of the storage places of Rochester's water supply. From the green em- bankments of this miniature lake there is a panoramic view of all of the surrounding country. At the custodian's home are served the codfish dinners for which Rush has been famous for half a century.
RUSH, 12 m. (541 alt., 300 pop.), was settled in 1804 by a Baptist colony.
At Rush is junction with State 251; the route turns L. on State 251.
At 14.6 m. is junction with an unnumbered county road; the route turns R. on this road.
ROCHESTER JUNCTION, 14.9 m., is a station on the main line of the Lehigh Valley R. R.
At 15.3 m., up a slight hill, is the SITE OF TOTIAKTON (L), one of the largest villages of the Seneca Nation. In 1687 it was burned by Denonville, Governor of New France
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(Canada), in his almost successful attempt to destroy the Senecas.
The route continues straight S. to the junction with State 2A at 16.3 m., and turns L. on State 2A.
At 17.2 m. is junction with a concrete highway (not numbered); the route turns L. on this road.
HONEOYE FALLS, 18.8 m. (821 alt., 1,187 pop.), takes its name from the falls in Honeoye (Ind., a finger lying, descriptive of the curve of the creek) Creek, which provides water power for the industries of the village.
Conspicuous in the center of the village, an iron figure of a man, life-size and painted in brilliant colors, adorns the tower of the village hall and firehouse. The IRON MAN of Honeoye Falls is famous throughout this part of the state, and his "birthday" is a jolly occasion among the village firemen. Stirring events and amusing stories have centered on the Iron Man, a mascot many times kidnapped by rival companies; for the past 45 years he has remained in his present location undisturbed.
At 18.9 m. the route turns R. on State 65.
WEST BLOOMFIELD, 23.8 m. (834 alt., 350 pop.), is one of the four Bloomfields, West, East, North, and South. The cobblestone insurance office (L) housed the OFFICE OF THE ONTARIO & LIVINGSTON FIRE INSURANCE CO. established in 1841. Col. Nathaniel Rochester lived on a farm here before settling in the city which today bears his name.
In West Bloomfield is junction with State 5 (US 20); the route turns L. on State 5.
ROADSIDE CRAFTSMEN, 28.9 m., is housed in a re- constructed Baptist church built in 1833. Some of the hand- hewn beams in the ceilings are 48 ft. long, joined together 362
CANANDAIGUA LAKE AND BRISTOL VALLEY
with wooden pegs. At the sides of the divided staircase leading to the second floor are niches in which are kept the minute book of the old church, the communion set, and the antique collection box. In the building, the processes of woodworking, pottery manufacture, and hand weaving can be followed.
A short distance E., an immense boulder (L) bears a large bronze tablet with an inscription summarizing the HISTORY OF THE HIGHWAY. Once it was one of the main Indian trails from E. to W. Nearby, in 1789, John Adams and his sons built the first dwelling W. of Canan- daigua. Gares Rose surveyed the road in 1793. Two years later bridges had been built and the road made passable for a yoke of oxen; the first stage passed over it Sept. 30, 1799. In 1805, by special act of legislature, the road was turned over to the Ontario and Genesee Turnpike Co., and toll was col- lected up to 1857. Until 1911 it was maintained by the pay- master system; on that date it was taken over by the State of New York, which recently reconstructed the 16-ft. ma- cadam pavement into a 30-ft. concrete pavement.
Junction with State 64, 32 m.
SECTION B. JUNCTION STATE 5 AND 64-NAPLES. STATE 64, 21. 20.5 m.
The route turns R. from State 5 on State 64. The undulat- ing surface of the land merges into low hills, and the road begins to ascend. From the crest of the ridge forming the western wall of Lake Canandaigua is a view of miles of wooded hills and valleys, but the lake itself is still hidden from sight in the gigantic bowl in which it lies. This whole region of the Bristol Hills is rich in folklore, some of which is told by Carl Carmer in Listen for a Lonesome Drum.
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At 5.2 m. a dirt road lead R. to BURNING SPRING where the Indians demonstrated the burning water to La Salle. 1 m.
BRISTOL CENTER, 5.3 m. (931 alt., 60 pop.), has its scattered houses threaded along the highway. On a steep hillside beside a little church is BRISTOL CENTER CEME- TERY. One of the epitaphs reads:
Ye that have passion for a tear Give nature vent and drop it here.
Another reverses the admonition:
Stop my dear friends, forbear your tears and view this stone awhile Consider that you mortal are And time doth swiftly roll.
BRISTOL SPRINGS, 12.8 m. (1,210 alt., 150 pop.), re- ceived its name probably on account of its proximity to the Burning Springs, which have figured in the legends of the Bristol Hills. According to tradition, out of the springs flames once shot into the air high as the tree tops. Today bubbles in a little stream mark the spot where a lighted match will start a blaze hot enough to broil a chop. The skeptical may perform the experiment. Another spring in a small cave a mile up the glen burns constantly, licking the lips of the cave with a darting fiery tongue. There are magic wells with the power to magnetize a knife blade. Drilling a thousand feet down has failed to discover an explanation.
At 13.5 m. State 64 joins State 21.
South of Bristol Springs the route turns around a sharp hairpin curve, beyond which the first view of the lake appears, 14.3 m.
On a calm day CANANDAIGUA LAKE is a mirror re- flecting sky and wooded hills, but capricious wind currents frequently whip it into a turmoil of whitecaps. Canandaigua Lake, 16 m. long, 11/2 m. wide, and 262 ft. deep, lies 686 ft. above tidewater.
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CANANDAIGUA LAKE AND BRISTOL VALLEY
For a long distance GANNETT HILL (R), is visible, towering to a height of 2,256 ft., the highest elevation in the Finger Lakes country.
At 18.6 m., is a balm of Gilead tree which measures 28 ft. in girth and reaches 125 ft. skyward. In 1789 it had a spread of 104 ft.
NAPLES, 20.5 m. (818 alt., 1,070 pop.), was described by William Jennings Bryan as a "spread of poetry written by the Great Author of the Universe." It lies in the very heart of the grape country, surrounded by steep hills terraced with vineyards, which shield it from storms but shorten its hours of daylight.
SECTION C. NAPLES-CANANDAIGUA. STATE 39, 364, COUNTY ROAD, STATE 21A, 5. 28.7 m.
In Naples is junction with State 39; the route turns R. on State 39.
MIDDLESEX, 9.7 m. (735 alt., 300 pop.), is shadowed by BARE HILL (1,540 alt.), the traditional birthplace of the Seneca Nation. One legend recounts that during a Seneca council held on the hill, an enormous serpent appeared which was invulnerable to the Indians' arrows, until, ad- vised by the Great Spirit, one chief dipped an arrow point into the juice of a secret flower and with it slew the serpent. In its death agonies the great snake rolled down the hill, destroying all vegetation in its way, and disappeared in Canandaigua's waters. Since then, the legend maintains, Bare Hill has remained bare. A modern addition to the legend states that one nearby farmer, defying superstition, applied fertilizer to the soil on the exact spot where the serpent was killed, a patch of ground about 14 ft. in diam- eter, but to this day not even a blade of grass grows there.
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ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY
Peculiar round stones, believed by the Indians to be skulls of the serpent's victims, adorn many a cottage lawn.
In Middlesex is junction with State 364; the route turns L. on State 364.
At 12.5 m. is junction with a county road called Vine Valley Road; the route turns L. on this road.
At the intersection is the LITTLE RED SCHOOLHOUSE, brought to the attention of the nation by the National Geographic Magazine (Nov., 1933) as typical of the species of pioneer school.
At 15 m., from the highest point reached by this high- way is a splendid view of the valley below, a barricade of hills in the W., and in the foreground the blue splendor of Canandaigua Lake. To the L. looms SOUTH MOUNTAIN, known to the Indians as Genundawa (sunnyside.)
The road descends and at 16 m. a (R) turn leads on an unnumbered dirt road, which becomes a paved road merging into State 21A, and borders the lake shore all the way to Canandaigua.
At 26.6 m. is junction with State 5 (US 20); the route turns L. on State 5.
CANANDAIGUA, 28.7 m. (737 alt., 7,541 pop.). (see Tour 9, Section b.)
SECTION D. CANANDAIGUA-ROCHESTER. STATE 332, 15. 28.5 m.
From Canandaigua the route continues N. on State 332. At 7 m. is junction with State 15; the route turns L. on State·15.
366
.
CANANDAIGUA LAKE AND BRISTOL VALLEY
VICTOR, 10 m., is a quiet village sheltered by low hills. In the distance can be seen BOUGHTON HILL (L), the site of one of the largest villages of the Seneca Indians.
At 12.3 m. (L) is junction with a gravel road.
Left on this road stands radio station WHAM, .2 m. (L), (open to visitors at all times). This station was built in 1927 by the Strom- berg-Carlson Telephone Manufacturing Co. Phillips Hill, on which the station stands, because of its elevation of 150 ft. above the surrounding country and the swamp at the foot of the hill, forms an excellent site for the broadcasting transmitter. The one-story fireproof building is 38 ft. by 56 ft. and contains a transmitting room, a generator room, and living quarters for the station operators. An antenna mast, 25 ft. square at the base, towers 450 ft. above the summit of the hill. The tower, visible for many miles, is lighted with a beacon at night. The huge radio tubes of the station are kept at even temperature by an elaborate water- cooling system.
At 14.3 m. is junction with Powder Mills Park road.
Left on this road is POWDER MILLS PARK, .5 m., consisting of 576 acres acquired from the Rand estate by Monroe County. About 1 m. from the entrance are the BREEDING PONDS main- tained by the United States Bureau of Fisheries. From these ponds the road leads to the ruins of the RAND POWDER MILLS. The millrace, pieces of the machinery, several of the founda- tion piers, and the water wheel which supplied the power for the mills-historic relics of the Civil War era-all are standing in posi- tion. The bull yard, where the drivers fed and watered their animals, is now a picnic ground.
A well-kept macadam road turns L. a short distance from the park entrance, circles the hills, and arrives at the SITE OF THE OLD GRISTMILLS. On this road the 4-H Club has erected a summer camp overlooking a small stream that flows through this section of the park. A swimming pool has been built for use of the public. This park is of especial interest to botanists for its many rare specimens of wild flowers, including the boot's shield fern, ebony spleenwort, and an orchid called the lily-leaved tway blade.
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ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY
PITTSFORD, 20.6 m. (500 alt., 1,460 pop.), with the silent canal flowing by, is essentially a residential town, many of its inhabitants commuting to Rochester.
The OLD HEIDELBERG INN was established in 1807 as a hostelry under the name of the Pittsford Inn. Here stagecoaches stopped on their way to the small cluster of cabins which was then the settlement of Rochesterville. In 1824 the Marquis de Lafayette was entertained here, and two years later the inn sheltered Morgan and his captors on their journey to Fort Niagara. Before the Civil War this historic hotel served as headquarters and transfer station for the Underground Railroad.
The HARGOUS HOUSE, 52 S. Main St., was occupied during the Civil War by the Hargous family. Mrs. Hargous, a Southerner, insisted upon displaying the Confederate flag from her housetop, much to the indignation of the villagers, who sent a committee to tear down the flag. The family was forced to swear allegiance to the United States, and Mrs. Hargous was warned that if the Confederate flag appeared again on her premises the house would be burned. Pittsford tradition asserts that before the Hargous family resided there, the old house was a station on the Under- ground. Fugitive slaves are said to have been hidden in the immense brick-walled cellar, which is partitioned into five rooms. But this tradition has been contradicted and cannot be verified.
BRIGHTON, 23.1 m. (460 alt., 900 pop.), lies at the eastern entrance to Rochester, with part of its territory already incorporated within the city itself. It contains a number of modern real estate developments. In point of time it antedates Rochester a number of years. When the earliest mill and cabins of Rochester sprang up at the falls of the Genesee, all visitors and newcomers passed through the flourishing town of Brighton.
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CANANDAIGUA LAKE AND BRISTOL VALLEY.
An East Avenue Garden. Willow Pond
The ORRINGH STONE TAVERN, East Ave. opposite Council Rock Ave., built in 1790, was the first tavern be- tween Canandaigua and the Genesee. The rear portion is the older; the exterior has been altered. It has entertained many notables in its day: Joseph Brant, Aaron Burr and his daughter, Theodosia, Lafayette, and Louis Philippe (see Rochester Anecdotes).
The route ends at the Four Corners, 28.5 m.
369
TOUR 9
KEUKA LAKE AND HAMMONDSPORT
Rochester, Canandaigua, Bluff Point, Geneva, Victor, Rochester. State 15, 64, 5, 21A, County Road, State 53, 364, 54, 54A, 54, 14, 5, 332, 15. Rochester-Rochester, 182 m.
New York Central and Pennsylvania R. R's. parallel parts of this route. Interstate and interurban bus lines traverse the highways. The roads are mostly concrete, passable at all seasons.
The route passes through the vineyards of the Finger Lakes section.
SECTION A. ROCHESTER-CANANDAIGUA. STATE 15, 64, 5 (US 20). 31.3 m.
East from Four Corners, Rochester, on Main St .; R. on Clinton Ave .; L. on Monroe Ave. (State 15.)
On the Brighton-Pittsford town line, 4.8 m., stands the old SPRING HOUSE (R), built in 1822, used in its early days as a health resort and recreation center. Erected before stoves came into common usage, the house has five large chimneys and ten fireplaces. Several of the sulphur springs which gave the house its name and made it a health center have been rediscovered, and one, at the left gate, has been left open. Town lines were favorite sites for hotels and
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taverns in the days of local option, since the location en- abled the owner to move the bar from one town to another within the same building.
State 15 between Rochester and Pittsford follows the warpath traveled by the Senecas, the Jesuits, La Salle, and in 1687, by the Marquis de Denonville, Governor of New France, in his profitless raid of the Seneca villages. The trail followed by Denonville began near the entrance of Irondequoit Bay, paralleled the east shore to the head of the Bay, followed up Irondequoit Creek and through the forest for several miles, thence along Monroe Avenue, leaving the course of State 15 about 6 miles east of Roch- ester, to reach Rochester Junction, where stood the Seneca village of Totiakton.
PITTSFORD, 6.9 m. (474 alt., 1,460 pop.) (see Tour 8, Section d).
At Pittsford is junction with State 64; the route turns R. (S) on State 64.
MENDON, 13.8 m. (527 alt., 350 pop.), a crossroads village, contains several well-built cobblestone houses. The principal cost of these durable houses was labor; the water- worn stones were found in the prehistoric lake bed. They were graded for size by means of a plank sieve bored with holes of varying sizes. In some instances the stones are laid in patterns: alternate rows of large and small stones, or ovoid, laid in a herringbone design.
Beyond the center of the town, on what is known as the Ionia-Mendon Road, stands the cobblestone MENDON ACADEMY, 13.9 m. (R), in good repair and still doing duty as a schoolhouse for school district No. 2.
The early HOME OF BRIGHAM YOUNG, 15.5 m., at the corner of Cheese Factory Road, is a sturdy white house.
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ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY
In 1824, at the age of 23, Young married Miriam Works of Aurelius, N. Y., and in 1829 came with his wife to Mendon to live. In 1830 he saw a copy of the Book of Mormon and in 1832 he and his wife became members of the Mormon Church. In the same year she died of tuberculosis. Brigham Young and his two daughters lived with neighbors in Mendon for a short time, and then both families moved to Kirkland, Ohio, where Young preached in a Mormon colony. After the death of Joseph Smith in 1844, Brigham Young became head of the Mormon Church.
From the house a dirt road leads L. to the site of BRIGHAM YOUNG'S CHAIR FACTORY, .25 m. The few chairs of his manu- facture that still exist have been purchased by the Mormons to be cherished as relics.
At 15.9 m. is junction (L) with a dirt road.
Left on this road is an isolated cemetery, .25 m. which con- tains the GRAVE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG'S FIRST WIFE.
At 16.1 m. in the distance (L) is BOUGHTON HILL, a historic landmark on which once stood the Indian village of Gandagaro, destroyed by Denonville in his march against the Seneca nation in 1687.
At 22.5 m. is junction with State 5 (US 20); the route turns L. on State 5.
CANANDAIGUA, 31.3 m.
SECTION B. CANANDAIGUA-PENN YAN. STATE 5 (US 20), 21A, COUNTY ROAD, STATE 53, 364. 24 m.
In this section the route traverses the rugged landscape of the Finger Lakes region.
CANANDAIGUA, 0 m. (783 alt., 7,541 pop.), derives its name from the Indian for chosen spot, still appropriate for its setting at the foot of Canandaigua Lake. Canandaigua
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KEUKA LAKE AND HAMMONDSPORT
was first settled in 1788, and for many years was the prin- cipal trading center of western New York.
The PIONEER CEMETERY (R) is just inside the city line. Here, written in epitaphs, are the first chapters in the city's history. The tombstone of Caleb Walker declares him to be the "first white man to die in Canandaigua, 1790." The cemetery contains the graves of Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, the two land emperors who laid the foundation for the settlement of western New York. Oliver Phelps's life history is concisely summarized in the in- scription on his box-shaped tomb. In 1788, after the Revolu- tionary War, in which he took active part, Phelps, together with Gorham, purchased the presumptive rights of Massa- chusetts to the Genesee Country and extinguished the Indian title, thereby opening for settlement the western part of New York State. Close by are the old-fashioned table tombstones marking the graves of his wife and son.
The old CANANDAIGUA ACADEMY, the first academy on the Phelps and Gorham Tract, was founded in 1795, and stood on the site of the present Canandaigua Academy on N. Main St.
The UNITED STATES VETERANS' HOSPITAL, foot of Forthill Ave., (not open to casual visitors), cares chiefly for shell-shocked veterans. The building, constructed in 1930 at a cost of over $1,700,000, is located on a landscaped estate of several hundred acres.
The route leaves Canandaigua on State 5.
At 2.1 m. is junction (R) with State 21A; the route turns R. on State 21A.
At 5.8 m. is junction (L) with a good macadam county road, which at Rushville merges into State 53, the begin-
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ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY
ning of the Marcus Whitman Highway; the route turns R. on this road.
Marcus Whitman (1803-1847) saved the Northwest, in- cluding the present states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana, for the United States. Educated in Massa- chusetts, he practiced medicine in Rushville. In 1836, with his bride he set out to serve as missionary to the Indians in the Northwest. From Council Bluffs, Iowa, they completed the 7 months' journey in a wagon, the first to make wheel- tracks over the Rocky Mountains.
When Whitman learned that Congress was considering ceding American rights to the Northwest to Great Britain in return for fishing rights off Newfoundland, he made the long, hazardous journey to Washington and convinced Congress and the President of the potential wealth of the Oregon country. To a skeptical Congressman who argued that the land would never be of much value because no wagon track could ever be made across the Rockies, he was able to reply, "There already is one. I made it." In 1846 Great Britain surrendered her claims to the Northwest. Whitman returned to Oregon, and there he and his wife were massacred by Indians on Nov. 20, 1847.
RUSHVILLE, 10.4 m. (852 alt., 452 pop.), is important chiefly as having been the home of Marcus Whitman. A marker at the roadside (R) indicates his one-time residence.
At 14.4 m. the Marcus Whitman Highway bears L. and joins State 364.
At 20.4 m., from the top of a steep hill, Seneca Lake is visible, glimmering in the distance ahead, but from this point Keuka Lake is entirely hidden from view by an inter- vening hill. Below in the valley lies the village of Penn Yan, 24 m.
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KEUKA LAKE AND HAMMONDSPORT
Keuka Lake. A Typical Finger Lake's View Schiff
SECTION C. PENN YAN-HAMMONDSPORT. STATE 54. 36 m.
KEUKA LAKE is Y-shaped and is said to resemble Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. Its waters are divided by a twelve
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mile promontory, 812 ft. high. The lake is 21 miles long and 183 ft. deep.
PENN YAN, 0 m. (736 alt., 5,329 pop.), at the northern tip of the eastern arm of Keuka Lake, has a long frontage on the lake and is surrounded on its landward side by hills. The core of the town is Main Street, an aisle roofed by mag- nificent elms. The village is a thriving industrial town, the outlet of Lake Keuka furnishing water power for the manu- facture of paper, clothing, furniture, etc. The BURKITT MILLS (open to the public by permission) are the largest manu- facturers of buckwheat products in the world.
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