USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > Rochester and Monroe County: A history and guide > Part 24
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A hotbed of abolitionism, Pultneyville's position on the lake early made it a strategic point on the Underground Railroad; and in the fragmentary accounts of this furtive artery of traffic are the names of many of its lake captains.
CRESCENT BEACH, 13 m. (R), with entrance at the highway, is privately owned, but its bathhouses and other facilities are open to the public (parking 25 cents.)
NINE MILE POINT, 25.2 m. (R), is a summer resort with hotel, cottages, rocky beach, baseball diamond, and other amusements for summer vacationists.
At 26.3 m. WEBSTER COUNTY PARK (R), nearing com- pletion in 1937, has 60 acres lying on both sides of the road and a lake frontage of 1,500 ft. It provides picnic shelters, fireplaces, comfort stations, parking stations, and three bathhouses with a capacity of 50 each.
FOREST LAWN, 29.2 m., is a section of exclusive summer estates. The road winds up and down through thickly wooded knolls. Cottages stand back from the road screened from view by thick greenery. Duck ponds, fountains, water wheels, and miniature windmills appear between the breaks in the trees.
At 30.5 m. the route proceeds over a causeway between Irondequoit Bay (L) and Lake Ontario (R); the New York Central tracks parallel the highway.
The route via State 18 and Culver Road from Sea Breeze to ROCHESTER is covered under Rochester Points of Interest. (see Tour 1.)
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TOUR 13
AROUND IRONDEQUOIT BAY
Rochester, Glen Haven, Bay View, Newport, Birds and Worms, Point Pleasant, Sea Breeze, Inspiration Point, Willow Grove Park, Ellison Park. County Roads and State 18. Rochester-Rochester, 32 m.
Mostly improved roads, except some of gravel leading to resorts close to the bay.
The route passes through a series of summer resorts along the bay.
East from the Four Corners on Main St. to Culver Road; L. on Culver Road; R. on Norton St .; L. on Bay View Road.
GLEN HAVEN, 6.7 m., is situated near the head of Irondequoit Bay. Once one of the popular amusement re- sorts in the Rochester area, it now is devoted to summer cottages, boating docks, and picnic grounds.
BAY VIEW, 6.9 m., occupies a commanding situation close to the waters of the bay. It has several summer hotels. Each summer a motorboat regatta is held on the waters of the bay. Boats for rowing and fishing can be rented (50 cents per day and up.)
At 7.9 m. the route turns R. on Newport Road.
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AROUND IRONDEQUOIT BAY
NEWPORT, 8.5 m., is another summer resort with one of the most pretentious hotels on the bay. It is especially noted for its political and fraternal celebrations.
Retrace Newport Road to Ridge Road; R. on Ridge Road to Culver Road; at 10.9 m. R. on Seneca Road.
BIRDS AND WORMS, 11.9 m., is said to take its name from a hunting and fishing club which was established here about 100 years ago. Seth Green, the eminent naturalist who discovered the modern method of propagating fish, is known to have been a member of the club.
N. on Seneca Road to Peart Ave .; R. on Peart Ave. to Point Pleasant village, 12.7 m .; R. on Point Pleasant Road.
POINT PLEASANT, 13.2 m., is one of the most popular resorts on the W. side of the bay, with a large colony of summer cottages. Usually in the last week of June, the volunteer firemen of Point Pleasant sponsor an annual water carnival. A hydroplane is available for trips over the waters of Lake Ontario and Irondequoit Bay.
W. on Point Pleasant Road to Culver Road; R. on Culver Road.
SEA BREEZE, 14.6 m. (265 alt., 1,000 pop.), Rochester's popular amusement resort, open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, is a miniature Coney Island, presenting many of the popular types of entertainment that have made the Long Island amusement resort famous. Many Rochester organizations, business establishments, and fraternal orders hold their annual outings here. Boating, fishing, swimming, and all manner of summer sports are found here, and abundantly patronized. A small passenger boat plying be- tween Sea Breeze and Charlotte leaves the dock on varying schedules.
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It was here that Denonville landed in 1687 to begin his punitive expedition against the Iroquois and embarked again after his failure to destroy the power of the Indians. Here later was built Fort des Sables, a part of the French plan to capture the rich fur trade of the region and add a link to the chain of empire they were forging in America.
In Sea Breeze, Culver Road becomes State 18 which crosses the outlet of Irondequoit Bay at 14.6 m. At 15.1 m. R. on Bay Road; at 18 m. R. on Vogt Road.
INSPIRATION POINT, 19.9 m. (automobiles, 25 cents, pedestrians 10 cents; picnic facilities), high above the waters of Irondequoit Bay, is a vantage point for a panoramic view. Far to the S. rise green hills forming a background for the water of the bay. North, the long bay narrows to its outlet and merges with Lake Ontario, which stretches away to the hazy horizon and the shores of Canada.
WILLOW GROVE PARK, 23 m., is a privately owned amusement park open to the public (reasonable charges for various amusements). There is scarcely any form of American game for which provision is not made: bowling, miniature golf, archery, tennis, baseball, boating, outdoor swimming, and modern "games of skill."
At 26.2 m. the route crosses U. S. 104 and follows State 35 (Creek Road.)
ELLISON PARK, 27 m., oldest of the Monroe County parks and the one nearest to Rochester, has an area of 387 acres. An additional 13 acres were acquired to carry out a plan for the development of historic INDIAN LANDING and the "LOST CITY OF TRYON." The park contains two baseball diamonds, seven softball diamonds, a football field, tennis and horseshoe courts, a polo field, a skating rink, a ski slide, a toboggan slide, bridle trails, hiking trails, and
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AROUND IRONDEQUOIT BAY
picnic groves equipped with stone fireplaces, tables, and running water. Boating and canoeing are permitted, and fishing under certain restrictions. In secluded places in the park are cabins (nominal fee) equipped with cooking stoves and large fireplaces and provided with electricity and running water. No overnight camping is permitted; the park closes at 10 P.M.
Within the park, between two rustic bridges over Ironde- quoit Creek, stands a boulder monument marking the SITE OF INDIAN LANDING. The history of Indian Landing may be divided into four periods:
First, the Indian era. The five Iroquois Nations, especi- ally the Seneca tribe, used the site as their southern port on Lake Ontario. All the Indian trails in this territory led to the Landing, which was the beginning of the Ohio Trail from Canada to the Mississippi Valley. A Seneca village and a permanent Long House stood on the spot.
Second, the French era. In 1669, Sieur de la Salle touched at the Indian Landing and met representatives of the Seneca Nation. Later Denonville used the landing as the base for his invasion of the Seneca country, this still further em- bittering the Indians against the French.
Third, the British era. In 1764 General Bradstreet, with Sir William Johnson second in command, stopped at the Landing on his expedition against Fort Niagara. After the fall of Niagara, the British established a fort and trading post near the Landing site.
Fourth, the American era. After the Revolution the Land- ing was expected by many to become the site of a future city. The Canadian fur trade was centered here; a shipyard was built; and in 1797 Judge Tryon staked out what was known as the city of Tryon, the site of which was lost for generations.
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ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY
In another section of the park, near Blossom Road, is a monument marking LANDING ROAD, the portage which ran from this site W. to the mouth of Red Creek in Genesee Valley Park, skirting the southern base of the Pinnacle and Mt. Hope.
West from Ellison Park on Blossom Road.
In front of OUR LADY OF MERCY HIGH SCHOOL, 28 m. (L), stands a granite monument, surmounted by a stone copy of the wooden cross of the early French mission- aries. According to the inscription, the monument com- memorates the FIRST STRUCTURE FOR CHRISTIAN WORSHIP in the Rochester area-a small cabin of bark built near the site in June 1671, by the Franciscan -Recollect missionaries, Louis Hennepin, Gabriel de la Ribourde, and Zenobe Membré. It also names other missionaries and ex- plorers, all of whom either visited or resided for a time in this region.
The route follows Blossom Road to University Ave .; R. on University Ave .; L. on Main St. to Four Corners, 32 m.
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TOUR 14.
OSWEGO AND FAIR HAVEN BEACH STATE PARK
Rochester, Webster, Williamson, Sodus, Red Creek, Oswego, Fair Haven Park, Wolcott, Savannah, Rochester. U S 104, State 104A, 414, 31. Rochester-Rochester, 161.3 m.
New York Central R. R., Rochester to Oswego and Savan- nah to Rochester. Good hotel accommodations in most towns and tourist homes all along the route. Highways nearly all concrete and open throughout the year.
This route crosses the head of Irondequoit Bay and swings northward until it reaches Ridge Road East, which follows the ancient shore line of prehistoric Lake Iroquois. The section along the eastern lake shore is a continuation of the great fruit belt S. of the lake. As the route bears north- ward, the best of the fruit country is left behind, and dairy farms are seen more frequently.
SECTION A. ROCHESTER-OSWEGO. US 104. 71.4 m.
East from the Four Corners on East Main St. to Culver Road; L. on Culver Road, R. on Empire Blvd., which becomes US 104.
FLOAT BRIDGE, 4.8 m., at the head of Irondequoit Bay, is a misnomer for the modern concrete bridge, but its pre-
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decessor, the original Old Float Bridge, was a wooden struc- ture which floated on the waters of the bay.
WEST WEBSTER, 7.9 m. (425 alt., 300 pop.), is just skirted by US 104. The village is one of the suburban villages lying in the Rochester area, with fine schools and pleasant churches.
Truck gardening is one of the principal occupations of this region.
WEBSTER, 10.9 m. (408 alt., 1,552 pop.), extends along Ridge Road for more than half a mile. Its industries include one of the largest basket manufactories in New York State, a canning company, a cold storage company, and a casket factory. Several evaporators process fruit from local or- chards. B. T. Babbitt, who later became well known as a manufacturer of soaps, once taught school in Webster. The village is on the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg branch of the New York Central, which ships a large tonnage from this point.
FRUITLAND, 15.7 m. (451 alt., 51 pop.), receives its name from the fact that it lies in the rich fruit belt of New York. On the outskirts of the town is one of the largest mink farms in the state.
ONTARIO CENTER, 17.3 m. (441 alt., 275 pop.), like its neighbor, Fruitland, is noted particularly for its fruit.
ONTARIO, 18.6 m. (447 alt., 450 pop.), also is noted for fruit.
Left from Ontario on the Town Road is FURNACEVILLE, 2 m., which for 50 years smelted daily ten tons of iron mined there and employed 100 men in the industry. Now it comprises little more than a school and a general store.
The BIG ELM, 22.4 m. (R), is an octagonal house by the roadside.
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OSWEGO AND FAIR HAVEN BEACH STATE PARK
WILLIAMSON, 23.7 m. (454 alt., 1,000 pop.), has many claims to importance in the world of agriculture and com- merce: one-nineteenth of all the celery and one-tenth of all the carrots produced in the United States are shipped from Williamson; the fertile muck lands surrounding the town produce one-third of Wayne County's lettuce. To store this output the township of Williamson provides 3,059,000 cu. ft. of cold storage space.
The town was named for Captain Williamson, Scottish officer in the British Army, who suffered imprisonment in Boston at the close of the Revolution. As administrator of the vast Pulteney Estate, a sweep of territory comprising 1,000,000 acres of land, he gave a vivid coloring to the history of this section of the state. He was a builder of towns, a maker of roads, a resident landlord of a great land empire.
A short distance S. of the village on the Marion Road stands the MILHAN HOUSE, once used as a station on the Underground Railroad. From the Milhan house the escaping slaves were smuggled to the docks at Pultney- ville and secreted in a large woodpile used for firing the boats commanded by Captain Troop. From this practice the expression "a nigger in the woodpile" is said to have originated.
SODUS, 30.4m. (457 alt., 1,444 pop.), dates back to 1795, when its first settlers, a family named Moffat, built their home. The EPISCOPAL CHURCH, in which services are still held, was erected in 1826. The main part of SODUS INN was built in 1812; at that time it was one and one-half stories high. The settlement was originally called East Ridge, because it is at the eastern extremity of the ridge marking the ancient shore line of Lake Iroquois.
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The villagers retain many memories of the past which have taken on the character of legends. Along the main street of the town, where now the cars of tourists pass, one of the pioneer women rode to church each Sunday in a hollow log drawn by a team of horses. Much whiskey was smuggled across the lake from Canada and hidden in the swamps near the shore, to be brought down Salmon Creek and retailed in the settlement for 13 cents a gallon. The timbers of the COBBLESTONE HOUSE standing across the street from Sodus Inn were shaped from allegedly stolen lumber.
Nearly 80 years ago Sodus made a strange industrial ven- ture, an attempt to raise silkworms. A large building was erected on Maple Hill to house the worms; mulberry trees were planted for food; and the industry started on a large basis. But severe weather winter-killed the mulberry trees and Sodus's hope of becoming a silk manufacturing center died with the silkworms.
The HOUSE OF DR. GAYLORD, on the SE. corner of Main St. and Neward Rd., was an Underground Railroad station.
WALLINGTON, 33.3 m. (409 alt., 150 pop.), owes its existence to the New York Central and Pennsylvania R. Rs. and received its name from an old cobblestone tavern, the WALLING HOUSE, built in 1824, which stands at the Pennsylvania R. R. crossing. The village was once an im- portant transfer point for coal from the Pennsylvania mines.
ALTON, 35.8 m. (401 alt., 200 pop.), (see Tour 12, Sec- tion b).
RESORT, 37.9 m. (273 alt., 50 pop.), once called Port Glasgow, lies near the head of Sodus Bay on the east shore. This is one of the three places in the country (the other two are in Ohio and Florida) in which lotus flowers bloom. Once
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OSWEGO AND FAIR HAVEN BEACH STATE PARK
in danger of extermination by the depredations of irre- sponsible persons, these rare plants are now protected by the State and are rapidly increasing in numbers. They are in full view of the highway, but are often mistaken for water lilies. How they came to be here is not certain, since the stories of their origin are based on traditions and legends. Perhaps the most authentic of these stories gives the Indians credit for their presence.
AT 38.7 m. is junction (L) with a macadam road.
Left on this road are LAKE BLUFF and CHIMNEY BLUFF, 5.5 m., the highest points on Lake Ontario. They are popular summer resorts, rimmed with cottages perched high above the blue waters of the lake. Lake Bluff provides a magnificent view of Sodus Bay.
WOLCOTT, 43.3 m. (398 alt., 1,260 pop.), derived its name from Oliver Wolcott, Governor of Connecticut, from which state many of the first settlers came. The first house in the town, built by Jonathan Melvin in 1812, is still stand- ing, in good condition and occupied, on Smith St. just off Lake Ave.
The town is bordered on the east by Wolcott Creek, bridged at the entrance to the village, at which point the creek descends by means of a high waterfall into a ravine, furnishing power for the mill built there in 1814 and still standing today.
WOLCOTT HOTEL, built nearly a century ago, was a station on the old post road from Fort Stanwix to the Niagara Frontier. Until the building of the Erie Canal, all transportation to and from Wolcott was by way of Sloop Landing, on the E. shore of Great Sodus Bay.
North of Wolcott village and along Big Red Creek are several beds of iron ore which in past years have been worked with considerable profit.
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ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY
RED CREEK, 49.5 m. (355 alt., 560 pop.), is the smallest town in New York that has a landing field. The field, located 0.5 m. back of Red Creek Cemetery, is privately owned. At its dedication 10,000 people were present.
The town takes its name from the large creek flowing through it, but up to 1836 it was called Jacksonville, in honor of Gen. Andrew Jackson. The first log house was built in 1811, but the settlement was not incorporated as a village until 1852. A boulder on the grounds of the new high school marks the site of Red Creek Union Academy, built in 1839, later the Red Creek Union Seminary.
HANNIBAL, 59.4 m. (354 alt., 410 pop.), is a village on the New York Central R. R., and the center of a prosperous farming community. The first settlement was made in 1802; in 1806 it was organized as a town by the legislature. The first log building, erected in 1808 near the site of an old Indian camp, was kept as a hotel by Henry Jennings. Before the coming of the railroad Hannibal was a stage- coach station; here the horses were changed on the routes between Oswego and Auburn and Oswego and Rochester. The town lent a sympathetic hand toward the escape of slaves to Canada via the Underground Railroad.
The old BREWSTER HOME, two doors N. of the post office, was a station on the Underground Railroad.
Two large elms near the eastern boundary of the village (L) still bear upon their trunks the faint scars of a hatchet, accounted for in a marker: "Blazed trees over 100 years old, which marked trail from Oswego to Auburn when road was only a track through the forest."
OSWEGO, 71.4 m. (300 alt., 22,652 pop.).
Railroad Stations: Delaware, Lackawanna & Western and New York Central R. R's., W. Utica near Ist St .; New York, Ontario & Western, cor. 3rd and Bridge Sts.
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OSWEGO AND FAIR HAVEN BEACH STATE PARK
Bus Stations: Empire State R. R. Co., Inc. (Oswego Div.), 212 W. 1st St. & 117 E. 1st St.
Street Busses: Fare 10 cents.
Taxis: 25 cents up, zone system.
Accommodations: First class hotels and tourist homes.
Motion Picture Houses: One first-run house; several neighborhood houses.
Athletic Field: Otis Field, W. Bridge St. at Turnpike.
Swimming: Oswego Beach, Lake Ontario.
Tennis: Several courts in city parks.
Annual Events: U. S. Army Maneuvers at Fort Ontario during July and August.
During the Colonial period of American history Oswego was a strategic commercial and military outpost. In the national period its history may be said to begin with the surrender of Fort Ontario by the British on July 14, 1796. Two Indian traders, John Love and Ziba Phillips, settled near the mouth of the river at about the time the British left. In 1796 Neil McMullin, a merchant of Kingston, N. Y., had the frame of a small house constructed in Kingston, and, with his family, brought it over the route so often traversed by soldiers and fur traders-by way of the Mo- hawk River, Wood Creek, Oneida Lake, and the Oswego River. The house was erected on the west side of the river where Seneca St. now is. This was the first frame house and the McMullins the first family after military occupa- tion ceased.
In 1799 the customs collection district of Oswego was formed by Congress, embracing all the shore and waters of the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario from the 45th parallel to the Genesee River. The President was authorized to appoint a collector; with the appointment delayed, the whole frontier was left unguarded and "free trade" pre- vailed for a long time.
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ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY
Peter Sharpe and William Vaughan came about 1798 or 1799 and soon became owners of a small schooner of about 50 tons. A year later Archibald Fairfield purchased two schooners, with which he engaged in commerce between Niagara and Oswego. The village rapidly became a lake port. Settlers came in large numbers, new buildings were erected, and more lake boats built. The quick growth be- came a matter of astonishment to visitors. One stranger is said to have inquired, "How do all you people make a living here?" And a well-known local character is said to have answered, "Well, sir, in summer we live by skinning strangers, in winter by skinning each other."
The east side of the river was surveyed in 1814 and 100 lots laid out. The War of 1812 hampered commerce; but after peace was declared with the British in 1815, business in- creased. In 1821 a lighthouse was erected by the Govern- ment; in 1822 the first bridge, where Bridge St. now is, was constructed to unite villages on the E. and W. sides of the river, which had already merged politically in 1818.
The routing of the Erie Canal across the state to Buffalo destroyed Oswego's hope of becoming the largest port on the Great Lakes. But the opening of the Welland Canal brought a great upswing in business and a general period of boom marked by the construction of hydraulic canals, gristmills, cotton factories, machine shops, tobacco facto- ries, tanneries, and iron works. The first railroad, the Syra- cuse & Oswego, was completed in October 1848. In the same year the Kingsford Starch Factory was erected. Kingsford succeeded in his experiments to make a starch from Indian corn and started an industry which became one of the largest of its kind in the country.
The great fire of July 5, 1853, destroyed all the mills and elevators on the east side of the river. Most of these, how- ever, were soon rebuilt, so that in 1854 17 mills and 10
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elevators were operating in Oswego. In that year the village was the home port for 69 lake vessels.
The abrogation of the reciprocity treaty with Canada in 1866 was a check to the prosperity of the city, and the panic of 1873 was another blow; the gradual moving of the flour-milling industry to the West was another adverse factor with which Oswego has had to contend.
FORT ONTARIO embodies much of the historical inter- est of Oswego. The first fort, on the west bank of the Oswego River, was built in 1727. Fort Ontario itself, about a mile from the west bank of the river, was begun in 1754 and fin- ished probably in the spring of 1756, at the outbreak of the French and Indian War. In August of that year the fort surrendered to the French and the buildings were burned. But the French deserted the place, and by 1759 the new Fort Ontario was built close to the site of the old. With some additions it remained until the present fort was built in 1839. Since that time the buildings have been modern- ized, and the fort is now a regular garrison of the United States Army.
Right from Oswego on First St., which becomes State 48, paral- leling the Oswego canal and the river, is BATTLE ISLAND STATE PARK, 7.5 m. Battle Island was the scene of a battle in 1756 between the British under Captain Bradstreet and a detach- ment of French and Indians under Captain de Villiers, with the Americans finally victorious. Monuments and markers at the park give an account of the engagement.
SECTION B. OSWEGO-SAVANNAH US 104, STATE 104A, 414. 39.1 m.
West from Oswego on US 104.
SOUTHWEST OSWEGO, 5.5 m. (351 alt., 50 pop.), lies at the intersection of US 104 and State 104A. The route turns R. on State 104A.
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ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY
FAIR HAVEN BEACH STATE PARK, 15.7 m., which lies on the southern shore of Lake Ontario and the eastern shore of Little Sodus Bay, contains 660 acres overlooking the waters of the lake, with picnic grounds, bathing beach, and bathhouses. The workers of a large Civilian Conserva- tion Corps camp in the park are building additional im- provements. There is ample provision for over-night camping.
At RED CREEK, 21.4 m., State 104A rejoins US 104; the route turns R. on US 104 to WOLCOTT, 27.2 m.
At Wolcott the route turns L. on State 414, which runs directly S.
At SAVANNAH, 39.1 m., the route turns R. on State 31. SECTION C. SAVANNAH-LYONS. STATE 31. 13.8 m. (see Tour 11, Section f).
SECTION D. LYONS-ROCHESTER. STATE 31. 37 m. (see Tour 12, Section a).
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CHRONOLOGY
1612 Champlain published first maps of Great Lakes and Genesee River.
1669 La Salle disembarked at Indian Landing, now in Ellison Park.
1687 The Marquis de Denonville destroyed four Indian towns in the Iroquois country.
1716 Fort de Sables erected by the French at Sea Breeze on Irondequoit Bay.
1761 Views of Upper and Lower Genesee Falls published in London.
1779 Sullivan campaign against Iroquois broke war strength of the league.
1788 Massachusetts sold New York State lands west of Seneca Lake to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham. Phelps and Gorham secured from Indians Mill Lot Grant, 200,000 acres west of Genesee River as a site for a mill.
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