Genesee Country Museum, Madison County History, and the country poet!

The fall in all of its colors has started to envelop Central New York and for fun my little "history circle" of history friends... took to the highway to take advantage of the Smithsonian Magazines "free day" at a museum.

The ride took us to scenic Mumford, NY and the Genesee Country Village.  The village is a living history museum on its own, that includes tons of historic houses, businesses and buildings that have been moved to the site and restored.  The village also contains and Art Museum and a Nature Center and I assure you you can not see it all in one day.


The barns and shops scream history and you can actually picture yourself walking around in the Disney movie Pollyanna.  The collection includes houses and buildings from the 1790's to the Victorian Age.... and has everything from farms to the local Post Office, all taken back to how they looked when they were built and used.

I so wish Madison County with all of its historic buildings in decay would realise the need for preservation and laws prohibiting the removal of historic structures that in the worst case are replaced by cheap trailers.

This week  also brought Madison County Historian Matt Urtz and hardworking Bruce Burke up to my historic building favorite... the Old Town of Eaton Museum.... to film "a historical insights" piece for the PAC 99 station in Oneida, that will air this week on Tuesday!

The museum building is the oldest stone building in the Town of Eaton, and it is a prime example of a structure that cannot be replaced..it is a rubble building..once mistakenly called a canal era limestone building.

This makes me think of a poem I did many years ago that I include here for your enjoyment. (I hope!)

Small Country Town

Small country town, your praises I sing!

Up with what is old!

Buried in your graveyard,

Now moss covered and fallen,

Is an age of birth,

Back to our nation’s beginning.

As I gaze at the town below,

I can see the old stage

With its old driver bent, riding away.

The town’s bustle now a mere hum,

Cars rolling by one by one.

Your people I salute, for they still persist,

As their past on the cemetery hill sits.

Families untouched by time, still close,

Though taken away by work,

And returning again at dusk.

I praise your farmer,

Who works from dawn to dark,

Full knowing his family heritage,

Has given way to progress,

Yet continues to plod along.

Hold on! For we need you as a nation!

Hold on for all that is good and fine!

To the preacher and his Sunday flock,

Whose church can only stay as a community faith.

To the small businessman who must make his word good,

For he faces each man day after day. 

Bless them Lord

And give them strength to continue,

So the country shall not want.