Summer Lectures, Shakers, and the Weather!

 I have been thinking about doing a Wednesday night lecture on the Shakers this year. The Town of Lebanon was actually settle by Shaker members who left the society to get married. They settled on land that became our current Town of Lebanon. (The Shaker settlement they left was New Lebanon.) 

What added to my Shaker thoughts has been the discussions about the terrible cold damp weather we have been having.  I said to friends that it was possible some of it is caused by lingering smoke in the atmosphere from this past years wild fire, which reminded me of a history story! The date was May 19^th in the year in 1780.....

The sun shown bright red in many places before that date and was followed on the 19^th by a black cloud that settled over an area that stretched from New York to Maine.  It was so dark that candles had to be lit at noon and the darkness never stopped until the following night. Since there was no weather or news broadcasts in those days it brought many to the conclusion that the “World” was coming to an end as predicted in Biblical teachings.

One famous scene attributed to this was a story made famous in a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier.  His name and the poem are called Abraham Davenport.  Davenport was legislator in Connecticut who when his colleagues wanted to adjourn a session because of the darkness exclaimed: “I am against adjournment.  The day of judgment, is either approaching or it is not, if it is not, there is no cause for an adjournment, if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty.”

The Shakers of then Niskayuna (Waterveliet) Colony were seeking new converts to their religion and were out proselytizing when the event occurred and received a record number of converts because of it.

Many years later (recently) the cause was confirmed to be massive forest fires in Ontario, Canada.  College researchers examining the scar damage on the growth rings of trees attributed the “Dark Day” to a fire in today's Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario.

The new lecture series is scheduled to begin in July, dates to be announced as we are delaying because of the weather...so stay tuned as they say!!!

Here is a video of today's work to restore the Shaker Colony of Niskayuna. Enjoy and come out to Eaton for our "Shaker Lecture:!

Chenango Canal and James Geddes

     On October 26, 1825, at the “Wedding of the Waters”, America’s first civil engineers became legend.  The NYS Historical Marker on the site of the house of James Geddes in the Town of Camillus, on busy Genesee Street near the Fairmount Shopping Center, cannot possibly tell the whole story of New York’s Canal system.  One of the most remarkable facts regarding the building of the New York State Canal system in the early years of the 1800’s was that there was no civil engineer in America at the time.

     The man offered the job of civil engineer of the proposed Erie Canal was William Weston of England.  He declined!  That left 4 men, three of whom were judges with limited surveying skill who had learned the craft of surveying in order to settle boundary disputes in court to do the job.  To this motley threesome was added Nathan Roberts, a teacher and mathematician. Some of these men, however, managed not only to learn their trade with hands on training alone.

     Geddes, who was an early entrepreneur in salt in the Syracuse area and a Court of Common Pleas judge by 1818,  moved from Pennsylvania to what became known at Geddesesburgh or Geddesville in 1794, Geddes who was appointed the Surveyor General of New York State, was given the job of finding the routes for the proposed Erie Canal, the lateral Chenango Canal and others.  Geddes was actually instrumental in getting the NYS Legislature to form a canal commission in 1810.

     Geddes limited knowledge of engineering and surveying but obviously good political connections landed him the job as one of the engineers (1816) to supervise in the construction of the proposed Erie Canal.  In 1825, after a bill was passed authorizing the surveying of lateral canal possibilities.  Geddes was sent to the proposed Chenango Valley canal route.  His survey proposed a route of 90 miles with 1,500 feet of lockage at a cost of $715,474.  The proposal of a Chenango Valley canal was voted down in successive years including after a 1827 survey by Nathan Roberts and a report put together by Forman.  The conclusion was there was not enough water. It was not until 1833 that the Act for the Construction of the Chenango Canal became law.

     Today, as then, the Erie Canal and the Chenango Canal’s remnants, stand as a marvel of early engineering in America and the feat of building them a testament to the early spirit of the workers many of them immigrants, who worked through inclement weather and unopened forests to build what was the most important commerce routes of the day.  There is no doubt that the Erie Canal was the single most important factor that made New York the Empire State and that the “Great Chenango Canal” certainly allowed for the villages and businesses along its way to spring up even though it proved to be a financial failure.

Tales of Old Eaton, the Confederate Flag in Eaton and old Mr. Leach!

Leach house to the left of museum.

I realize that I have been tardy in getting some new blogs out...but I have also been struggling along trying to beat cancer.  Yes, modern medicine may be able to cure you, but the side effects of the drugs effect every part of your body...including your ability to think and write.

This week has been good for me and my brain and while watching the hullabaloo on TV about the Civil War statues I was reminded of an old story about Eaton.  The story actually revolves around the house next to the museum on River Road, the road that was once called Water Street. The building is one of the oldest in town and was owned during the period before and after the Civil War by the Leach family. It is "Henry" I believe who served in the Confederate Army while the rest of the town for the most part was pro North.

Small towns in those days stuck together in a more cohesive way than today I guess... and after the War had past, it is said that on all holidays and during parades old Mr. Leach would don his Confederate uniform and march in the parade with the many members of the GAR.  Both sides it is noted paraded up and down the streets with pride. As a matter of fact... it wrote Mr. Leach into history and he has become part of the "Tales told of Old Eaton"... ones that you can enjoy.

Curiously, when redoing the museum we held a very large opening day celebration... and Chris Staudt and I who bought the building and refurbished it as the museum for Eaton... invited friends and family down for the occasion.

Chris' dad came down and toured...after the crowd had gone home and as he was leaving, he looked up at the American flag flying over the door, he glanced across the yard to the Leach house and said... "You really need a Confederate Flg flying here also".  To this day I wonder if old  Mr. Leach was around giving us a hint of his past... could be I guess.... after all it was Memorial Day!

I hope everyone will come out and visit what has become the Old Town of Eaton Museum currently owned and run by the not- for- profit museum group Old Town Folks.  Of great interest... a new group has formed to help support it...Friends of the Old Town of Eaton Museum. The group has officially become a recognized charity so all donations to it are are tax deductible. The museum is open on the First and Third Sunday's until October or by appointment.

The "Friends of the Museum" will be hosting a special event in September... "Fall History Day" and if able I will be speaking to help raise money for the group and to tell more "Tales of Eaton"  and its rich historic past.  Please join us then.