Medina Sandstone Society will offer first bus tour
Will stop at sites that are in Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame
Photo by Tom Rivers: The blossoms were in bloom by the front entrance of Mount Albion Cemetery in this photo from May 10, 2015. The front arch is made of Medina sandstone, one of many sandstone features in the historic cemetery.
The Medina Sandstone Society has sponsored many historic walking tours in Medina in recent years. The organization is planning another tour on April 29, but for the first time the Sandstone Society will take a bus to visit numerous sites.
The bus tour will highlights buildings and sites that are all in the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame. Bill Lattin, the retired Orleans County historian, will serve as tour guide.
The group will go inside some of the buildings on the tour. Some spots will just be a quick visit without going inside.
“This is something new we’re trying,” said Jim Hancock, president of the Sandstone Society. “We have hosted walking tours around historic downtown Medina in the past, but this time we’re renting a tour bus and having a guided tour around Orleans County of beautiful sandstone structures which, incidentally, are inducted into our famous Hall of Fame.”
Lattin will point on the different architectural styles with the buildings, and show some of the different colors and sizes in the sandstone.
The tour starts at 1 p.m. on April 29 at Holy Trinity Parish (St. Mary’s Catholic Church) and West Avenue and then goes to the former Armory (now the Orleans County YMCA) on Pearl Street and then St. John’s Episcopal Church on East Center Street.
The bus then heads to Albion to see the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church, First Presbyterian Church and Mount Albion Cemetery. The group then heads to Holley and St. Mary’s Catholic Church and Hillside Cemetery, where the chapel has the only flying buttress in the county.
The group is scheduled to be back in Medina at 5:30 p.m.
The Sandstone Society is charging $15 for members (stonecutters) and $20 for the general public to go on the tour.
Seating is limited and registration is required. A reservation and check payable to Medina Sandstone Society, can be sent to PO Box 25, Medina, NY 14103. For additional information, send an email to Sue Holland (shollan2@rochester.rr.com).
