Search Results for: carl akeley

Legacy of Carl Akeley, famed naturalist from Clarendon, threatened by oil drilling in Congo

By Matthew Ballard, Orleans County Historian Posted 7 July 2018 at 8:42 am

“Overlooked Orleans” – Vol. 4, No. 27

Carl E. Akeley, circa 1914, The American Museum Journal

The story of Carl Ethan Akeley is one of my favorite tales of a local boy who traveled beyond the boundaries of Orleans County to leave a lasting impact on the world. This prolific naturalist, taxidermist, artist, and inventor was born May 19, 1864 to Daniel Webster Akeley and Julia Glidden.

He grew up as a child in the family home on Hinds Road where he took an early interest in the preservation of animal specimens. To his family, this “morbid curiosity” earned him the reputation of being “odd,” that was until he mounted his aunt’s beloved yellow canary that died one cold evening.

He entered the tutelage of David Bruce of Sweden, New York, an artist and taxidermist known locally for his mounting of bird specimens for E. Kirke Hart (now on display at the Cobblestone Museum). Akeley’s time with Bruce was short, the latter recognizing his pupil’s unusual proficiency and skill in the art of taxidermy. At the age of 19, Akeley found employment with Ward’s Natural Science Establishment in Rochester, officially launching his professional career in mounting animal specimens.

It was during his tenure at Ward’s that he became attuned to the disconnection between taxidermy as an art and taxidermy as a science. To Akeley, these mounted specimens lacked the context that came from showing animals in their natural habitats. Although he held strong feelings on the direction of the profession, it was not until his work on the mounting of Jumbo, P.T. Barnum’s East African circus elephant in September of 1885, that he developed an expert’s voice.

Two years after his first major project, he left Ward’s for a part-time position with the Milwaukee Public Museum where he developed his trademark of setting animals against painted backgrounds. These backgrounds mimicked the natural habitat of the focal specimen, adding the necessary context to the piece. It was this particular type of work that earned Akeley his reputation as a premier taxidermist and eventually led to his appointment as chief of the department of taxidermy at the Field Columbian Museum (now the Field Museum) in Chicago. During his tenure in Chicago, Akeley experienced his first of five African expeditions. It was on this trip that he first stared death in the face, killing a leopard with his bare hands.

Over the course of his life, Akeley was responsible for the invention of a “cement gun” used for spraying plaster under newly mounted animal skins. The device was used in the repair of the exterior walls of the Field Museum and earned him the John Scott Legacy Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1916. It was thanks to Akeley’s work that we have motion picture footage of the First World War. His 1916 patent of the Akeley Motion Picture Camera, dubbed the “pancake camera,” was developed out of his efforts to capture moving images of animals in the wild. The U.S. War Department adopted the camera for capturing war footage, which later received the John Price Wetherill Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1926.

Much more can be said of Akeley’s life; his commitment to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, his insistence on shooting animals for the sake of preservation instead of sport, his friendship with Theodore Roosevelt, or his numerous encounters with death while on expeditions in Africa. His lasting legacy, however, is defined by the establishment of the Albert National Park in Africa. In 1921, he visited Mt. Mikeno on his fourth expedition to collect gorilla specimens. It was during this visit that his ideas on the collection and preservation of animal specimens fundamentally changed. Thanks in part to Akeley’s work, King Albert I of Belgium set aside land for the first national park in Africa in 1925. That park remains intact today as the Virunga National Park.

This UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to the bush elephant, the endangered bonobo, and Akeley’s endangered mountain gorilla. News media announced recently that the Democratic Republic of Congo is now exploring the possibility of opening this important refuge to oil drilling. With this news comes the possibility that Akeley’s legacy could come to an end in our lifetime. It was thanks to his foresight that we can view these beautiful animals in a recreation of their natural habitat. It was his lifelong vision that we should never lose the ability to view these living species in the wild, if we should so choose.

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In celebrating Carl Akeley, a call to preserve natural world

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 May 2015 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

HOLLEY – The Clarendon Historical Society threw another birthday for the community’s most famous son, Carl Akeley, on Wednesday. The top photo shows a comic book image of Akeley fighting with leopard in Africa.

Akeley survived and managed to kill the leopard in Africa. Akeley was a world renowned taxidermist and inventor. He was instrumental in creating the first national park in Africa.

Provided photo – Carl Akeley is pictured with a leopard in Africa that he killed with his bare hands after it attacked him.

Last year the Historical Society celebrated Akeley’s 150th birthday with 150 people turning out for the party, which featured a presentation by the author of a book about Akeley’s life.

Jay Kirk wrote “Kingdom Under Glass,” a book that traced Akeley’s upbringing on Hinds Road in Clarendon, when he started “stuffing” birds and small animals, to his ground-breaking advances in taxidermy and his adventures in Africa.

The 151st party featured another prominent Akeley enthusiast, Stephen Quinn. He worked in the Akeley Hall of African Mammals, where many of Akeley’s elephants, lions, rhinos and gorillas are displayed in New York City at the American Museum of Natural History.

Steven Quinn addresses about 100 people on Wednesday at Holley Junior-Senior High School, sharing photos and insights from a trip to Africa, retracing Carl Akeley’s trips to the continent from 1921 to 1926.

Quinn said the mountain gorillas are threatened, losing habitat and suffering attacks from predators and illnesses. The gorilla pictured has a nose fungus, Quinn said.

“The natural world is to be cherished,” Quinn said. “We’re accountable to the natural world.”

Quinn is recently retired from the American Museum of Natural History. He said the Akeley Hall “is truly a magnificent place.”

Quinn wanted to retrace Akeley’s route in the eastern Congo, where Akeley and his team visited from 1921 to 1926, bringing back paintings, photographs, and specimens collected in the field nearly a century ago.

Akeley became a passionate advocate for the mountain gorillas and other wildlife, and pushed for a national park in the area.

Quinn in his presentation also highlighted the work of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Program, which provides care to sick gorillas, cleaning and suturing cuts and providing medicine.

“The work they do is truly wonderful,” Quinn said. “They work they do wouldn’t be possible without Carl Akeley, who gave his life and is responsible for the first national park in Africa.”

Akeley was on his fifth trip to the Congo in 1926 when he died of fever. He is buried in Africa, just miles from where he encountered his first gorilla.

The taxidermist community is working to raise money for monument for Akeley at Hillside Cemetery in Holley.

Historic Childs: The Akeley Fox, early work of famed taxidermist from Clarendon

Posted 20 December 2021 at 7:00 am

By Doug Farley, Cobblestone Museum Director – Vol. 2. No. 45

GAINES – The Hamlet of Childs is the current home for an outstanding artifact of the mid-19th century. The name settled upon for this object is “The Akeley Fox,” in homage to the taxidermy artist, Carl Akeley, who created the diorama in 1879.

Pictured at top in 1979 is Mr. John Seager, along with the fox his great grandfather Francis Harling shot over 140 years ago. In 1979, Mr. Seager gave his family heirloom to the Cobblestone Museum for its permanent collection in memory of his parents Agnes Harling Seager and John Seager.

Young Carl Akeley – Photo courtesy the Field Museum

The story goes that sometime in 1879m Francis Harling lay near a fox run in a Barre Swamp almost a full day before this specimen came along. At the time, a young Carl Akeley of Clarendon (shown above) was in his late teens or early twenties and was learning the techniques of taxidermy under the tutelage of David Bruce from Brockport. Knowing Akeley, Francis Harling purposely procured the fox for him to mount. The fox is depicted in a large gold-framed shadow box just as she had killed a partridge.

The Akeley Fox is one of his early works. It is signed on the reverse side of the glass, “C .E. Akeley, Clarendon”

In the late 19th Century Akeley went on to become the great world renowned African explorer and established the African Hall in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. He was noted as being one of the first taxidermists to place specimens in their natural surroundings and traveled with Theodore Roosevelt and George Eastman on several safaris. One of his staunchest supporters was none other than J. Pierpont Morgan. The image above depicts Akeley surviving a leopard attack on one of his many safaris in Africa. He captured the leopard using only his bare hands.

Unfortunately, Akeley died in his early sixties before he had a chance to complete his life’s work. The Akeley Fox however is testimony to a great man’s artistic genius. For many years it hung in the parlor of the Harling residence on East County House Road near Albion. It was then inherited by Walker Harling, son of Francis and passed on to his daughter Agnes Harling Seager who kept it in the attic for over forty years. Once arriving in the Hamlet of Childs, the fox was displayed along with the Hon. E. K. Hart Bird Collection at the Cobblestone Museum. Ironically, the Hart Bird Collection was prepared by Akeley’s teacher, David Bruce.

Considering the legacy left by Carl Akeley and the significance of his contributions to the field of history, the little red fox is held in the highest regard and treated as one of the crowning artifacts within the collection of the Museum. Accepting the unique artifact into the collection as a rare representation of the earliest works of a world renowned taxidermist, the Museum retained a distinct piece of history that museums today would fight over.

With thanks to the efforts of the Clarendon Historical Society, a spectacular tribute to the life and legacy of Carl Akeley was arranged to celebrate the passing of Akeley’s 150th birthday. Museum co-coordinators Matthew Ballard and Sarah Karas both attended a celebration in Akeley’s honor where they met John Janelli, chairman of the National Taxidermy Association’s Conservation Committee. After showing him photographs of the fox, the true significance of the piece was finally understood.

(L-R) Sarah Karas, Cobblestone Museum co-coordinator, John Janelli, and Matt Ballard, co-coordinator

Members of the Committee visited the Museum to see the fox firsthand on May 23, 2014 (shown above) when it was decided that the restoration of this artifact was not simply a possibility but a necessity. Heat from being stored in an attic for decades, along with freezing in the winter, had led to severe deterioration. One eye had fallen out, the tail had “melted,” the paws were void of hair and bugs had found their way inside. Melissa Ierlan, Town of Clarendon Historian, said, “It was in bad shape. We thought we would have to replace it, but we didn’t.”

The fox is depicted eating a bird it had caught. The paper mache work on the bird included newspaper from the Holley Standard, dated December 4, 1879. As an important symbol of modern taxidermy’s founding father, the fox needed to be restored and preserved.

On June 5, 2014, the Museum coordinators, Ballard and Karas, presented the proposal to the board of trustees. With a unanimous yes, the board offered their support in the effort to preserve Akeley’s little red fox. Fundraising begin immediately to procure funding for the evaluation and proper restoration of this important piece of history.

The fundraising to enable the restoration was a major project in itself. Ierlan said the restoration resulted from an “amazing grass-roots effort to secure funding” for the project. Private donors, a grant from the Elizabeth Dye Curtis Foundation and donations from the Orleans County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Orleans County Historical Association (OCHA) and the Clarendon Historical Society made the project possible.

With funding in place, Melissa Ierlan personally bubble wrapped and transported the fox in her car to the restoration offices of George Dante in New Jersey.

Photo courtesy of Melissa Ierlan: John Janelli, left, is past president of the National Taxidermy Association. He is pictured with George Dante of Wildlife Preservations, LLC, and the refurbished fox at Dante’s studio. Dante has provided taxidermy exhibition services to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Bill Lattin, retired Orleans County Historian and former Cobblestone Museum Director, has a family connection to the fox. He explained that his great-grandfather, Francis Harling of Albion, procured the fox for Akeley. Lattin explained that the fox, enclosed in a framed diorama, is a precious artifact. “In the world of taxidermy, it’s like owning a Rafael,” Lattin said. “It’s very, very special.”

Akeley (1864-1926), is known as the Father of Modern Taxidermy. He devised a method for fitting an animal’s skin over a meticulously prepared and sculpted form of the animal’s body. The process included the animal’s musculature and details such as wrinkles and veins and produced a very realistic result.

Lattin said his great-grandfather wanted the fox diorama to display in the family’s home on East County House Road in Albion. Harling was a middle-class dirt farmer and blacksmith, Lattin explained, but noted it is interesting that, “common ordinary people (of that time) had a sensitivity for aesthetics.” Harling had gone out of his way to procure the fox, Lattin said, so that something beautiful could be made to decorate the family’s home, “that’s remarkable,” he observed.

Akeley’s African Elephant Exhibit, courtesy of the Field Museum, Chicago

Akeley made many trips to Africa to collect specimens and created the African Hall at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Akeley also liked to place the mounted animals in settings that reflected their native habitat. Lattin also explained that during the Akeley Fox restoration, it was discovered that what was thought to be a “tod” (male fox) was found to be a “vixen” (female fox).

In 2017, Melissa Ierlan made a return trek to New Jersey to pick up the fully restored vixen fox. A “welcome home” celebration was held in September 2017 at the Museum’s Cobblestone Church. At the celebration, shown above, Matthew Ballard (Orleans County Historian), Bill Lattin and Melissa Ierlan pose with Carl Akeley’s restored fox diorama.

Jay Kirk, the author of the book, “Kingdom Under Glass” (shown above), a book about Carl Akeley and his work, attended the celebration as did Akeley expert, John Janelli. County Historian Matt Ballard said, “We wanted to bring (the fox) to the attention of people who would appreciate Akeley’s work.” The fox is part of a transitional phase for Akeley. Ballard noted the legwork done by Ierlan, the Clarendon historian, to have the fox restored as well as the importance of the local fundraising effort. “It’s surreal to see it come to fruition,” Ballard said of the restoration project. “It’s a piece of national significance.”

At the celebration, Ierlan discussed Carl Akeley’s life and work from his humble beginnings on Hinds Road in Clarendon to the jungles of Africa. “He was the original Indiana Jones,” Ierlan said. She noted his early work preserving the pet canary of his aunt, his training in taxidermy by David Bruce in Brockport and his apprenticeship at Ward’s Natural Science Establishment in Rochester. She explained that the taxidermy work done before Carl Akeley arrived on the scene, often made animals look like stuffed toys. Akeley wanted “to make them look as real as possible,” Ierlan said.

Melissa Ierlan brought copies of photographs of Akeley’s work including diorama’s from the American Museum of Natural History and the entourage that accompanied Akeley on his African trips to collect specimens (far left), as well as the condition of the fox diorama prior to restoration.

The Cobblestone Museum has prepared a short video to provide additional information for those who missed out attending the Akeley celebration. It can be viewed by clicking here along with a collection of other videos on local history.

In addition to his taxidermy work, Akeley was an accomplished sculptor, biologist, conservationist and inventor with over 29 patents. Akeley improved the motion picture camera for filming animal movement. Ierlan said, “He had a remarkable life. He was one of America’s greatest men.”

Akeley Fox gets big welcome home

Photos by Kristina Gabalski: Melissa Ierlan, Clarendon town historian, holds a photo of a fox mounted by Carl Akeley taken before its restoration. Heat from being stored in an attic had led to severe deterioration. One eye had fallen out, the tail had "melted," the paws were void of hair and bugs had found their way inside. "It was in bad shape," Ierlan said. "We thought we would have to replace it, but we didn't." The fox is depicted eating a bird it has caught. The paper mache work on the bird included newspaper from the Holley Standard, dated Dec. 4, 1879. Ierlan brought a copy of the original pages to the reception on Saturday.

By Kristina Gabalski, Correspondent Posted 17 September 2017 at 6:13 pm

Cobblestone Museum, Clarendon Historical Society celebrate ‘world-class restoration effort’

CHILDS – Calling it a “world-class restoration effort,” Cobblestone Museum Director Doug Farley opened a reception at the Cobblestone Church on Ridge Road Saturday afternoon to officially welcome home an early example of the work of famed Clarendon taxidermist Carl Akeley. The reception was held in conjunction with members of the Clarendon Historical Society.

The work – a red fox mounted by Akeley in 1879 at the age of 16 – was recently restored by George Dante, a taxidermist and conservator of Wildlife Preservation in New Jersey.

Farley said the restoration resulted from an “amazing grass-roots effort to secure funding” for the project. Private donors, a grant from the Elizabeth Dye Curtis Foundation and a donations from the Orleans County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Clarendon Historical Society made the project possible, Farley said.

Bill Lattin, retired Orleans County Historian and Cobblestone Museum Director, has a family connection to the fox. He spoke during the reception and explained that his great-grandfather, Francis Harling of Albion, procured the fox for Akeley. Lattin explained that the fox, enclosed in a framed diorama, is a precious artifact.

“In the world of taxidermy, it’s like owning a Rafael,” Lattin said. “It’s very, very special.”

Akeley, (1864-1926), is known as the Father of Modern Taxidermy. He devised a method for fitting an animal’s skin over a meticulously prepared and sculpted form of the animal’s body. The process included the animal’s musculature and details such as wrinkles and veins and produced a very realistic result.

Lattin said his great-grandfather wanted the fox diorama to display in the family’s home on East County House Road in Albion.

Harling was a middle-class dirt farmer and blacksmith, Lattin explained, but noted it is interesting that, “common ordinary people (of that time) had a sensitivity for aesthetics.” Harling had gone out of his way to procure the fox, Lattin said, so that something beautiful could be made to decorate the family’s home, “that’s remarkable,” he observed.

Now that the fox – which Lattin said was found to be a vixen during the restoration work – can help people today to, “appreciate what our ancestors saw as beautiful.”

Matthew Ballard (Orleans County Historian), Bill Lattin and Melissa Ierlan (Clarendon town historian) pose with Carl Akeley’s fox diorama. Cobblestone Museum officials said those visiting the Cobblestone Church will be able to see the diorama on the lower level where the Museum gift shop is located.

Ballard, the county historian and former Cobblestone Museum director, explained that the effort to have the fox diorama restored was fueled by a celebration held in 2014 by the Clarendon Historical Society for the 150th anniversary of Akeley’s birth.

Jay Kirk, the author of Kingdom Under Glass about Carl Akeley and his work, attended the celebration as did Akeley expert John Janelli.

“We wanted to bring (the fox) to the attention of people who would appreciate Akeley’s work,” Ballard said. “The fox is part of a transitional phase for Akeley.”

Ballard noted the legwork done by Ierlan, the Clarendon historian, to have the fox restored as well as the local fundraising effort.

“It’s surreal to see it come to fruition,” Ballard said of the restoration project. “It’s a piece of national significance.”

Carl Akeley wrote his name and Clarendon in the bottom left corner of the diorama.

Ierlan discussed Akeley’s life and work from his humble beginnings on Hinds Road in Clarendon to the jungles of Africa.

“He was the original Indiana Jones,” Ierlan said. She noted his early work preserving the pet canary of his aunt, his training in taxidermy by David Bruce in Brockport and his apprenticeship at Ward’s Natural Science Establishment in Rochester.

She explained that the taxidermy work done before Akeley often made animals look like stuffed toys – “freakish and scary…. (Akeley) wanted to make them look as real as possible,” Ierlan said.

“He had a remarkable life….. he was one of America’s greatest men,” she said.

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Cobblestone Museum will celebrate restored Akeley fox as part of Heritage Fest

Photo by Tom Rivers: The restored fox, a work of taxidermy by famed Clarendon native Carl Akeley, is back on display at the Cobblestone Museum after a restoration effort.

Staff Reports Posted 7 September 2017 at 8:32 am

GAINES – A fox that is the work of Carl Akeley, the famed taxidermist from Clarendon, will be highlighted at the Cobblestone Museum as one of the event’s during the upcoming Orleans County Heritage Festival.

Provided photo: Carl Akeley is pictured with a leopard in Africa that he killed with his bare hands after it attacked him.

The museum is holding a “welcome home” celebration for the restored red fox that was originally mounted by Akeley when he was a teen-ager about 140 years ago. A native of Clarendon, Akeley established himself as one of the most influential taxidermists in the history of the United States. His major works exist in museums throughout the country including the Akeley Hall of African Mammals in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

The red fox was mounted by Akeley at the age of 16 and was procured for him by Francis Harling of Albion. The mounted fox diorama represents one of Akeley’s earliest works still existing in Orleans County. This amazing diorama was donated to the museum in 1979 by John Seager, great-grandson of Francis Harling, in memory of his parents Agnes Harling Seager and John Seager.

The Museum worked with taxidermist and conservator George Dante of Wildlife Preservations in New Jersey alongside two conservators from the American Museum of Natural History to have the piece fully restored to its original beauty.

A reception with the Clarendon Historical Society will take place at the 1834 Cobblestone Church on Saturday, September 16, at 5 p.m.

Two years ago, the fox was in a display case at the Cobblestone Museum and was missing an eye, with its fur matted. The animal was in rough shape and wasn’t given a prominent spot at the Cobblestone Museum.

But it was an early example of Carl Akeley’s taxidermy work. The fox was an ambitious effort after Akeley started with birds. Akeley would become one of the world’s most renown taxidermists and remains an industry legend 153 years after his birth.

This fox was mounted by Carl Akeley nearly 140 years ago. It is back on display at the Cobblestone Museum after getting some needed attention. The fox used to be in Farmer’s Hall at the museum, but now is displayed inside the Cobblestone Universalist Church, the most prominent building at the museum on Route 104 in Gaines.

He earned acclaim after stuffing the giant elephant Jumbo, and made several trips to Africa, hunting animals and displaying them in New York City at Akeley’s Hall of Mammals in the American Museum of Natural History.

Locally, he gained renewed prominence three years ago when the Clarendon Historical Society celebrated his 150th birthday.

Jay Kirk, author of the Carl Akeley biography “Kingdom Under Glass,” was the featured speaker during a program about Akeley on May 21, 2014. Kirk chronicled Akeley’s life during the golden age of safaris in the early 20th Century.

Akeley’s adventures connected him with Theodore Roosevelt, P.T. Barnum and George Eastman. Akeley died in 1926 and is buried in Africa.

The taxidermist community worked with the Clarendon Historical Society last year to put a monument at Hillside Cemetery in honor of Akeley. Donors, many of them taxidermists around the world, contributed to have the $8,000 monument in Akeley’s honor. The monument is in the shape of the African continent and the stone is black African granite.

The memorial includes a quote from Akeley, who survived being mauled by an elephant and vicious bites on his arm from a leopard. “Death Wins! Bravo! But I Laugh In His Face As He Noses Me Out At The Wire.” The stone will note Akeley’s birth, May 19, 1864, and his death, Nov. 17, 1926.

Photo by Kristina Gabalski: This monument for Carl Akeley was dedicated at Hillside Cemetery in May 2016. Taxidermy historian and Carl Akeley expert John Janelli (back left), Ken Edwards of Taxidermy.net, and Clarendon Historian Melissa Ierlan pose behind the Carl E. Akeley Memorial Stone. Edwards designed the memorial stone and was instrumental in rallying the support of taxidermy professionals behind the project to honor Akeley, who was born in Clarendon in 1864.

When Clarendon made a big push to recognize Akeley, retired Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin told Clarendon Historian Mellisa Ierlan the Cobblestone Museum had an early example of Akeley’s work.

The community was able to raise abut $6,000 to give the fox some needed attention. In July 2015, Ierlan took the fox to George Dante, a professional taxidermist in New Jersey. Dante, owner of Wildlife Preservations, gave the fox new life. When the case with the fox was opened, the fox’s missing eye was found. Dante put the eye back where it belonged.

He gave the fox a new tail, which had to be dyed to match the fox’s body. Dante also had to replace the fox’s feet and fill in some gaps by the ears.

He vacuumed the body and the fur popped back up. He also replaced the bird as part of the display. Akeley had the fox with feathers in its mouth. Dante kept the scene created originally by Akeley nearly 140 years ago.

To see the schedule for the Heritage Festival, click here.

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Historical Association planning 4 cemetery tours on Sundays in August

Posted 5 August 2023 at 7:41 pm

Photo by Tom Rivers: This memorial stone in the shape of Africa was dedicated on May 19, 2016 on the 152nd birthday for Carl Akeley, the famed taxidermist from Clarendon who made several expeditions to Africa. Many taxidermists from around the country donated to the memorial for Akeley at Hillside Cemetery in Holley.

Press Release, Orleans County Historical Association

The Orleans County Historical Association has scheduled its annual August series of cemetery tours.

The tours begin at 6 pm. While attendance is free of charge, donations are gratefully accepted.

The schedule includes:

• August 6: Hillside Cemetery and Chapel, Rt. 237, Holley – Presented by Melissa Ierlan, Town of Clarendon Historian.

• August 13: Mount Albion Cemetery, Rt. 31, Albion – Presented by Bill Lattin, retired Orleans County Historian and Sue Starkweather-Miller, Village of Albion Historian.

• August 20: Old St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Brown Road, Gaines – Presented by Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian.

• August 27: Boxwood Cemetery, North Gravel Road, Medina – Presented by Todd Bensley, Village of Medina Historian.

Cobblestone Museum honors 5 for their efforts to advance historic site in Gaines

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 7 November 2022 at 11:54 am

Museum expects to start work on $800K visitors center in mid-2023

Photos by Tom Rivers

GAINES – The Cobblestone Society & Museum held its annual meeting on Saturday and recognized these five people with awards for their contributions to the museum. Pictured from left include Dick Remley, Camilla VanderLinden, Arlene Taylor, Brad Ryan and Patricia Morrissey.

Remley, the museum’s vice president of the board of directors, was presented with the Proctor Award for his “extraordinary leadership” with the fundraising campaign for the new Cobblestone Museum Visitors Center.

The museum set a $750,000 goal and surpassed that. It is at $800,000 in contributions so far. It has already used $250,000 from the donations to acquire the brick house at the corner of routes 98 and 14. The other funds will pay for a 2,500-square-foot building next to the brick house and pay for more parking and other improvements at the site, including a new entrance to the brick house.

Remley said construction costs are up from the initial estimates for the project. He expects construction will start in mid-June for the Thompson-Kast Visitors Center. Design documents are being developed with current construction costs.

The donations for the project have come from 122 people with 13 large contributions for naming rights at the visitors center. There are six naming opportunities still available.

“The museum holds a lot of value to people in the county,” Remley said. “It’s our only National Historic Landmark. They’re happy to see activity and functions at the museum.”

The Cobblestone Museum has met its initial fundraising goal of $750,000 to acquire the 1824 brick house and build a 2,500-square-foot building on the property for a visitors center.

The project will allow for year-round access to the museum, and add a kitchenette for caterers and small receptions, a multi-purpose room, new exhibit space for Orleans County history, and room to partner with the Orleans County Tourism Department. There will be display space to distribute materials for other local attractions, including the Medina Railroad Museum, Erie Canal, Point Breeze Lighthouse, camp grounds, marinas, bed & breakfast sites, sportsfishing, agri-business, wine trail and other venues.

Arlene Taylor was presented with the “New Business Partner Award” for her work as an architect with a complete set of conceptual drawings for the visitors center. Her efforts saved the museum several thousand dollars.

Taylor has a long connection to the museum. Her grandparents were charter members of the Cobblestone Society in 1960. Her grandmother, Hannah Thompson, was the society’s first treasurer and her grandfather, Charles Thompson, was a key society member who pushed for acquiring the cobblestone school on Ridge Road. Taylor also was married in the cobblestone church in 1991.

Camilla VanderLinden was presented with the “Community Partner Award.” She has helped oversee the Dunn Martin Internship Program, which has now paid for six interns to help the museum in recent years with several projects.

This year interns gave tours and made an online database available of nearly 35 years of Bill Lattin’s weekly columns when he was county historian. Those columns are on the museum website and are available by clicking here.

Cobblestone Museum Director Doug Farley, right, presents a certificate of appreciation to Brad Ryan for his five years of service as the museum’s maintenance worker.

Brad Ryan was honored for his five years as the museum’s maintenance employee. He is retiring from the position. Ryan was praised by museum director Doug Farley for working “tirelessly behind the scenes.” He kept the museum grounds well kept, and well manicured, Farley said.

Patricia Morrissey was presented with the Frances Folsom Award for her “outstanding dedication to the Collections Committee of the Cobblestone Museum.” Morrissey has decorated the Ward House and helped the museum with many events, in addition to her service on the collections committee.

Bill Lattin leads the attendees at the annual meeting in a toast to the Cobblestone Society founders and “to the history-minded people and architectural preservationists in our sphere and to all who have labored for the cause of our museum.”

The Cobblestone Society held its annual meeting on Saturday afternoon at Gaines Carlton Community Church. There were 53 people in attendance.

The board’s officers for the coming year include Erin Anheier as president, Richard Remley as vice president, Matt Holland as vice president of development, Maarit Vaga as secretary, Kevin Hamilton as treasurer, Grace Denniston as corresponding secretary, and Gail Johnson as membership secretary. The officers are the same as 2022 except for Holland in the development role.

The board has two new members with Laura Bentley and Gloria Nauden. They were elected to three-year terms along with Mark Bower and Diana Flow.

Other board members include Chris Capurso, Camilla VanderLinden, Bill Lattin, Joyce Riley, Marty Taber, Brenda Radzinski, Chris Sartwell and Wendy Kirby.

Christine Hunt was the keynote speaker at the annual meeting. She lives in the nearby town of Sweden in the home formerly owned by David Bruce, a noted artist and taxidermist.

The Cobblestone Museum has more than 30 taxidermy birds from David Bruce. They are in cases that were once in the home of E.K. Hart of Albion and then in the Albion Middle School. Hunt is shown discussing one of the cases of birds.

Bruce trained Carl Akeley of Clarendon, who went on to become one of the country’s most acclaimed taxidermists. The museum has a fox that was an early work of Akeley as a taxidermist.

Bruce was well known from 1880 to 1900 for his butterfly collection. He was also very adept at collecting butterfly eggs. Those eggs would turn to larvae that could be fed. The butterflies that would emerge were in perfect shape to be exhibited at butterfly museums, Hunt said.

Ghost Walk brings cobblestone characters back to life

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 October 2018 at 1:23 pm

GAINES – The Cobblestone Museum had its second annual Ghost Walk on Sunday with a cast of about 40 people portraying characters from the community’s past, as well as a few people who were out of place, including explorer Leif Eriksson (Roger Beam of Gaines), who is credited with being the first European to reach North America, about 1,000 years ago.

He is shown at the Farmers Hall, waiting for the next tour group. There were about 100 people on the Ghost Walk, which was organized by Brenda Radzinski, Sue Bonafini and Marty Taber of the Cobblestone Museum.

Roger Beam, right, joined Joe Nowicki of Hilton, who was Carl Akeley, the renown taxidermist from Clarendon. The Cobblestone Museum has a red fox that Akeley mounted when he was 16 in 1879. The museum recently had the fox restored.

Akeley is known as the Father of Modern Taxidermy. He devised a method for fitting an animal’s skin over a meticulously prepared and sculpted form of the animal’s body. The process included the animal’s musculature and details such as wrinkles and veins and produced a very realistic result.

Judy Larkin of Ridgeway and Bill Ott of Lockport both portrayed Joe Vagg, a blacksmith. Larkin and Ott are both members of the New York State Designer Blacksmiths.

Erica Wanecski portrayed Emily Hale teacher, a teacher from 1849 when the Cobblestone Schoolhouse opened on Ridge Road.

Keira Zambito, 10, and Aubrey Bruning, 7, are students. The school was built in 1849. It served District No. 5 for 103 years before it was closed in 1952 after the centralization of Albion’s school district. In 1961, it was sold to the Cobblestone Society Museum for $129.

Elliana Nowicki, 9, Hilton gets her makeup on. She also was a student at the Cobblestone Schoolhouse.

Sandy Wilson Wheeler, a student at the school in the late 1940s, stopped by on Sunday and rang the school bell.

Al Capurso portrayed the Rev. Stephen Smith who gave the dedicatory address at the opening of the Cobblestone Universalist Church in 1834.

Sue and Kevin DeHollander of Knowlesville represent members of the congregation.

A group of girls play “Ring Around the Rosie” at the Liberty Pole on the museum’s grounds. The nursery rhyme actually has a morbid meaning, referring to the Black Death from the Great Plague of London in 1665. The girls sang, “ashes, ashes, we all fall down.”

The girls include, from left, Liana Flugel, Autumn Flugel, Ella Trupo, Julia Knight, Madalyn Ashbery and Mallory Ashbery.

Provided photo: Tom Rivers, the Orleans Hub editor, portrayed the tightrope walker George Williams, who attempted to walk across the Erie Canal on Sept. 28, 1859 in Albion. The event became one of the community’s worst tragedies with 15 people dying, including 11 children, when the Main Street bridge collapsed. Rivers did a few tricks over Proctor Brook in a buildup of the fateful walk.

Debbie Atkinson portrayed one of the victims of the bridge collapse, and Gina Sidari was an assistant for the tightrope walker.

Gerard Morrisey portrayed Rufus Brown Bullock, the former Georgia governor who grew up in Albion and moved back to his hometown after his career. The museum owns Bullock’s outhouse and it is on display behind the Ward House. Patrick Hargrave, 12, of Lyndonville is a garden ghost.

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Heartland Tour celebrates canal during bicentennial

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 September 2017 at 10:42 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – The Heartland Passage Tour made its way to Medina on Thursday with singers and storytellers, including Gretchen Sepik of Albion portraying Surly Sal, a cook on a canal packet boat in 1840.

The Heartland Passage Tour is making stops at canal towns from Sept. 2-23 to celebrate the bicentennial of the digging of the canal. The tour highlights the cultural and historic impact of the canal through songs, stories and the documentary film “Boom and Bust.”

The Dady Brothers were joined by Kit Fallon and Dave Ruch in playing many canal songs at the Canal Basin in Medina.

The film, Boom and Bust: America’s Journey on the Erie Canal, was made by Academy Award winning independent filmmaker Paul Wagner. The film is a meditation on the economic cycles along the canal that speak to the fate of the American dream.

The Dady Brothers have been performing for 40 years a repertoire of Irish folk ballads, bluegrass, acoustic blues, and original contemporary folk music. They are joined by Dave Ruch, right, who specializes in historical and traditional music from New York State, including Erie Canal songs.

Gretchen Sepik portrays Surly Sal, a cook on the Erie Canal.

The tour will stop in Brockport today at 7 p.m. (Click here to see the full schedule.)

A crowd brought lawn chairs to listen to Gretchen Sepik, and later the concert and showing of the film.

The event happened during the Orleans County Heritage Festival, which continues with events today through Sunday. All events are free.

Some of the Heritage Festival events include:

• WWI Era Music Concert, today, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at Stroyan Auditorium, Lyndonville High School, 25 Housel Ave, Lyndonville.

The Elementary Summer Honors Band (Albion, Medina & Lyndonville) and choral groups will present a concert with music from the World War I era. Exhibits will be available for review featuring clothing from the era and presentations will be shown between musical selections. Courtesy of the Lyndonville Area Foundation.

• Mount Albion Walking Tour, today at 6 and 7 p.m. at Mount Albion Cemetery, 14925 Telegraph Rd. (Route 31), Albion

Join Orleans County Historian Matt Ballard at the historic Mt. Albion Cemetery for two 50-minute walking tours. Each tour will feature different individuals, so folks from the first tour might choose to stay on for the second. Tours begin from the cemetery chapel.

• Epochs in Orleans, on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. GCC Medina Campus Center, 11470 Maple Ridge Rd., Medina

The event includes informative lectures, special exhibits, and historical personas like Abraham Lincoln and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. There is also a concert featuring teaching artist Dave Ruch who will perform “The War of 1812: Songs and Stories from NY and Beyond” at 1 p.m.

• Genealogy Workshops, on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 PM at GCC Medina Campus Center

Members of the Orleans County Genealogical Society will be on hand to help individuals with their genealogical research. Researchers at all levels are welcome. Handouts will be available for those researching the WWI service of their ancestor. Researchers need not be residents of Orleans County.

• Sandstone Society Hall of Fame on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon, at City Hall, 600 Main St., Medina

Guided tours of the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame and visit inductees in Orleans County (self guided). View an exhibit of original masonry tools used to build several sandstone structures in our region at 529 Main Street.

• Carl Akeley Fox “Welcome Home” Reception on Saturday at 5 p.m., Cobblestone Museum, 14389 Ridge Rd., Albion (Childs)

The Clarendon Historical Society will host a reception featuring the newly restored Carl Akeley fox at the 1834 Cobblestone Church at the Cobblestone Museum Complex.

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Fox from famed taxidermist in Clarendon refurbished and back on display

Photos by Tom Rivers: Carl Akeley was only 16 when he preserved this fox in Clarendon. Akeley would go on to become one of the world's most acclaimed taxidermists. The fox is on display at the Cobblestone Museum after a $6,000 refurbishment.

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 25 May 2017 at 3:51 pm

Cobblestone Museum has fox from Carl Akeley

Provided photo: Carl Akeley is pictured with a leopard in Africa that he killed with his bare hands after it attacked him.

GAINES – Two years ago, a fox in a display case at the Cobblestone Museum was missing an eye, with its fur matted. The animal, then about 135 years old, was in rough shape and wasn’t given a prominent spot at the Cobblestone Museum.

But it was an early example of Carl Akeley’s taxidermy work. Akeley, who grew up in Clarendon, stuffed the fox when he was 16. It was an ambitious effort after he started with birds. Akeley would become one of the world’s most renown taxidermists and remains an industry legend 153 years after his birth.

Locally, he gained renewed prominence three years ago when the Clarendon Historical Society celebrated his 150th birthday.

Akeley’s adventures connected him with Theodore Roosevelt, P.T. Barnum and George Eastman. Akeley died in 1926 and is buried in Africa.

Provided photo: The Akeley fox had lost a lot of color and had deteriorated after more than a century. But the Clarendon Historical Society, Cobblestone Museum and other community members were determined to have the animal refurbished by a professional taxidermist.

He gave the fox a new tail, which had to be dyed to match the fox’s body. Dante also had to replace the fox’s feet and fill in some gaps by the ears.

Photo courtesy of Melissa Ierlan: John Janelli, left, is past president of the National Taxidermy Association. He is pictured with George Dante and the refurbished fox at Dante’s studio in New Jersey.

Irelan, the Clarendon historian, brought the fox back to Clarendon on May 10. The fox was on display in Clarendon for over a week during the kickoff of the Clarendon Historical Society’s season. On Monday, the fox returned to the Cobblestone Museum in the Proctor Room in the basement of the Cobblestone Universalist Church.

“It was in rough shape,” Ierlan said about the fox’s condition two years ago. “I knew George would do a good job but he exceeded our expectations. Carl would be proud.”

Doug Farley, the museum director, said there will likely be a reception and program about the fox in September as part of the Orleans County Heritage Festival in September.

This fox was stuffed by Carl Akeley nearly 140 years ago. It is back on display at the Cobblestone Museum after getting some needed attention. The fox used to be in Farmer’s Hall at the museum, but now is displayed inside the Cobblestone Universalist Church, the most prominent building at the museum on Route 104 in Gaines.

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Frost advisory issued for tonight in Orleans, WNY

Photos by Tom Rivers: This photo shows a farm field by the Holley water tank on Route 237 near Hillside Cemetery. It was taken on Saturday evening from the cemetery.

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 10 October 2016 at 8:35 am

The National Weather Service has issued a frost advisory from 11 p.m. tonight through 9 a.m. Tuesday. The frost advisory is in effect for Orleans County and the following: Niagara, Monroe, Wayne, northern Cayuga, Oswego, Erie, Genesee, Wyoming, Livingston, Ontario and Chautauqua counties.

Temperatures will be in the mid-30s and could damage sensitive vegetation, the National Weather Service in Buffalo advised. Tender vegetation should be protected and potted plants should either be covered or brought inside, the Weather Service said.

The cross at the Cook grave at Hillside Cemetery is pictured at sunset on Saturday.

Today is forecast for a high of 54, but the temperatures will drop overnight to a low of 34. Tuesday is forecast to be sunny with a high of 64, followed 72 and sunshine on Wednesday. Thursday will be cloudy with a high of 61 followed by a high of 58 on Friday.

The new memorial stone in the shape of Africa is pictured on Saturday. The stone was dedicated on May 19, on the 152nd birthday for Carl Akeley, the famed taxidermist from Clarendon who made several expeditions to Africa. Many taxidermists from around the country donated to the memorial for Akeley. (Orleans Hub editor Tom Rivers portrayed Akeley during a Ghost Walk on Saturday at Hillside.)

Ghost Walk highlighted prominent Hillside Cemetery residents

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 12 September 2016 at 1:42 pm

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Photos by Tom Rivers

CLARENDON – Sheena Hamiter, a high school social studies teacher at Holley, portrayed her great-grandmother Jessie Moore during Saturday’s Ghost Walk at Hillside Cemetery. Jessie had 13 kids, and her grandchildren and great-grandchildren total about 250. She lived to be 100.

Hillside Cemetery highlighted prominent people in this historic cemetery with the Ghost Walk, an event that was part of the Orleans County Heritage Festival. About 50 people attended the Ghost Walk before it was called off due to a lightning storm.

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Allen Smeltzer, a Genesee Community College student, portrayed Jewell Buckman, the first soldier from Orleans County to be killed in World War I about a century ago. The American Legion Post in Holley is named in Buckman’s honor. Several GCC students volunteered to serve as ghosts and guides during the Ghost Walk.

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Cindy Davis, Clarendon’s town assessor, portrayed Irene Gibson, a lieutenant in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II. Gibson was also a teacher. “She was a rather remarkable woman,” Davis said.

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This is the backside of a monument dedicated on May 19 to Carl Akeley, the famed taxidermist who grew up in Clarendon. Akeley was portrayed at the Ghost Walk by Tom Rivers, the Orleans Hub editor. Akeley is buried in the Congo. He died there in 1926 after getting the fever. The memorial stone is carved from black African granite and bears the shape of the continent that Akeley worked tirelessly to preserve and protect.

Heritage Festival puts spotlight on ‘outdoor museums’ – local historic cemeteries

Staff Reports Posted 29 August 2016 at 12:21 pm

Photos by Tom Rivers: Orleans County Historian Matt Ballard leads a tour of Mount Albion Cemetery on Sunday evening. Ballard is pictured at the grave of Lorenzo Burrows, who established a bank in Albion, served as the county treasurer and was the state’s comptroller from 1856 to 1857. He also ran unsuccessfully for governor. About 40 people attended the tour on Sunday.

ALBION – The first-ever Orleans County Heritage Festival is less than two weeks away – Sept. 9-11. The festival will focus on four themes – Agriculture, Transportation, Historic Gems and Historic Cemeteries.

One of the four themes emphasized this year is Historic Cemeteries. Participating cemeteries include: Beechwood and Greenwood in Kendall, Boxwood in Medina, Hillside in Holley, Mt. Albion and Union Cemetery at Watt Farms – both in Albion.

Beechwood Cemetery on Woodchuck Alley in Kendall was established in 1828.

Cemeteries are a rich source of local history and culture, if people take the time to appreciate them, said Derek Maxfield, a history professor at Genesee Community College and one of the chief organizers of the Heritage Festival. The cemetery art contained on the many grave stones contain information about families, military service and values. The symbols and iconography give us a window into the culture of the time, he said.

Several of the participating cemeteries this year will give people the opportunity to learn more about these wonderful outdoor museums, Maxfield.

At Boxwood Cemetery in Medina, Village Historian Todd Bensley will lead tours on Saturday (Sept. 10) and Sunday (Sept. 11) beginning at noon and 2 p.m. There is no admission charge.

Mt. Albion will also feature cemetery tours led by former Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin. Tours will be led on Saturday (Sept. 10) from 3 to 5 p.m. and will begin every half hour from the chapel. There is no admission charge.

The chapel at Hillside Cemetery in Holley/Clarendon will be open for tours on Sept. 10. The cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

At Hillside Cemetery in Holley visitors can take a self-guided tour on Sept. 10 of the remarkable Gothic Revival chapel built in 1894 and cemetery from 9 to 11 a.m. – beginning from the chapel, and/or go on a “Ghost Walk” in the evening.

Established in 1866, the cemetery has a split personality. The older section of the cemetery reflects the romantic era of antebellum America and Guilded Age of the late 19th century. The newer section reflects the Lawn Cemetery style of the twentieth century.

The Clarendon Historical Society began raising money a few years ago in an effort to preserve the beautiful chapel at Hillside Cemetery.

The “Ghost Walk” on Saturday (Sept. 10) will benefit the restoration fund. Walks will begin from the chapel at 7 and 8 p.m. Admission is $10 per person. Among the fascinating “ghosts” will be Carl Akeley, the famed taxidermist, who will be portrayed by Tom Rivers, editor of the Orleans Hub. Also featured will be Francis Cole, who was a POW for 29 months during World War II, and Jewell Buckman who had the distinction of being the first local soldier killed in World War I.

The cemeteries in Kendall, Beechwood and Greenwood will feature self-guided tours from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday (Sept. 10) as will Union Cemetery at Watt Farms in Albion. A brochure will be available at the Watt Farms Market which will highlight the graves of veterans of the War of 1812 and the Civil War.

Folks interested in American death ways will want to check out events and exhibits at Genesee Community College’s Albion campus center. “Death, Mourning and Justice in Orleans County” will feature a recreated wake in a Victorian parlor. A beautiful glass casket from the late 19th century will be on display.

Matt Bullard stops at the Pullman family grave at Mount Albion on Sunday. James Lewis Pullman, father of sleeping car magnate George Pullman, is buried at Albion's historic cemetery.

Matt Ballard stops at the Pullman family grave at Mount Albion on Sunday. James Lewis Pullman, father of sleeping car magnate George Pullman, is buried at Albion’s historic cemetery.

There will also be two public lectures at the Albion campus: at 11 a.m. Orleans County District Attorney Joe Cardone will speak on famous crimes and murders. Lattin, the retired historian, at noon will talk about Victorian memorials featuring human hair. There is no admission charge for any GCC events or exhibits.

Visitors who wish to take advantage of the great opportunities afforded by the Heritage Festival should begin by procuring a festival brochure, which is available at all participating organizations and from GCC campus centers in Albion and Medina. A list of participating organizations is available at the festival website (click here).

Once the brochure is in hand, participants are encouraged to visit at least three locations to be eligible for prizes. As guests visit each location, they will be provided with a colored ribbon. Once they collect three ribbons of any color, they are eligible for a collectable button featuring artwork that reflects the four themes.

They also become eligible for a drawing for prizes. For more information about the Orleans County Heritage Festival go to orleansnyheritage.com or contact Derek Maxfield at ddmaxfield@genesee.edu.

Appreciation for 2 who make Orleans County a better place to live

Posted 28 July 2016 at 2:40 pm

Editor:

Melissa Ierlan and Linda Redfield Shakoor are owed the gratitude of all Orleans residents for their tireless work done in the interests of making Orleans County a better place in which to live.

Melissa’s efforts to recondition numerous historic markers should be appreciated for the labors of love that they are. This area’s history is very real and warrants greater attention than it gets. Melissa has supported several other historical projects including the refurbishing of the fox that famed naturalist Carl Akeley reportedly mounted as an Orleans County teenager.

Linda has made a tremendous difference in the lives of dozens of first generation immigrant residents of Orleans County. Her dedication to the realization of their dreams has made it possible for them to accomplish far more than might have been possible without the fluency in English and encouragement she and the World Life Institute provided.

Thanks to both Melissa and Linda for their contributions to the quality of life in Orleans County.

Sincerely yours,
Gary Kent
Albion

Outstanding citizens recognized by Orleans Hub

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 24 February 2016 at 12:00 am

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Orleans Hub held a reception at the Hoag Library on Tuesday evening for the people and organizations we named “Outstanding Citizens” for 2015. We also recognized Randy Bower, the new Orleans County sheriff, as “Person of the Year.”

The front row, includes, from left: Joette McHugh, Randy Bower, Gail Miller and Melissa Ierlan. Back row: James DeFilipps, Marietta Schuth from Kendall Community Choir, Tony Hipes from Medina Area Association of Churches, Sue Metzo from MAAC, Lisa Stratton, and Thom Jennings (accepting on behalf of his nephew Peter Zeliff Jr.) Missing from photo includes Al Capurso and Bob Songin.

Bower was recognized as Person of the Year after being elected sheriff in one of the most competitive county elections in recent memory.

The sheriff told group of award-winners that he was honored to be recognized “with so many amazing people.”

The Outstanding Citizens were named by the Orleans Hub on Dec. 31. Editor Tom Rivers and Publisher Karen Sawicz weighed the contributions from people and organizations in 2015.

The Kendall Community Chorus has performed in numerous concerts since 2008. The group has been led by director Mary Campbell. Sixty-eight people have sung in the choir since it started, and many have become close friends through the group.

Joette McHugh has been an active volunteer with the Friends of the Orleans County Animal Shelter the past seven years, helping to adopt out 1,500 animals from the shelter. She knows all of the dogs and cats by name, and has an energetic group of volunteers looking after the animals. The Friends also raised $7,000 for the animal shelter last year, and those funds helped to have all dogs neutered at the shelter, and also paid for a new washer and dryer.

Medina Area Association of Churches has been together for nearly 50 years, running a Clothing Depot throughout the year, an annual holiday toy and food drive for about 150 children in the community, and a working together on other religious and community events. The depot generates about $30,000 to $35,000 annually that the churches give back to the community for many causes.

Bob Songin, a charter boat captain, lead a pen-rearing project from 1998 to 2014 until passing off the reins to a new group of volunteers last year. The pen-rearing volunteers helped to raise fish in the Oak Orchard River. Songin has given countless hours to improve the fishery through the pen-rearing project, where about 100,000 baby fish are nurtured each year in the Oak Orchard. The project has increased the survival rate of fish, and charter boat captains say more bigger fish return to the Oak Orchard for fall fishing runs since the pen-rearing, boosting the county’s top tourism industry.

Lisa Stratton, owner of the Hazy Jade Gift Shop in Albion, also spearheads several efforts in Albion, including the planting and watering of downtown flowers, and organizing the annual wine-tasting, Beggar’s Night the Friday before Halloween, and other projects to promote downtown businesses and the community.

Peter Zeliff Jr. turned an old farmhouse in West Shelby turned into hunting retreat for wounded warriors. Zeliff and a team of volunteers fixed up the house and connected with veterans’ groups to bring injured soldiers to the site for a few days of hunting. The property has been renamed The Warrior House. The site hosted its first hunt in September with 13 wounded veterans. Other groups have followed and The Warrior House will be made available to spouses and children of veterans as well.

Gail Miller stepped forward last year as volunteer coordinator of the new Canal Village Farmers’ Market in Medina in the parking lot across from the Post Office. Miller worked with vendors and lined up entertainment and exhibitors. Some Saturdays, 450 to 500 attended the market.

Al Capurso led a volunteer effort to save a cobblestone schoolhouse from 1832, a former one-room schoolhouse on Gaines Basin Road, just north of the Erie Canal. The schoolhouse was built in 1832 and is one of the oldest cobblestone buildings in the area. The building has been largely abandoned since 1944, until last year when it got a new roof. Boards were removed from windows and sashes restored. Junk was cleared out, and a historical marker put up.

Melissa Ierlan has given many faded historical markers a fresh coat of paint. She started that effort in 2014 when Clarendon was celebrating the 150th anniversary of Carl Akeley’s birth. Akeley grew up in Clarendon on Hinds Road and became one of the most famous taxidermists in the world. The historical marker on Hinds Road about Akeley could barely be read due to flaking paint. Ierlan took the marker down, stripped off the remaining paint and repainted it blue and gold. She has now worked on about a dozen markers around the county.

James DeFilipps was shot twice in a shootout at 3 a.m. on March 21 following a high-speed chase with James Ellis of Wyoming County. DeFilipps was the first police officer on scene when Ellis wrecked his vehicle in Clarendon on Route 31A. Police were pursuing Ellis after a 911 call when he threatened an ex-girlfriend in Shelby with a gun. Ellis had fled to a nearby wooded area in Clarendon and opened fire on DeFilipps and other deputies and police to arrive on the scene. DeFilipps, despite getting hit twice by gunfire, shot Ellis, killing him and ending his threat. For his acts of valor, DeFilipps was named Deputy of the Year for 2015 by the New York State Sheriff’s Association.