Cobblestone Tour of Homes returns on Saturday

File photos by Tom Rivers: The Ward House on Ridge Road, part of the Cobblestone Museum, is one of 10 cobblestone sites around Orleans County featured in a tour on Saturday.

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 September 2017 at 3:15 pm

GAINES – An annual tradition that was popular for about 30 years is returning on Saturday. The Cobblestone Museum has planned a 10-stop tour of cobblestone homes around the county. The event is back after a four-year hiatus.

The self-drive tour gives people a chance to see the interior at seven of the sites. Doug Farley, director of the Cobblestone Museum, said the tour shows how the original outdoor architecture with the cobblestone masonry has held up very well for more than 150 years.

There is tremendous variety inside the homes, and with the landscaping at the properties, he said.

The tours all start at the Cobblestone Museum, 14393 Ridge Rd.

Three museum buildings are on the tour. The Ward House, Cobblestone Universalist Church and the Gaines District No. 5 Cobblestone School are listed as a National Historic Landmark.

The cobblestone schoolhouse on Gaines Basin Road is also on the tour, although the inside is off limits on Saturday. This photo is from April 2016. The building’s trim was recently painted and a new door was installed. The schoolhouse also was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Bill Lattin, former director of the Cobblestone Museum, has opened up his 1885 cobblestone home on Gaines Basin Road for the tour.

Other sites incudes the Burgess/Ames cobblestone house, Ridge Road, Gaines (exterior and interior); Gaines District No. 2 school house, Gaines Basin Road, Albion (exterior only); Steve and Paula Nesbitt’s cobblestone school, Pine Hill Road, Barre (exterior and interior); Tom and Marsha Wenhold’s cobblestone house, Ramshaw Road, Lyndonville (exterior only); Barnum house, East Lakeshore Road, Lyndonville (exterior and interior); and Butterfield cobblestone house, Bennetts Corners Road, Holley (exterior and interior).

Tickets for the Cobblestone Tour of Homes are available at the Cobblestone Society, 14389 Ridge Rd., or online at cobblestonemuseum.org. Additional information is available by calling (585) 589-9013.

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