Children walked with mules pulling boats in canal’s boom days

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Graham Kirby, 10, of Albion served as a hoggee on Saturday in a boat captained by Veronica Morgan of Albion.

Morgan put together a program, “I was a hoggee on the Erie Canal.” She wanted to spotlight the role of hoggees, who were children who walked with mules that pulled boats on the canal.

The Orleans County Historical Association assisted Morgan with the event that included activities at the Gaines Basin cobblestone schoolhouse as well as the boat rides from the canal, going from near the Gaines Basin Road bridge to near the lift bridge in Eagle Harbor.

Graham Kirby looks to the boat captain to see if he is needed for any task. The hoggees would get the captain food and be sent for other chores on the boat when they weren’t outside walking with mules.

Bill Lattin, retired Orleans County historian, was in the canal boat and shared stories and history of the canal in Gaines and Eagle Harbor during the 40-minute boat ride. Lattin is also Graham Kirby’s grandfather.

Lattin said Eagle Harbor is largely a “ghost town” now compared to the 1800s and early 1900s when it had its own grocery store, and other merchants who were coopers and blacksmiths.

Eagle Harbor also had the third golf course in the United States, a 6-hole course north of the canal that operated from 1898 to about 1940.

Lattin shared how Gaines has the northernmost point of the canal, endured a big flood in 1927 when there was a breach on the waterway. The section also has a widewaters east of Eagle Harbor where boats could turn around. The widewaters was especially needed in the early days of the canal when it was only 40 feet wide and difficult for boats to change directions.

Arthur Barnes does a pen and ink drawing of the a log cabin behind the Gaines Basin Schoolhouse on Saturday.

The schoolhouse was open for people to relax and tour on Saturday. The school was built in 1832 and is among the oldest cobblestone structures in the region.

It served as a school until 1942. Bill Lattin said there used to be 144 schools in the county. After decentralization, the number of school districts dropped to five.

Veronica Morgan captains the boat. She steered it about 65 miles from Macedon for the event on Saturday.

She wants to offer the hoggee program again in 2025, on the 200^th anniversary of the Erie Canal and also Orleans County.

Morgan works as a lift bridge operator in Brockport.

The Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council supported the hoggee program on Saturday, covering the cost for the boat rides and other entertainers.

The boat approaches the lift bridge in Eagle Harbor. The boat rides on Saturday were for about 40 minutes, from Gaines Basin to Eagle Harbor and then back.

Graham Kirby sounds a horn, which hoggees did to let the lift bridge operator know a boat was approaching. The horn is in the schoolhouse’s collection of artifacts.

Photos by Tom Rivers

GAINES – Leo LeBerth, left, and Matt Holland work in the blacksmith shop on Saturday during the annual open house at the Cobblestone Museum.

This was the first time both men volunteered in the blacksmith shop at the museum. LeBerth has his own setup in Ridgeway. Holland is a member of the Cobbelstone Museum’s board of directors. He has been a blacksmith demonstrator before at another museum.

The blacksmith shop used to be operated by Joseph Vagg. The original shop burned down in 1921 but was rebuilt in 1922 with the help of many local farmers who were served by Vagg.

Eliya Cooper of Hamlin gave tours of the Vagg House, which is next door to the blacksmith shop. The Vagg house was added to the museum in 2019. It is decorated to be a typical of a middle class 1930s home when electricity became more common.

Joseph Vagg and his with Nellie lived in the house. Nellie was very active in the temperance movement. She died in 1975 and donated the blacksmith shop and its tools to the Cobblestone Society.

Cooper has been volunteering at the museum as a docent for eight seasons.

LeRoy Neeper of Medina demonstrates equipment in the wood shop next to the blacksmith. The wood shop includes a band saw, wood saws, drill press lathe and an International Harvester engine from 1922.

Jan Brauer of Lewiston weaves a basket outside the Ward House. Brauer has been a basket weaver since 2002.

“It’s very meditative,” she said. “And it’s a useful craft that you can put your stuff in.”

Cat Holland of Medina, left, and Sylvia Goodstine of Kent gave turs of the Ward House which was constructed in about 1840 in the Federal style.

Holland said her favorite artifact in the house is a horsehair couch. Goodstine said she most enjoys a Wheeler & Wilson sewing machine from 1863.

Reuben Rivers chats with Georgia Thomas and Maarit Vaga. Rivers gave tours of the Farmer’s Hall, while Thomas did a butter-making demonstration and Vaga showed the harness shop next door.

The Farmer’s Hall was built in 1855 as a Universalist Church. It was then used by German Lutherans as a church beginning in the 1870s. It later became Kendall’s Town Hall. The building was given to the Cobblestone Museum in 1978. It was dismantled in Kendall and brought to the museum where it was rebuilt and now functions as an exhibition hall for 19th and early 20th century farming implements.

The museum’s entire campus was open for tours on Saturday. The event concluded with a concert in the Cobblestone Church by the Fiddlers of the Genesee.

Provided photo: Jim Bonafini, left, and Bill Lattin greets visitors watching the blacksmith in Vagg’s Blacksmith Shop at the Cobblestone Museum Complex. A blacksmith will be among the artisans demonstrating their trade at the open house Sept. 9.

CHILDS – The Cobblestone Museum’s campus will be buzzing with activity during their annual Open House Sept. 9.

The event will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and feature live demonstrations by volunteers in the blacksmith and print shops. Activities in other museum locations will be scheduled throughout the day.

“Volunteers have kindly accepted our invitation to demonstrate their skills associated with crafts that would have been popular in the 19th century,” said Sue Bonafini, assistant director of the Museum. “Visiting artisans from the Genesee Country Lace Guild will bring a try-it pillow for those who would like to experience the bobbin lace technique, and a seasoned volunteer will invite guests to help make butter from cream at Farmer’s Hall, where our butter churn collection is displayed.”

Other activities scheduled for the day include chair caning, basket weaving, quilting and weaving on a portable loom.

Photos by Tom Rivers: Georgia Thomas shows young children how to make butter at last year’s open house at the Cobblestone Museum.

All campus buildings and exhibit rooms will be open for public viewing free of charge with a complimentary wrist band. Current exhibits feature Victorian Mourning Art and Sundries and a historic coverlet collection made by Orleans County weavers in the 1800s.

A food tent will offer a barbecue chicken meal with salt potatoes, baked beans and dinner roll from 58 Main BBQ in Brockport for al fresco dining or takeout. Chicken will be available from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. or sold out. Presale tickets are $17 for a $2 savings per meal. Fruit pies from Partyka Farms in Kendall will be sold by the slice.

To top off the day, fiddlers from the Fiddlers of the Genesee will play toe-tapping old-time fiddle music in the Cobblestone Church at 3 p.m. Free will donations will be accepted. For additional information or to purchase chicken barbecue tickets, call (585) 589-9013.

The Fiddlers of the Genesee perform during last year’s open house in the Cobblestone Church. They will be back for another concert on Saturday.

Photos by Tom Rivers

GAINES – The Cobblestone Museum held its annual flea market on Saturday with 20 vendors and about 200 people stopping by. The top photo shows Adrienne Kirby at right selling used home-school curriculum.

Chris Sartwell in back sold fishing tackle and excess household items. “I don’t have much left all all,” she said about her inventory at the end of the afternoon.

Brian Stewart, left, Craig Ernewein and Bie Bradley were giving away New Testaments. Stewart and Ernewein are in The Gideons International and they estimate they have given away 1,500 to 2,000 New Testaments so far this year at the Holley June Fest, Albion Strawberry Festival, county fairs in Orleans and Niagara counties, and National Night Out in Medina.

Gertie Motulli, left, of Sweet Treats by Gertie and Beth Miller of Wild Flour Deli & Bakery served up tasty snacks and food.

The museum also served more than 200 hot dogs and 100 ears of corn. That corn was donated by Partyka Farms in Kendall.

The flea market used to be an annual event at the museum. It returned last year after about a 20-year absence. There were about 40 vendors signed up but about half decided not to attend to the threat of bad weather on Saturday.

69 trees, 34 varieties on museum property in Gaines

Provided photos: A Norway maple grows next to the gallery and office of the Cobblestone Museum.

CHILDS – The Cobblestone Museum has been accredited as an Arborertum Level 1 by ArbNet, an interactive, collaborative international community of arboreta.

The ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program is the only global initiative to officially recognize arboreta based on a set of professional standards.

The legwork and planning for the accreditation are attributed to Willem DeRuysscher, a senior at Albion High School and summer intern at the Cobblestone Museum.

He spent hours mapping and labeling all of the trees on the Cobblestone campus, according to director Doug Farley.

The mission of the Cobblestone Museum Arboreta is to educate visitors and attract new guests, which ultimately benefits all new visitors, Farley said.

There are a handful of notable trees on the Cobblestone’s property, and a total of 69 trees and 34 species.

A flowering crabapple is in full bloom next to the Cobblestone Museum’s Ward House.

A leaning white walnut tree is located behind the National Historic Landmark Cobblestone Church. A very large catalpa tree has the thickest trunk on the campus. There are also two sets of twins, two sycamore trees planted next to each other and two horse chestnut trees – one next to the church and the other next to the Visitors Center.

The smallest tree is the dwarf Alberta spruce. A resilient shrub native to most of the United States, the Cobblestone’s is only five feet seven inches tall. By contrast, the tallest tree is a Norway pine approximately 87 feet tall, making it taller than the bell tower of the church.

Other trees include a Norway maple next to the office/gallery, a trumpet vine next to an outhouse and a flowering crabapple next to the Ward House.

To receive the arboretum accreditation, the Cobblestone Museum has devised a Museum Arboretum Master Plan. The mission is to provide a recreational and educational experience and beauty that will attract more visitors to the museum.

A trumpet vine is one of the many species of trees and shrubs on the Cobblestone Museum campus.

Objectives are to care for new species native and exotic, educate visitors on basic tree maintenance and care, celebrate trees within the arboretum and in the surrounding community, educate visitors on the characteristics and origin of the trees on their campus and engage with the community by allowing donations and holding an Arbor Day event.

As director, Farley will oversee arboretum development. Maintenance will be performed by staff and volunteers.

A catalog of arboretum trees and an electronic map will be kept in a computer by the director and is available on the arboretum website. The electronic map utilizes GPS technology and an excel sheet documents the attributes of each tree, such as species and origin.

Annual patriotic service set for July 2 at Cobblestone Church

Photos by Tom Rivers: There are about 20 coverlets from the 1830s and 1840s on display at the Thompson-Kast Visitors Center for the Cobblestone Museum.

CHILDS – The Cobblestone Society and Museum have two special events planned in the next several weeks.

First is the fifth annual Summer Solstice Soiree, titled “Gathering of Friends” on Friday (June 23) at the Thompson-Kast Visitors Center.

The event will begin at 5 p.m. and last until dark. The public is invited to join in the celebration for an evening of music, art and conversation.

The coverlets were all donated to the museum by families in Orleans County.

Currently at the Visitors Center is a display of 1830s to 1840s coverlets, along with Victorian paintings by local artists and art by Tom Zangerle of Medina.

Visitors can also stroll through the expanded Victorian Mourning Art exhibit in the Upper Gallery across the road.

Presale tickets to the Soiree are $20 or at the door, $25 and include a complimentary glass of wine and scrumptious nibbles.  There will be a wine cash bar.

All donations benefit the Cobblestone Society Museum. Tickets may be ordered on the back page of the newsletter or by contacting the museum.

The second special event is the annual patriotic service at the Cobblestone Church on July 2.

The service harkens back to its early roots, with patriotic songs, poems and readings designed to make attendees proud of America and all that is stands for, said Museum director Doug Farley. The service will begin at 11 a.m.

Maarit Vaga and Bill Lattin have planned an outstanding event, Farley said. At noon, the crowd will move outdoors to enjoy a good old-fashioned picnic with hotdogs right off the grill. Hotdogs and beverages will be provided.

Those attending should bring their own lawn chair. A free will donation will be accepted.

Provided photo: This is a Stickle quilt, also known as a Dear Jane quilt, made by Carole Patterson of Albion. The Stickle Quilt will be the topic of a program at the Cobblestone Museum on March 30, in celebration of Women’s History Month. The public is invited to a virtual (Zoom) presentation from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Thompson-Kast Visitors Center.

CHILDS – A program scheduled by the Cobblestone Museum at the Thompson-Kast Visitors Center is a must-see event for all quilt makers and lovers of quilts, said Sue Bonafini, assistant director of the Cobblestone Society.

The public is invited to a virtual presentation (Zoom) from 7 to 8 p.m. March 30 by Callie Raspuzzi, collections manager at the Bennington Museum in Bennington, Vt.

Limited seating will be available at the Thompson-Kast Visitors Center across from the Cobblestone Museum. Pre-registration is required by calling the Cobblestone Museum at (585) 589-9013.  A Zoom link will be sent to registered participants on March 29. Cost is a $5 to $20 sliding scale fee.

Most commonly referred to as the “Dear Jane Quilt,” the Stickle quilt was made in the small town of Shaftsbury, Vt. in 1863 during the Civil War by Jane A. Stickle.

She completed more than 169 blocks in 1863. She had married Walter Stickle sometime before 1850. She did not have any children, but looked after at least three children in her neighborhood. In the 1860s, Stickle was 43 and living alone on a farm, during which time she was creating the Dear Jane quilt as a reminder of the turbulent times the country was going through at the time. She carefully embroidered the words “In War Time 1863 into the quilt.

The original quilt contained a total of 5,602 pieces. The quilt has inspired books, exhibits and quilters all over the world, Bonafini said.

One of those quilters is Carole Patterson of Albion, whose Stickler quilt hangs in her stairway. She has been quilting since 1986 and first became interested in the Stickler quilt when she read a book about it in 2002.

“I worked on it a good part of the year, including the whole winter,” she said. “It has Civil War prints and is all hand sewn. I just love piecing .”

Raspuzzi’s illustrated talk will explore the history of the quilt and its maker. It will also use the quilt as a jumping-off point to talk about diverse topics, including female education, the Civil War, country fairs, disability, textile manufacture, poverty and museum collecting.

Raspuzzi has been collections manager at the Bennington Museum since 2004. Her job includes keeping track of the museum’s tens of thousands of objects, photographs, rare books and archival collections and ensuring everything it properly cared and accounted for. She attended Colgate University and earned a master’s degree in museum studies from George Washington University. The program is sponsored by Tompkins Community Bank.