Canandaigua Archives - Chris Carosa

Lafayette In The The Spring

By Chris Carosa on June 17, 2025

No, that is not a typo. It’s a reference to a classic optical illusion. You probably have seen it—a triangle that contains three lines. The first line is “Paris.” The second line is “in the.” The last line is “the Spring.” People will often read it as “Paris in the Spring,” not the correct “Paris in the the Spring.”

I know, I know … This thought immediately pops into your head: “But it’s obvious that the word ‘the’ is repeated.”

And you wouldn’t be wrong.

Until you look at the picture of the triangle with the words in it.

Why is that?

Believe it or not, there’s a scientific explanation for this. It comes from vision science, and it’s called a “saccade.” This term refers to what happens when both eyes move simultaneously in Continue Reading “Lafayette In The The Spring”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 1976 El Dorado, Alliance Francaise of Rochester, American Friends of Lafayette, Auburn, Ball's Tavern, Bob Lonsberry, book tour, Bristol Hills, Buffalo, Cadillac, Cambria, Canandaigua, Cesidia, Chautauqua County, Corn Hill Marina, Daughters of the American Revolution, edutainment, Geneva, Howell's Tavern, Lafayette, Mendon, mom, Monroe District Masons, Nathaniel Rochester, Paris in the the Spring, rabbit hole, Ripley, Rolling Stones, saccade, Sons of the American Revolution, vision science, William B. Rochester, William Shatner

The Red Jacket Medal Mystery: Lost. Found? Still Unsolved.

By Chris Carosa on May 27, 2025

Red Jacket, lithograph by Corbould from 1835 painting by C.B. King, printed by C. Hallmandel, via Wikipedia Commons

“Against Red Jacket Club,” blared the 1910 headline.¹ Marking the beginning of the end, it referred to the exclusive Canandaigua social club that defined elite prestige in grand, well-appointed fashion for two decades. Everyone who was anyone sought an invitation to its annual party, which the group limited to 100 guests.

By 1910, its days were numbered. Unlike the earlier move to disband in 1908, this would be the final nail in the organization that had formed in 1888. The financial burden of operating with dwindling membership and maintaining the nearly century-old Federal-style mansion on the corner of Main and Gorham proved to be too heavy.² Trustees representing the bondholders had no choice but to sell everything.

“All of the personal property of the famous Red Jacket Club, once the ‘swell’ organization of this village, was sold at auction… the club possesses among its relics a silver medal presented by President George Washington to the famous Indian chief, Red Jacket…”³

But the story of that shiny token goes back much further, well before the Club first laid eyes Continue Reading “The Red Jacket Medal Mystery: Lost. Found? Still Unsolved.”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged 1776-1878, American Journal of Numismatics, Canandaigua, Cornplanter, Elisabeth M.J. Meagher, Ely S. Parker, Farmer's Brother, George Conover, George Harris, George Washington, Guyasuta, Howard Fielding, J.F. Loubat, James C. Smith, Jasper Parrish, Lewis Morgan, Ontario Historical Society, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Red Jacket, Red Jacket Club, Red Jacket Medal, Revolutionary War, Seneca, Six Nations, Steve Parrish, The League of the Iroquois, The Medallic History of the U.S. of A., Thomas Howell, Treaty of Canandaigua, Western New York

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: The Great Central Trail Becomes The State Road

By Chris Carosa on July 16, 2024

Previous: Pomp, Circumstance, Before Lunch In Geneva

The Cayuga Bridge helped improve travel times on the Great Genesee Road, which eventually became Routes 5 & 20. Source: Barber, John W., and Howe, Henry, Historical collections of the state of New York, S. Tuttle, New York 1842, p. 79

As General Dwight D. Eisenhower led the Allied effort into the heart of the Nazi regime, he couldn’t help but notice the transportation infrastructure that strengthened the defense of his opponent. Hitler began construction of his Reichautobahn in the 1930s. Although designed primarily for civilian use, war reports during the Eisenhower’s push into Germany in 1944 and 1945 repeatedly referenced the autobahn, “Hitler’s Superhighway.”¹

Impressed by these autobahns, Eisenhower proposed an interstate highway system once Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: The Great Central Trail Becomes The State Road”

Posted in History, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Albany, Auburn, Augustus Porter, autobahn, Buffalo, Canandaigua, Cayuga Bridge, Central Trail, Charles Williamson, civil defense, Dr. Peter Wilson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, England, Erie Canal, Genesee Country, Genesee River, Genesee Road, Geneva, Great Central Trail, Great Genesee Road, Greater Western New York, Hitler, Interstate Highway System, Iroquois Confederacy, Jesuits, Main Genesee Road, Massachusetts, New York State Thruway, Old Fort Schuyler, Onondaga Escarpment, Ontario County, Phelps and Gorham, Preemption Line, railroads, Reichautobahn, road, Roman, Roman Empire, Rome, Routes 5 & 20, Seneca, Seneca Falls, Seneca Turnpike, Seneca Turnpike Road Company, State Road, The Beaten Road, The President and Directors of the Seneca Road Company, Utica, Waterloo

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Pomp, Circumstance, Before Lunch In Geneva

By Chris Carosa on July 9, 2024

Previous: How Commonality Saved Captain Williamson And Western New York

Geneva a generation after Lafayette’s visit. Source: Barber, John W., and Howe, Henry, Historical collections of the state of New York, S. Tuttle, New York 1842, p. 52

General Lafayette rose the morning of Wednesday, June 8, 1825, shortly after sunrise. At 7 o’clock that morning, the French entourage bid John Greig adieu. They climbed aboard their waiting carriage and a military escort led them onto the old Genesee Road (and then the Seneca Turnpike). About ten miles down the road, at Ball’s tavern, they’d meet the committee from Geneva and transfer their precious cargo to them.¹

For the good citizens of Geneva, the largest settlement in the Greater Western New York region, Lafayette was a long time coming. A couple of weeks before, the village appointed a committee of eleven upstanding men to invite the Nation’s Guest to visit their fair village. They drafted a letter dated May 28, 1825, for that purpose. Appealing to his sense of Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Pomp, Circumstance, Before Lunch In Geneva”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Ball's Tavern, Battle of Brandywine, Battle of Yorktown, Buffalo, Butler, Canandaigua, Captain Bartle, Captain Bayly, Captain Dox, Captain Manning, Captain Ottley, Captain Ruggles, Captain Sherman, Captain Van Auken, Colonel Whiting, Doctor Lummis, Ensign Brizse, Genesee Road, Geneva, James Rees, Lafayette, Lieutenant Lum, Lieutenant Stanley, Monsieur Camus, Noyes, Ontario County, Philadelphia, Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War Veterans, Robert Morris, Rochester, Seneca Turnpike, Sion, Waterloo, Willam S. De Zeng, Yates County

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Canandaigua Anxiously Waits Before Jubilation And An Elegant Supper

By Chris Carosa on July 2, 2024

Previous: John Greig Lives The American Dream

Blossom Hotel as it appeared at the time of Lafayette’s visit. Source: From the collection of the Ontario County Historical Society

The young boy was no different from anyone else in the town of Canandaigua. Anxious, fretting, full of anticipation, on the morning of Tuesday, June 7, 1825, they all waited for the word they knew was coming but feared it might not.

Located on the northern tip of the lake that bears its name, Canandaigua housed the first land office in Western New York. This former Seneca stronghold sat on the old Genesee Trail, or Central Trail, that cut through the heart of the Iroquois Confederacy. Today we know it as Routes 5 & 20. Back then it had various names, from the Great Genesee Road to the Seneca Turnpike to the Ontario and Genesee Turnpike. Whatever you called it, it was the road everyone heading east or west traveled on.

Lafayette would soon be one of those travelers.

Or would he?Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Canandaigua Anxiously Waits Before Jubilation And An Elegant Supper”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Amos Read, Blossom House, Canandaigua, Canandaigua Hotel, Captain Ira Merrill, Captain James Lyon, Central Trail, Colonel William Blossom, Erie Canal, Genesee Trail, Great Genesee Road, Iroquois Confederacy, John Greig, Judge Moses Atwater, Kingsley's tavern, Lafayette, Mendon, Ontario and Genesee Turnpike, Ontario Bank, Ontario Brass Band, Rochester, Routes 5 & 20, Samuel Greenleaf, Seneca Turnpike, Western New York

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: John Greig Lives The American Dream

By Chris Carosa on July 2, 2024

Previous: Dispelling Mendon Myths

Portrait of John Greig. Source: Milliken, Charles F., A History of Ontario County, New York and Its People, Lewis Historical Co. Vol I, New York, 1911, p.225

The sun rose on Tuesday, June 7, 1825, signaling the start of a new day. For John Greig, it would prove among the most momentous days of his life—so far. It would prove anyone can attain their American dream.

By that morning, Greig had lived a tad more than a quarter of a century in his adopted home country. Born in Moffat, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland on August 6, 1779,¹ he immigrated to the United States in 1797 after attending the Edinburgh High School.² Only eighteen when he sailed to America, no doubt like many his age, Greig sought to make his mark.

He certainly did.

But not immediately.

Greig spent his first few months living in New York City before moving to Albany. He relocated to Canandaigua in April 1800. It’s likely this move Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: John Greig Lives The American Dream”

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Augustus Porter, Canandaigua, Canandaigua Academy, Captain Israel Chapin, Charles Williamson, Clarissa Chapin, De Witt Clinton, Erie Canal, Estate of Hornby and Colquhoun, Gardeau Tract, General Israel Chapin, General Sullivan, Genesee Country, Henry B. Gibson, John Greig, John Hornby, John Johnstone, Jr., Lafayette, Letchworth State Park, Mary Jemison, Nathaniel W. Howell, Ontario Bank, Ontario County Agricultural Society, Ontario Farmers' Bank, Patrick Colquhoun, Scotland, Sir William Pulteney, State University, Village of Canandaigua, Wesern Fire Insurance Company, Western New York, White woman's reservation

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Dispelling Mendon Myths

By Chris Carosa on June 25, 2024

Previous: Timothy Barnard, A Soldier’s Story

Lafayette’s probable path from Rochester to Canandaigua, 1840 Map of New York State by Henry S. Tanner. Source: oldmapsonline.org

By 1825, the road from Rochester to Canandaigua was a well-travelled road. Samuel Hildreth saw to that, although he didn’t live long enough to see it first-hand.

Hildreth might be considered a first generation Western New Yorker. He was born on March 20, 1778, in what would become the town of Phelps in Ontario County. His parents had moved there from New Hampshire.¹ He moved to Pittsford in November 1814. There, he quickly established himself as a mover and shaker. He ran a store, rented to others, and operated a tavern. More important, he set up the Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Dispelling Mendon Myths”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Augustus Porter, Ball Tract, Beach's Tavern, Brighton, Canandaigua, East Avenue, East Bloomfield, Ebenezer Barnard, Eleven Thousand Acre Tract, Fishers, Hamlet of Mendon, Hoard's Tavern, Honeoye Falls, Kenneth B. Keating, Kenneth Barnard Keating, Lafayette, Mendon, Mendon Hotel, Monroe County, Norton's Mills, Ontario Brass Band, Ontario County, Peter B. Porter, Phelps, Phoenix Hotel, Pittsford, R. 5, Robert F. Kennedy, Rochester, Samuel Greenleaf, Samuel Hildreth, Silas Pardee, Stagecoach, Stone Tolan House, Timothy Barnard, Township 11, Victor, Wangum Mills, West Mendon, Zebulon Norton

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Augustus Porter Could Have Danced All Night

By Chris Carosa on June 4, 2024

Previous: Breakfast At Black Rock Then On To Tonawanda

Judge Augustus Porter, Source: Orsamus, Pioneer History of the Holland Purchase of Western New York, Jewett, Thomas & Co., 1849, p.358a

Anna Spencer Foster loved the Genesee Country. Born in East Haddam, Connecticut in 1777,¹ by the time she was nineteen in 1796 she was living in Palmyra (then in Ontario County) with her first husband Moody Stone.² The young couple traveled freely through the challenging frontier of Greater Western New York. That year, the young couple forded the Genesee River above the falls to visit her sister and brother-in-law. On the way, they passed through Irondequoit and Rochester (where “there was but one house”).³

Late in the fall of 1796, Nathan Harris hosted a “husking frolic” at his home in that growing settlement.⁴ In general, these social events allowed neighbors to gather to work on a particular task, then party upon the completion of that task. The tasks could range anywhere and included “husking bees, raisings, quiltings, and pumpkin pearings.”⁵

Harris, known as “Uncle Nathan,” as the jolly newcomer soon became known as, had Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Augustus Porter Could Have Danced All Night”

Posted in History, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Albert H. Porter, Anna Spencer Foster, Augustus Porter, Benjamin Barton, Black Rock, Canandaigua, Connecticut Land Company, Connecticut Reserve, Corn Planter, De Witt Clinton, East Bloomfield, Erie County, Farmer's Brother, Fort Niagara, Genesee River, Goat Island, Henry Clay, husking frolic, Irondequoit, James Monroe, John Jacob Astor, Joseph Annin, Joseph Ellicott, Lafayette, Lewiston, Moody Stone, Nathan Harris, Niagara River, Ontario County, Palmyra, Peter B. Porter, Phelps and Gorham Purchase, Preemption Line, Red Jacket, Utica, Yale

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Peter B. Porter’s Home Sweet Home

By Chris Carosa on May 28, 2024

Previous: Regal Reception In Buffalo’s Blossoming Queen City

Residence of General Peter B. Porter, overlooking the Niagara River, near Ferry Street (Black Rock). Built 1816. Many years residence of Hon. Lewis F. Allen, and for a short time of his nephew, Grover Cleveland. Torn down in 1911. Source: Hill, Henry Wayland, Municipality of Buffalo New York A History 1720-1923, Volume I, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York, 1923, p. 100a

Peter Buell Porter woke up early that morning. Yesterday, despite all its pomp and circumstance, was just a prelude to today. For it was on this day, Sunday, June 5^th, 1825, the General would host the General. General Porter would soon entertain General Lafayette for breakfast at his Black Rock house.

For nearly a quarter of a century, Peter Porter had lived in the Greater Western New York Region. During the last fifteen years, he had fought—both literally and figuratively—for his beloved home of Black Rock.

Born in Litchfield, Connecticut in 1773, Peter B. Porter graduated from Yale College before studying law in his hometown with Judge Reeves (who, incidentally, was the brother-in-law of Aaron Burr)². He couldn’t, however, resist the lure of “the far famed ‘Genesee Country’ — of its fertile soil, its genial climate, of its beautiful lakes and rivers.” In 1793, he and a Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Peter B. Porter’s Home Sweet Home”

Posted in History, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Aaron Burr, Augustus Porter, Battle of Queenston Heights, Black Rock, Buffalo, burning of Buffalo, Canandaigua, Erie Canal, Erie County, General Porter, Genesee Country, John Breckinridge, Lafayette, Lake Erie, Letitia Grayson, Niagara County, Niagara River, Ontario County, Peter B. Porter, War of 1812, William C. Bouck, Yale

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: The State Of Greater Western New York In 1825

By Chris Carosa on April 23, 2024

Previous: Lafayette Prepares To Enter The Greater Western New York Region

WNY portion of 1825 map published by H.S. Tanner, 177 Chestnut St. Philadelphia.

Remember how excited you were when you began a new school year, started a new job, or moved to a new place? Life fills you with promise and anticipation. You can’t wait to wake up and start the next day. Everything is sunshine and roses.

Then reality inevitably interrupts. Things get overwhelming. Despair and sometimes desperation set in. It seems as if you’re trapped. You can’t see a way out.

But, somehow, you find a way. You get over that hump. (Because, when you get over things, what once seemed like an overbearing mountain now appears as nothing more than a mere bothersome bump.)

Again, you look forward to tomorrow with an enthusiasm you thought you’d never again have.

Such was the state of Greater Western New York. It began as an enthusiastic rush into the Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: The State Of Greater Western New York In 1825”

Posted in History, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Aaron Miller, Batavia, Black Rock, Britain, Buffalo, Byron, Canada, Canandaigua, E.F. Warren, Erie Canal, Genesee Country, Geneva, Herkimer, Indonesia, Iroquois Confederacy, John Butler, Joseph Ellicott, Lafayette, lease, Lessees, Massachusetts, Mount Tambora, New York, New York Genesee Land Company, Niagara Falls, Niagara Genesee Land Company, Ontario, Orsamus Turner, Otsego, Phelps & Gorham, Phelps and Gorham, Preemption Line, Revolutionary War, Rochester, Seneca, Six Nations, Tioga, Treaty of Hartford, War of 1812, Warren