Discoveries beyond the Falls

The "Falls" are the highlight of the north-western corner of New York, but we quickly discovered that there were other fun places to see...

We took a day and drove around Lake Ontario, and wondered into a small town celebration at Olcott Beach. Families were enjoying the beautiful sunshine, having ice cream and watching the children on the Olcott Beach Carousel, a 1928 Allan Herschell carousel that's been beautifully restored. In addition to the 1940’s Olcott Amusement park, they have a lighthouse! It's a replica (c1873) of the Olcott Lighthouse that was demolished in 1963. Very small & cute. As we ventured on, we found the Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse (c1875) that is currently part of the Golden Hill State Park. It gets its name because it is the point 30 miles east of the Niagara River. Lake Ontario can be seen from the top. It's made of hand-carved stone, which is something new we hadn't seen before. Very pretty.

When I was talking with my son Aaron about the visit, he said "Oh Mom, you are so close to Buffalo NY, you really must go there and have their Hot Wings, that's where they came from!" So, with that thought in mind, off we went to Buffalo for the day. You'd think that we would have learned our lesson, that many towns 'close for Sundays & Holidays' (Labor Day), Buffalo being one of them. So, a lot of what we did was drive around, giving ourselves a tour from some of the brochures I had picked up. We were able to find 'Millionaire's Row' with their beautiful old mansions built in Buffalo's glory days.

During the 1880s and 1890s, Delaware Avenue had achieved its exalted status as one of the eminent addresses in America. Here in a sort of linear paradise of many mansions set amidst tree-shaded lawns and elegant gardens most of the city's sixty millionaires lived in a manner that would have astonished antebellum residents. Additionally they had some of the most ornate churches we've seen.

Jack was thrilled when he put two & two together and realized that the 'church-looking' building I was photographing, was actually the home of folksinger Ani DiFranco's Righteous Babe Records. In 1995, an abandoned 19th century historical landmark, the Asbury Delaware United Methodist Church was scheduled to be demolished and she stepped in and bought it. Restoration efforts began in 2000, and by 2006 it had been converted into an entertainment venue. Pretty cool.

Hunger began to strike, so we started looking for (any) restaurant that was open. We found a generic sandwich shop, but I really had myself set on Buffalo Wings. As we drove around & around, we actually stumbled into THE actual home of the famous Buffalo Wings, The Anchor Bar! It wouldn't open for another 45 minutes, so we grabbed a soda and waited.
It was worth the wait.

Lake Ontario NY

Olcott Beach Carousel

Olcott Lighthouse (c1878) NY

Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse (c1781), Olcott NY

Home on Millionair's Row Buffalo NY

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

...on the road in New England, Marie