July 1990

About this Issue

Note from the Editors

This issue begins with Louise Stillman's article about the Greek-style brick building built in Havana, New York, in 1855, to be the courthouse for newly formed Schuyler County. From 1860 until 1868 all county business was conducted in this building. Watkins Glen then became the seat of Schuyler County. This building is now the Montour Falls Village Hall. Mrs. Stillman, almost singlehandedly, was responsible for placing 24 buildings in present Montour Falls on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. This article is the first in a series by Mrs. Stillman about the handsome and historic buildings in Montour Falls. On page 20 is a picture, copied from a painting in the Montour Falls Memorial Library, of the scene up the main street of Havana toward the impressive brick buildings and spectacular Chequaga Falls.

Herbert Wisbey interviews long-time Wayne resident, Alderman Gleason, who remembers the stories about Frank Pollay of Pulteney making a hand-pulled cart for the conveyance of Jonathan Goble's wife, when she was in Japan. Goble is thought to be one of the first innovators of the jinrikisha. Goble and his wife had both gone from Wayne to Japan as Baptist missionaries.

Herbert Wisbey reviews a recent book on Jonathan Goble, who had gone, like Pollay, with the Perry expedition to Japan. Dr. Wisbey is Professor Emeritus of American History and College Archivist at Elmira College.

Fran Dumas provides the second installment of her series on the Penn Yan waterfront.

Warren Hunting Smith from Geneva writes of his memories of a house, now gone from the shoreline of Keuka Lake, "The Chestnuts". Mr. Smith wrote Gentle Enthusiasts in Art that was published in 1988 by, and is available from, The Geneva Historical Society. In it he recalls people and friends in Geneva who sketched and painted scenes along Seneca Lake, The Outlet of Keuka Lake, and places on Lake Keuka. The book contains a number of fine color prints of his own watercolors. The picture of "The Chestnuts" on page nine is also from his book, and was painted by Elizabeth Boswell.

We offer a description of Canandaigua from the book, Country Margins and Rambles of a Journalist, that Samuel Hammond wrote with L.W. Mansfield. It was published in 1855. Samuel Hammond, son of Lazarus Hammond, for whom Hammondsport is named, was an early advocate of state parks for preserving scenic areas in New York. Steuben County Historian, Richard Sherer, and Leonard P. Wood of Pleasant Valley, each recommended that Hammond's writings about the villages, the countryside, and the lakes should be reprinted. They each supplied copies of Hammond's text.

Ed Harris contributes a story about summer haying in the early 1930s from his book Harpending's Corners.

Peter Henderson's calendar for July.

Another chapter from A New Home by Caroline Kirkland concludes the story about Tinkerville's bubble.

Next Issue

The August issue will continue a series on the beautiful old buildings in Montour Falls.

Happy reading.

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