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We entered the Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York with no preset plan, we just figured we’d find something interesting in the area, and we did. The Finger Lakes themselves consist of either seven or eleven (depending on who you ask) long river valleys that were dammed by glacial moraines at the end of the last ice age. They all run on a north-south axis and their water flows from the south to the north. Some of the lakes, like Seneca and Cayuga, are named for Iroquois tribes and some of the names come from the Iroquois language. The fertile valleys that today grow cabbage, soybeans, apples, and wine grapes were once home to the mighty Iroquois nation of tribes.

The Iroquois were so powerful that they managed to retain their homeland until the end of the American Revolution. The war for American Independence mutated into a civil war among the nation as the Tuscarora and Oneida tribes sided with the Americans, but the rest of the Iroquois fought for the British. Ultimately it was the Iroquois style of fighting and ferocity that spelled their doom.

In 1778, while assisting the British in their Wyoming Valley (Pennsylvania) and Cherry Valley (New York) attacks, the native fighters slaughtered and scalped many civilians, including women and children. This so angered General George Washington (and Congress) that Washington ordered General John Sullivan and General James Clinton to move against the Iroquois’s villages in a scorched earth campaign. In the summer of 1779 the Sullivan Expedition attacked the Iroquois not by direct battle but by burning their houses and belongings and destroying their crops.

Some Iroquois continued to fight for the British, but after the war, with their nation splintered, many moved to Canada. Those who fought for the new republic stayed and were recognized by the government for their loyalty. The collapse of the Iroquois nation opened their former homelands to settlement and the landscape of the region was drastically altered. In less than 40 years the region was again affected by a major change, this time at the hands of DeWitt Clinton, General James Clinton’s son.

DeWitt Clinton was the governor of New York who convinced the state legislature to pay for an undertaking so massive that President Thomas Jefferson scoffed that it was “a little short of madness.” The Erie Canal was a major accomplishment; when completed it flowed for 363 miles from Lake Erie near Buffalo to the Hudson River near Albany.

Construction began in 1817 and small sections of the canal opened the next year. There were many obstacles along the way: rattlesnake infestations in the Black Woods near Niagara, mosquito-spread diseases near Montezuma Swamp that killed over 1,000 workers, and the 60’ drop of the Niagara Escarpment near today’s Lockport. They weren’t problems for long; the snakes were killed, the swamp construction delayed until winter and a special flight of ten locks were engineered: five for eastbound traffic and five for west.

The Lockport Flight was the last section of the canal to be completed and as a result many of the immigrant laborers who had worked on the canal settled in the town. In 1821 the settlement had roughly 100 people; by 1825 the aptly named town of Lockport had over 2,500 residents. As part of the grand opening in 1825, Governor Clinton traveled the Erie Canal to the Hudson River then down the Hudson to the Atlantic Ocean. The canal trip took about five days compared to the previous time of two weeks over land. The completed canal became known as the “Gateway to the West” as goods and people traversed its length.

The Erie was so successful that by the 1830s it was widened and connecting canals were built. In 1905 the state straightened and widened the canals even more to accommodate modern boat traffic, and the New York State Barge Canal system was born. Though the canal era ended with the arrival of the railroad, the state still maintains the canal system. Travel along the canals is now free; the toll was abolished in 1882 since the canal had paid for itself many times over. These days the canals are mostly used by recreational boaters as we saw during our visit to Lockport (yes, technically this is slightly outside the Finger Lakes region but it is an important part of my story).

Our first stop was the Erie Canal Discovery Center which is part of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. The NHC extends for 524 miles along the state’s many canals. While there we learned that in the old days locktenders could be “encouraged” to speed you through the locks, or—if they didn’t like you—slow you down or even delay your turn. In the town of Lockport that was especially important because the boat had to pass through five locks—the most in one place along the entire canal—which could take over an hour.

We also found out that the “hoggees” (pr. hoagies)—the mule drivers—were usually children. They mostly worked in the summer since the Erie Canal closed when the water froze, roughly November to April. I was reminded of a song, “Low Bridge”, that I learned for a play in elementary school. I used to love that song although now all I can remember is part of the chorus, “Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.” Finally, I know why the lyrics said fifteen miles: that’s how often the mule teams had to be changed, about every six hours.

Lance and I spent most of our blustery day at the locks, watching boats “lock through.” What a simple yet useful process! Lockport is unique in that one of the original Erie Canal flight of five still stands (Locks #67–71), right next to the huge, modern, working locks (Locks #34 and #35). While the original locks were widened in 1835 at least the basic formation is still in shape for visitors to see.

Earlier in the week we had stopped at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge which encompasses the Montezuma Swamp that proved so deadly to the workers constructing the Erie Canal. The Refuge was established in 1938 in an attempt to restore some of the marshes and wetlands drained by the canal builders. The Cayuga-Seneca Canal still runs along one side of the Refuge on its way to join the Erie Canal. The 7,000 acre refuge is a major stopping point for birds migrating along the Atlantic Flyway.

It was an interesting day to be at the refuge since they were holding their annual “Muckrace.” The 24-hour bird count had started the evening before and the goal for each team was to record as many species of birds as possible. I have no idea what the prizes were, if any, but the Muckracers we met were all very enthusiastically participating. Several of them even took the time to help us identify a couple birds we were struggling with. I know we saw far fewer than the Muckracers—the winning team spotted 140 different species—but we still saw a good number. See below for our bird list from that day. ¹

Our loop through the Refuge put us out on the road to Seneca Falls. Along the way we saw a sign for the Women’s Rights National Historical Park and ever curious, we pulled in. Seneca Falls was a small town, founded by Quakers, along the Seneca River. The town prospered as the power of the water was harnessed to run mills and later as the Cayuga-Seneca Canal connected to the Erie Canal. Since the Quaker families in the area were strong believers in the equality of all humans, they were not only staunch opponents of slavery, but women were afforded an equality not found in other religions in America at that time.

So it should come as no surprise that the town was the setting of the first Women’s Rights Convention, held in the Wesleyan Chapel in June of 1848. The convention was put together by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Jane Hunt, Martha Wright, and Mary Ann M’Clintock in an attempt to air their grievances about the plight of women in America and demand “all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens.”

At that time women could not vote, speak in public, hold office, attend college, sue in court, get divorced, make much of a living (they were paid half as much as men for the same job) or own property. Dissatisfaction with this marginal status was nothing new in America. In 1776 Abigail Adams had urged her husband, John, to remember the ladies when helping to construct the laws of the new country saying, women “will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”

The 1848 “Declaration of Sentiments,” modeled on the Declaration of Independence, was read to a crowd of 300 and signed by 100 of the attendees. 68 of the signers were women, and a surprising 32 were men, most notably Frederick Douglass. Through the years the separate movements for the rights of women and African-Americans have merged, and the Convention was one of those times.

Although well received in the community, newspapers widely mocked the convention which had the unintended consequence of spreading the debate throughout the country. There were two other remarkable women living in Seneca Falls that I would like to mention, Susan B. Anthony and Amelia Bloomer.

Susan B. Anthony, a school teacher, attended the convention and became a lifelong friend of Stanton’s. The two of them headed up several groups through the years to advance the cause of women’s rights. Anthony was even arrested in 1872 for casting a ballot. During her trial she argued that the Fourteenth Amendment extended the right to vote to all persons, not just men. The trial was fixed from the beginning and she was found guilty and fined $100. Anthony told the judge she would never pay a dime of it, and she never did. Rather ironic that later she became the first real-life woman to be placed on a U.S. coin ($1 dollar coin, minted in 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1999).

Amelia Bloomer also attended the convention and fought for the cause. If the name Bloomer sounds familiar it is because she was responsible for popularizing loose trousers under skirts for women. It was not her invention—a relative came up with the idea—but Amelia pounced on the style as it allowed for more freedom of movement. She not only wore bloomers but she extolled their virtues in her paper, The Lily, which was widely read at the time.

I was pleasantly surprised by the existence of this NHP and I am glad the government had the foresight to protect and preserve this important part of the American story. The park is small, under seven acres, but it includes a visitor center, the Wesleyan Chapel, and the Stanton, Hunt, and M’Clintock houses—key pieces in the struggle for equal rights. It amazes me how far we have come and yet how far we still have to go.

As we leave the Finger Lakes area here is a mystery for you. Seneca and Cayuga Lakes share an unexplained phenomenon called “Guns of the Seneca”. For years people have reported hearing cannon-like booms around the lakes. They are not the only places in the world where these strange sounds have been heard; “mistpouffers” are documented on every continent, mostly in waterfront communities. Though many have tried, no one has been able to find the source of these loud noises. Another one of life’s mysteries!

Photos: View our photographs from Central New York.

Notes: We stayed in Central New York from 09/08/07 to 09/15/07.

Bird list: Mourning Dove, Killdeer, Peregrine Falcon, Turkey Vulture, Gadwall, Belted Kingfisher, Great Egret, Cedar Waxwing, Downy Woodpecker, American Crow, European Starling, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier, American Coot, Herring Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Solitary Sandpiper, Canada Goose, Red-winged Blackbird, Marsh Wren, Wood Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Green Heron, Northern Mockingbird, Gray Catbird, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, and Great Blue Heron (28 total). ↩