On the Historical Trail: Camp Church

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about a Civil War training camp in Lockport at the old fairgrounds in the City of Lockport where one of my ancestors trained. I knew there were camps in Lockport to train the men from the area, including Orleans County, but I did not know many of the details. I had to research Camp Church to see what information was out there, and to see if there were any interesting stories.

On the Historical Trail: This Old House

One of the most popular questions I get is if I can tell someone when their house was built. Because of that, I wrote an article some months ago about the oldest houses in the City of Lockport. When you get that far back, there is no hard evidence to a specific date. Generally, you get a possible bracket of dates, such as “it was built 1832-1835.” However, just this week, I found one of those nuggets of information that nails down a date.

On the Historical Trail: Lockport's Veterans Monument

I live right around the corner from the Monument at Vet’s Park across from the hospital. I knew that there were going to be some big renovations happening at the monument, but I was unprepared for what I saw as I drove by Tuesday afternoon. Virtually the entire base has been torn out, and it appears there will be a lot more work done.  It will take most of the winter to get the marble back in place, fully repaired. According to the Mayor’s office, the work should be completed in time for Armed Forces Day on May 19, 2018.

On the Historical Trail: Early Views of Niagara County

What was life like in the early days of Niagara County when the tree stumps were still fresh and log cabins were the McMansions of the time? Luckily for us, people in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth century wrote diaries of their adventures. In this digital age, we seem to have gotten away from that somewhat. What follows is the 1800s equivalent to a selfie. What was the county like for them when they came? What we take for granted today was majestic and new for these people.

On the Historical Trail: Lockport's Oldest Houses

Where are the oldest houses in Lockport? When the path of the canal over the escarpment was finally determined in 1820, land speculators scrambled to obtain the finest properties near the excavation line. The first structures were temporary, but soon, more permanent edifices rose from the landscape.

On the Historical Trail: When Newspapers Competed

With the recent announcement by the Niagara County Historian’s Office about the digitization of nearly 30,000 newspaper pages, there have been questions about how there can be so many pages and so many newspapers. I figured this would be a great time to look at the reason why there used to be more than one paper in a town, even a town as small as Lockport. There is a very interesting historical reason for it. That reason continues today, albeit more so on television than in print.

On the Historical Trail: Signs From the Sky Revisited

Earlier this week, I wrote an article about the way finding signs planted near the big water tower in Outwater Park. After some further research and some helpful hints from a friend who left a couple articles, I have decided to make an addendum to my original work. There is a better explanation of what the symbols on the ground mean.

On the Historical Trail: Signs From the Sky

Kurt Vonnegut once wrote a novel, Sirens of Titan, where a stranded Tralfamadorian explorer has humans build the Great Wall of China, the Kremlin, and Stonehenge to be messages to his superiors of the need of a spare part for his ship. In the Chariots of the Gods?, Erich von Daniken postulates that the Nazca Lines in Peru were designed as a means for “ancient astronauts” to come back to Earth. But did you know, in the real world, there are signs on the landscape to actually assist travelers?

On the Historical Trail: Rogers Grove

Nathan B. Rogers founded one of the oldest and most prominent families of Lockport before there even was a Lockport.  Mr. Rogers walked from Massachusetts in 1817, and he built a cabin at what today is the corner of East Avenue and Cleveland Place.  He was one of the first men to clear the road from Cold Springs to Transit, today’s East Avenue and Main Street.

On the Historical Trail: The Bacons Come to America

Recently, I was taking a look through Ancestry.com to see if I could find when my great-great grandfather and his family arrived in the United States from England. I knew the approximate year, so I checked ship records for their names. Not only did I find Edward Bacon with his family, I found his brother George and his family who joined them, and the name of the ship on which they sailed. Then I learned some amazing things about that ship.

On the Historical Trail: Lockport's Oldest Park

This new column will be a semi-regular look at some local history around the area. It will mainly focus on Niagara County, but may sometimes even include some Orleans County History. That Orleans history will likely only be from Medina and Lyndonville areas. Sometimes, this history column will be something from family history. I hope you all enjoy.