Heading West With No Destination In Mind

We left our temporary home for the past 5 weeks, at the Hemlock fairgrounds. It was a great visit and another great run for the Hemlock "Little World's" Fair! It is a bitter sweet day, we are saying see you later to our northern family and friends, but saying hello to another two lane adventure and reuniting with our Florida family and friends at Majestic Oaks Carefree RV Resort.

We headed west along 20A from Hemlock through Livonia, Lakeville, into Geneseo.  In Historic Geneseo there is a stone wall on the South Street side of the Wadsworth property. The wall is around a mile in length and has been a burden on the family to maintain. The importance this wall plays as a visible entrance to this historic village. Starting in 2012, volunteers started removing crumbling sections of the wall, chipping off old cement, cutting down trees impacting the wall, and stacking stones by size so masons could begin reconstruction. Volunteer work on the wall continues today.


The wall protects the Wadsworth Homestead. This elegant house was built by the Wadsworth family in 1800, and was home to six generations of Wadsworth families. It remains in their ownership today. Original furnishings are part of the unique appeal of this homestead that is now a venue open to the public for weddings, celebrations, and events. The Wadsworth Homestead is situated on a picturesque 300-acre property overlooking the Genesee Valley and ends at Geneseo’s Historic Landmark Main Street. Massive oak trees, horse pastures, and green fields surround the house and create an timeless ambiance.

Further east on Route 20A is the town of Leicester. The Christiano Alfalfa Milling Corporation has been in business since 1958. They use an extensive drying process when processing the alfalfa, it is almost happening around the clock. The only way you know it is happening is the lingering scent in the air. 

There is also a piece of history along the road, the Parker Boyd Torture Tree. Two members of the Sullivan Expedition, were captured and tortured at this site in 1779. Rumor has it the torture involved intestines being wound around the tree. Lt. Boyd and Sgt. Parker's bodies were buried by their fellow soldiers a few yards away along the creek. This tree was a bicentennial landmark of the Revolutionary War and in 1990 was placed on the NY State registry as one of 11 trees of historic significance.

Coming into Cuylerville, at one time you could stop at the Tired Iron Horse Museum a collection of antique tractors collected by one farmer, as a hobby. The museum was opened in 1981, by Wayne Hamilton.  Through the years, he added more to his collection. He died years ago and his family finally decided it’s time to close what’s known as The Tired Iron Tractor Museum. The collection was liquidated during an on-line only auction. The auction featured, old trucks, wagons, toys, fire engines and more than 100 vintage tractors including the International Harvester tractor used in “The Natural,” the 1984 baseball movie starring Robert Redford that filmed in Western New York.

Traveling along the hills and valleys of 20A we saw beautiful fields of winter wheat ready to harvest, soy beans filling in, corn getting taller and dark greener. There were many road side stands selling, tomatoes, squash, and corn. The Old Pioneer Cemetery is located in Warsaw. The first burial occurred in the spring of 1804. Then, it was just a spot in the forest. A boy drowned in the Oatka Creek the ensuing fall and was buried in the same ground.  The third burial was the first adult person who died in Warsaw in January 1807. In due time, the cemetery was expanded and many of the pioneers laid to rest.

There was road work in Warsaw and we had to detour onto 19S into Rock Glen. It was a great detour, we wear able to see many windmills. In Cohocton, the windmills are a top hills that you can only see from them from a distance. Since you are climbing and descending the hills around Warsaw, you can see the windmills up close. To me, they are just an awesome sight!  This is a New York Wind Energy Project. These wind turbines stand as majestic testament to the ever increasing need for alternative energy and New York is proactively pursuing independence from less environmentally friendly energies.

We saw McCormick Farms, a family-owned farm, which grow the largest number of acres of potatoes in New York. McCormick specializes in growing potatoes for chips. Wyoming County only recently won the right to call itself New York’s potato capital. For years, Suffolk County in eastern Long Island held the position. Steuben County was a distant second and Wyoming County a close third. Large amounts of farmland, including acres used for potatoes, have been lost to developers. Much of the potato chip industry is based in Pennsylvania, home of McCormick Farms’ two biggest customers, Wise Foods Inc. and Utz Quality Foods. Wise sells east of the Mississippi and Utz distributes its products from Maine to South Carolina. An interesting fact ... Thirty-seven percent of all chip makers lie within 350 miles of Wyoming County.
We were detoured onto 98N, into North Java crossing over Tonawanda Creek, several times. How many times can you cross one creek? I counted three times over Tonawanda Creek!

Baby Bison born in May 2014 at Hidden Valley

From 98N and 20A you can see signs for Hidden Valley Animal Adventure. It is a family-run and operated animal park. They have over 400 animals and 30 different exotic species for you to come and interact with up close. The farm offers breathtaking natural setting, unique dining experience, and guided trolley rides through the 60+ acre animal park. The hour-long trolley ride through the park will give you the chance to have an up-close and personal interaction with exotic animals like camels, zebra, wildebeest, llama, emu, bison, ostrich, and many more. Nestled in a valley in Varysburg, New York, it is a must do adventure to escape from the ordinary for a little while. Varysburg is also home to "Jam in the Valley" country music festival. It takes place in July around the 4th of July holiday every year. 
There was a few young lieutenants and a couple of seasoned sergeants that made a trip along 20A many, many years ago. As we passed the National Hotel and the Varysburg Inn, it reminds me of that trip. We were headed to the funeral of our friend's father in Buffalo, we stopped at every bar to salute him. It was a long trip to Buffalo and back! Enough reminiscing, we continued on through Harris Corners, Wales and Wales Center.

We traveled into the village of Aurora. Did you know in 1976 the entire village was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and several buildings were given national landmark status. We traveled along the northern edge of the Western New York Southtowns Scenic Byway.

While East Aurora is a noted historical spot for being the home of President Millard Fillmore and his wife from 1826 to 1830, it is also notable for having successfully blocked early attempts by Wal-Mart to establish a super center there.  Change comes slowly to western New York and East Aurora is one place that holds out proof of that. Vidlers is another proof of changes comes slow ... It is a five and dime, the largest in the US. It holds over 75,000 different items on two levels occupying 4 connected 19th century buildings. East Aurora is also home to the Fisher-Price toy company, which hosts a museum of toys from the 1900s through the present day.

The town of Orchard Park was the last place of interest before we hit 20W. Orchard Park is probably best known for being the home of Ralph Wilson (formerly Rich) Stadium where the Buffalo Bills play football. Orchard Park was also home to David Eddy, the first settler of the Village of Orchard Park. He arrived from Vermont and constructed his cabin in the spring of 1804. Mr. Eddy built and operated the first tavern in the village located at the Four Corners. In 1812 he was elected first Supervisor of the Town of Hamburg, which then included Orchard Park.

Our next entry will cover our trip along Route 20, heading west. Stay tuned!