Day 69 of our 2025 RVing Adventure with Historical & Musical Interludes

It's Wednesday July 9th, day 69 of our 2025 summer adventure. My walk reminded me just how many hills are in the county park! Although, they do give you the best views!

We had an issue with one of our coach batteries, so it was a trip into Canandaguia to the auto parts store to purchase a new battery. This trip meant we had to pass through the hamlet of Cheshire. 

The Cheshire Union and Company Store is a lively gathering place for residents of Cheshire as well as the surrounding areas. When it was built in 1915, it was a different kind of gathering place - the District #5 School. The four-room "modern" schoolhouse replaced four rural one-room schoolhouses within a few miles of Cheshire. It served grades one through eight. The school's modern conveniences included indoor bathrooms, a woodworking shop, and school bus service. In the winters of the 1940s, children were invited to bring a potato to school and carve their initials in the potato. The potatoes were baked through the morning and eaten at lunch time.

When Canandaigua consolidated its rural schools in 1954 and built the central Elementary School, the Cheshire School became obsolete. It was vacant for about 20 years until John and Barb Rose purchased it to move and expand their grocery business, the Company Store, at the lower level. The four upper level classrooms have housed a host of small businesses since then - antiques and gift shops, art galleries, wines and spirits, and others. The original wood floors and trim, tin ceilings and cloakrooms remain intact.

Cheshire Theatre and Meeting Hall, formerly Maccabee Hall and Cheshire Grange has always been the heart of Cheshire. The gable-fronted Cheshire Theatre and Meeting Hall, at the center of the group, was built in 1898 by the local chapter of the Knights of the Maccabees, a fraternal organization for rural families. 

In the 1920s, the Cheshire Grange assumed ownership. Under both groups, the hall was the center of Cheshire's social life and formal events. When the school had an event for the whole student body, such as an assembly or graduation ceremony, the Grange was used. It was the starting point for Cheshire parades. The building hosted minstrel shows, concerts and plays, produced by the Cheshire Amusement Company. It was listed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places in 2013 as a well-preserved example of a rural fraternal lodge hall. The interior features its original bead board walls and ceilings, a stage, and a 1940 custom-painted fabric stage backdrop featuring advertisements for local businesses. 

Since it was a semi-cool day... so, I channel my inner baker and I made cookies, banana bread a cranberry coconut bread. 

Baking and cooling stuff in an RV is a bit challenging, but I can find enough flat surfaces! 

Our friend that has a birthday tomorrow will enjoy a couple loaves of the bread and a few cookies! 

The family and friends camping with us this weekend will enjoy some too. There was even enough to freeze a few loaves for us!

Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures!