Two Lane Adventure in New York – Thursday, June 6th 2019

Naturally, we took the two lane roads, as we made our way to Tompkins Corps of Engineers campground. From Donnie & Donna’s house, we took Route 415 to Route 21. Through the town of Fremont, past the Hornell Reservoir #1. Not sure why it is #1, there is not a #2! We came into North Hornell and made a quick stop at Walmart. I should have run into Wegmans, was looking for strawberry shortcake biscuits … had to settle for cake mixes.

The small town of Canisteo, boasts the World's Largest Living Sign. This term is a bit misleading, but it's precisely what it is: a "living" sign - the name of the town spelled out by 260 huge scotch pines on the side of a mountain. The sign is 300 feet long and 90 feet wide. However, age is starting to hurt the sign. In 2015, Experts presented options for restoring Canisteo Living Sign. Currently, it is an increasingly shabby historic grove of century-old trees on the village southern edge. The clump is the regionally famous Canisteo Living Sign, for more than 80 years a point of civic pride in the village and town of that name. Many village and town residents can tell visitors the sign was laid out in 1933 and added to the National Register of Historic Place in 2004.

We are happy to report that in the summer of 2019, the sign is “healthy” again. The tree replacements are taking root after difficult start, thanks to volunteers, creativity and changing weather, the Canisteo landmark “living sign” south of the village has recovered from an arid and potentially fatal replanting to a thriving reincarnation. The replacement of the 270 trees that make up the iconic 85-year-old landmark occurred in 2016, a year that featured a particularly devastating drought. The landmark was showing its age and letters were losing their form due to downed, dying or dead trees. All had lived past their expected life spans, everyone agreed. The family who in the early 1930's created the Canisteo Living Sign donated it and the surrounding 90 acres to the then-Canisteo Central School District and entrusted sign maintenance to the local school district.

When we passed thru downtown Canisteo, we encountered the first day of Crazee Daze. It is a Thursday, Friday and Saturday event which includes eating contests, a 5K & 10K races, a parade, vendors in the park and yard sales! You can find your treasure, looking for something rare, or just looking? The Wimodaughsian Library was running a book sale and silent basket auction and the Kanestio Historical Society running a “Yesterday’s Treasures” sale. The Methodist Church has a “Trash & Treasure” sale too.

Coming into Jasper, there are rolling hills with beautiful views! Until 1827, Jasper was part of the towns of Canisteo and Troupsburg. With the Phelps and Gorham purchase, they were separated into the town of Jasper, in honor of Sergeant Jasper, whose courageous conduct at the battle of Fort Moultrie, South Carolina in 1776, received public commendation. Geographically, Jasper is located in the southwest part of the county, and contains 31,300 acres of land. The surface is a hilly and broken upland, some of the elevations reaching more than 2,000 feet above tide water. The streams are small brooks and the soil is gravelly. The man of folk lore is Ebenezer Spencer. He was a pioneer, coming from Cayuga County, though a Connecticut Yankee by birth. He bought 400 acres of timbered land in Jasper at fourteen shillings an acre, and eighty four acres of cleared land at twenty shillings per acre. Mr. Spencer was a man of means and also of prominence in the new community; was a great hunter and trapper, and with his memory are associated many interesting stories.

Troupsburg is located in the southwestern part of Steuben county it was named in honor of Robert Troup, agent for the Pulteney Association. It was perhaps fortunate for Colonel Troup that this jurisdiction was created in 1808, for had that event been delayed twenty years it is doubtful whether the inhabitants would have been so well disposed to honor the former patron of their region. During the anti-rent conflict in 1830. Within its present boundaries Troupsburg contains 35,700 acres of land, being second in size in the county. As originally formed it came from the towns of Middletown and Canisteo. Among the earliest settlers in Troupsburg were Andrew Simpson and Andrew Craig, both raised families and were active and highly respected men in the region. Simpson did the blacksmith work for his few neighbors, while pioneer Craig was energetic in developing the early resources of the region. He made and marketed the first butter sent from the town, and it was his custom to take the season's products from the neighborhood and journey to Philadelphia to make his sales.

New York is a state which most people do not immediately connect with the Amish.  But today over 12,000 Amish live in New York, in at least 90 church districts. New York has the fastest-growing Amish population, and 5th-largest overall.

Starting about 2010 or so there has been an influx of Amish to the Steuben County area; mostly around Jasper, Troupsburg and Woodhull. They are usually quick to settle as a group, for the purpose of keeping their traditions.

Sometimes when we cross between states, there is not even a sign … we know it by the dotted line we see on the GPS. Pennsylvania is a bit more welcoming! There was a day when NYS residents would cross the border into Pennsylvania to get cheaper gas, sadly this is not the case anymore. Pennsylvania’s prices are higher.

The first town, actually they call them a borough, in Pennsylvania was Knoxville. The village of Knoxville was made a borough by William Freame Johnston, governor of the commonwealth, April 19th 1850. It was named Knoxville for Archibald Knox and William Knox, who established themselves in business in the place between 1815 and 1825. The former as a merchant, the latter as a hotel keeper. They were sons of William Knox, one of the pioneers of Deerfield. The Indian history of the borough does not differ from the common occurrences of the day. The only incident peculiar to Knoxville is that after a distillery was put in operation in 1815 the area was frequented by bands of Indians, who were rowdy after drinking "whusk," as they termed the product of the still.

PA Route 49 travels through a mix of farmland and woodland with a few homes to the south of the lake, forming the southern boundary of the Cowanesque Lake National Recreation Area and crossing into Lawrence Township and the town of Osceola. It was laid out in 1857 and was incorporated as a borough in 1864. On May 20, 1875, the town was almost wholly destroyed by fire. One and one-half million dollars’ worth of property was burned up and nearly all of the inhabitants were rendered homeless. With the aid of contributions by other, communities and their own energy, the people of Osceola soon recovered from the effects of this blaze and on the ruins left by the fire there sprang a new town more beautiful than the old one.

Oversize load … yes, it never fails when we are on a small town on a narrow street and oversize load comes in the other direction. This is a portion of a wind turbine base. We ran into him in the Township of Elkland.

Cowanesque Lake is located in Tioga County, Pennsylvania and lies on the Cowanesque River near Lawrenceville, PA. The Cowanesque Lake has 1,085 surface acres of water. Surrounded by lush forested ridges, the lake offers recreation for the entire family. Boating, fishing, hunting, water-skiing, camping, picnicking, nature walks, and amphitheater programs.

The Tompkins Recreation Area and Campground is located along the north shore of Cowanesque Lake, 3 miles west of Lawrenceville on Bliss Road. The campground has 83 campsites, including some full hook up sites and the Visitor Information Center are just some of the recreational opportunities available.

First day of camping with NY camping FRAmily and a few four-legged visitors! We came a day early and so did Sheila & Rob, Karen & Royce, Rick & Lynn. Charlie and I had dinner ready for all the working folks! We are waiting for Sheila & Randy and Dana & Dawn.

Camping is never complete, until there is a fire! Ahhh, a great day with friends!