Back Home Weird Museums The Underground Railroad Haunted Places
NY A neat bar with over 500 different beers, The Country Inn, Krumkill, NY ( perhaps for sales so take your check book)
NY A Large Roll of Pep-O- Mint Life Saviers, Gouveneur, NY
NY Al ( Grandpa Munster) Lewis at Grampa' Bella Gente Restaurant, Greenwich, Village, NY
NY Edible Town of Chili, NY
NY Granger Homestead (1816),horse-drawn vehicles collection (40), Canandaigua, NY
NY Little Cabin Inn, Newburgh, NY. This is a great find and you might think you are in a time warp.
NY The Goodrich Motel, Avoca, NY
NY Petrified Creatures Museum, Richfield, NY
NY Reptile Land, Kingston, NY
NY QRS Music Rolls, on Niagra
Street, Buffalo, where they still make roll music for player pianos since 1900
NY Saratoga Springs State Park, a collection of natural springs, Saratoga,NY More Info
NY Skew Arch Railroad Bridge, 1 of 2 in the world built on an angle, Silver Creek, NY
NY Statue of Ally-Ooops on Griggis (Spelling) AFB, Rome, NY
NY The Big Duck, Flanders, New York A sneak pic
NY The Octagon House, Middleburg, NY
NY White Trailer with white statues and other junk verywhere, Cortland, NY
NY World's Largest Fireside Chair, Wingdale,NY
NY World's Smallest Church, ( 3.5' by 6') Verona, NY
NY World's Smallest Church, Oneida, NY
NY Uncle Sam's Grave, Oakwood Cemetery, Troy, NY
NY The largest cathedral in the world - the Cathedral of St.
John the Divine in NYC, NY
NY The Bear Mountain Bridge
over the Hudson, it is the only suspension bridge where the usupension cables go lower (
in the center ) than the roadway that they are suspending. Only one in the world. NY
NY The Shrine of Martyrs, Auriesville, NY
NY The Woodstock Monument, Bethel, NY.
NY The Petrified Creature Museum of Natural History, Ricchland Springs, NY
NY The Easter Egg Museum, Schoharie, NY
NY Top Half of a Giant Indian, roof of hardware store, Carmel,NY
NY Florida , NY
NY Amsterdam, NY
NY Betty Beaver's Truck Stop & Dinner, Glenn Falls, NY
NY Giant Chair, Wingdale, NY
NY The Flat Iron Building, lower Broadway,NY
NY World's Largest Kaleidoscope, Mt. Tremper, NY
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NY The Lower East Side Tenement Museum,97 Orchard St, New York, Ny
NY Mike Weaver Drain Tile Museum, Geneva, NY( 315-789-3848)(Rt. 96A
NY, The American Bible Society Library"Holy Scriptures!" New York City, NY 212-408-1204
NY Jello Museum, LeRoy, NY
NY Salt Museum, I- 90, towards Syracuse, NY
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NY Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged, Auburn, NY More Info
NY St. James AME Zion Church, Ithaca, NY More Info
NY Gerrit Smith Estates and Land Office, Peterboro, NY More Info
NY John Brown Farm and Gravesite, Lake Placid, NY. More Info
NY Foster Memorial AME Zion Church, Tarrytwon, NY More Info
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| Albany
- Cherry Hill - a unidentified ghost has been seen on the lower floors and terace. Buffalo - Holiday Inn - a ghostly little girl has been seen running through the halls. Hudson - Dietz House - Mabel Parker haunts her former home and is heard on the 2nd floor. Loundonville - Loudon Cottage - The ghost of Abraham Lincoln has been seen in this house, who was owned by the woman who was sitting next to Lincon when he was shot. New York City - Bay Ridge Apartments - haunted by numerous spirits. New York City - Clinton Street Brownstone - haunted by a young girl who died there. New York City - Hotel Des Artistes - this ghost likes to touch people. Troy - Forest Park cemetery - Forest Park cemetery is known to be in the top ten haunted cemeteries in the country. It is an old deserted cemetery- no new bodies have been buried there for many years. Many ghosts have been sighted there, photos of strange things have also been taken and published in the local newspapers. A renowned psychic says the cemetery was build on an Indian burial ground, and the spiritual activity is very turbulent and malicious. Albany - The Capitol building - said to be haunted by a custodian who was killed in a fire many years ago. Staten Island - BILLOP HOUSE -
(foot of Hylan Blvd)- occasional apparations of several Staten Island - OLD BERMUDA INN - (Arthur Kill Rd) Spectre of a young woman walks thru dining areas, and appears on stairs. Staten Island - CANARD MANSION - (now St. John's Univ-Howard Av)- Ghostly face of man who committed suicide in the 1890's appears at window of second floor. Staten Island - VANDERBILT TOMB - (Moravian Cemetary-Richmond Rd)- Photos taken of people at the tomb either have additional (unknown) persons present when developed, or just the tomb appears with no image of the people who posed. Oyster Bay - Raynham Hall - is haunted by a ghost called "The Brown Lady" who has been seen several times and once photographed. Victor - Powder Mills Park - haunted by many different spirits, including that of a bearded man in period dress. Rochester - Durand Eastman Park/Beach - The Lady in White roams searching for her daughter who had supposedly been raped and murdered by unknown assailants. There are many different versions to the story, but this is indeed a documented fact in the Irondequoit libraries, and police department. Menands - Albany Rural Cemetery - Ghastly Black figures such as cars,men,and unexplainable large masses can be seen here at dusk. A misteriously transparent couple can also be seen floating through the cemetery at night with thier pj's on. Schenectady -Union College - There is a wonderful garden behind the college. On the first full moon after the summer solstice, the spirit of Alice is said to walk along the creek there.She was burned at the stake centuries ago. Cohoes - Cohoes Music Hall - haunted by several diferent spirits,in particular by one in the balcony.Many people have seen her,she appears as a woman dressed in 1930's or 40's type clothing(a black dress).She is said to have a very angry look in her eyes. East Greenbush - Snyders Lake - The NightWatchman: Brutally murdered as a young man. He was never able to see his attacker so he now takes his anger out on the children that go to the camp on the lake. Numerous news articles are available from the times union on the abductions. The Caretaker: Died 2 years ago. Roams the area and checks the bathrooms for good conditions occasionally. Webbed: Boy with webbed fingers was an excellent swimmer till he drowned at the camp trying to save a boy. The other boy lived but webbed got stuck under the dock and drowned. Now when children are drowning and drifting further into the lake he pushes them into shore. Troy - Oakwood Cemetery - Rumored site of satanistic gatherings, many accounts of black shadows, glowing orbs, and loud wails coming from within the locked gates at night. Herkimer - BEARDSLY CASTLE (sp?) - the beardsley family (long dead) has been seen many times there. Cohoes - Cohoes Music Hall - Cohoes Music Hall is a typical, old-style music hall with a few twists. Noted ghosts include the Black Lady, a shadowy, female figure seen and heard in the balcony. There is another ghost, male, who has been heard and seen both onstage and in the wings; this is apparently the spectre of a stage manager who was crushed by a sandbag. Syracuse - "13 curves" - located on Onondaga Hill, apparently is the site where about 70 years ago a newly married couple had been killed in an auto accident trying to go through the trechorous curves. To this day it is said that a woman in a flowing white gown can be seen through the woods looking for her bridegroom. Youngstown - Old Fort Niagara - The French Castle at the fort is where most of the paranormal experiences have occurred. Astoria, Queens - American Museum of the Moving Image - Foot steps following you at night in the office area. A deep voice herd for a man in the hallway. People heard talking from the vents when no one else was in the building. A black women, in a white dress seen sitting at the desk in the entence lobby. Springville - Western House - This was once an old hotel and saloon, but is now apartments and a restaurant. It is said to be haunted by the daughter of the first owner, her name is Christine. Albany - The College of Saint Rose - There are 4 houses reported here to be haunted. 3 of them have been identified to some extent. One is a 7 year old little girl killed in a fire, another is a priest, another is a musician who commited suicide in Chicago and another is a gardener. The Dean of Students has all the details and gives a presentation on it every year. Many students have witnessed many things. Fort Edward - Jane Mcrea House - It was built back in the revolutionary war period in the town of Fort Edward. The town played a strategic part in winning the war. The story goes that Jane Mcree was hunted down by a band of indians and scalped in a closet in this house. People who have lived in the house experience lights turning on and off, foot steps coming from the attic. The occupants will turn all the lights off when they leave at night and come home to have all the lights in the house turned on. Also in the closet were Jane had been scalped you will get a cool draft and screams can sometimes be heard from it during the night. Plattsburgh - Plattsburgh Air Force Base - Plattsburgh was a Revolutionary war Naval base strategically located between Canada, New York and Lake Champlain. On the "old side" of the base there is a cemetery where many soldiers are buried. Security Police on patrol have reported many soldiers wandering through the cemetery and the neighboring crematorium (building number 666). The military finance building used to be a surgical hospital. The basement walls are still painted red, to hide the blood stains. Security Police K-9 units refuse to go into the basement of this building. At the very entrance to the Old Base are two pillars that are original architecture. Sentries working this gate have reported a Revolutionary War era soldier marching back and forth between the pillars, standing guard. Syracuse - The Landmark Theatre - An apparition known as the "lady in white" has been seen by numerous people over many decades. She is usually seen lingering quietly in the balcony of the theater. Sherrill - The Mansion House - The house is now a bed and breakfast and it is said to be believed that the bottom two floors that are now not accessible are haunted. Oldforge - Big Moose Inn - A pregnant woman that was murdered by her fiance' and thrown in the lake can still be seen here. Troy - Pinewood Cemetary - Some of the headless statues here have been reported to have had blood dripping from them. Oswego - Lighthouse - said to be haunted by three men who went up there to change the lightbulb during a storm and they never came back. Seneca Falls - Seneca Falls Historical Museum - The museum is supposedly haunted by a former resident named Edward Mynderse. The ghost is referred to as "Edward" and has been known to throw stuffed animals across rooms and remove tacks from the storm window plastic. He is a friendly ghost, a practical jokester. Museum goers are informed of the ghost upon visiting the museum. Lewstion - Mcdonalds - It is said that a man was killed in this old buliding before it was Mcdonalds. When you eat down stairs you can feel the chill and hear the man crying out for help. Manhattan - Brittany Hotel - Corner of East 10th and Broadway , Phantom music and lights, people hearing unknown footsteps in the rooms and feeling presences "watching" them Troy - Pinewood Cemetery - Actually Forest Park cemetery but known as Pinewood to most locals because of the street name.It is rumoured to be a Gateway to Hell. Life magazine listed it as a top ten haunted place and it is associated with Stull, Kansas, another known gateway to Hell. Kingston - Montrepose Cemetary - Activity and energy surrounding that graveyard. New York City - New Amsterdam Theatre - haunted by a Ziegfeld Follies chorus girl, Olive Thomas, who killed herself. She has been seen on the stage and in one of the dressing rooms by workmen that were doing repairs on the theatre. She holds a blue glass bottle (reportedly that held the poison that killed her). Hyde Park-Hoyts Mansion Poughkeepsie- Marist College - Albany-Junior College of
Albany/Russell Sage Troy-Pinewood/Forest Park Cemetery:
Huntington-Sweet Hallow Road - Stony Brook-Mill House- Grand Island- Whitehaven Cemetery- Frewsburg-Grunsey Hollow Cemetery- Sunnyside-Irvington- Utica-Stanley Theatre- Geneva-Belhurst Castle- Bohemia (on Long Island) Schenectady-Veil Cemetery on State
Street-- Alexandria Bay-Boldt Castle- Cohoes Music Hall - Cohoes-The "Cohoes Falls"
- Bronx- Whitesboro Middle School- Oswego- Canadaigua / Victor- New Michigan
Road- Troy-Langsingburgh high school- East Aurora-Roycroft Inn- Old Westbury-The New York Institute
of Technology- Syracuse- Split Rock Quarry- Buffalo-Buffalo Naval Park-The S.S.
The Sullivans- Staten Island-Tottenville- Binghamton-The Roberson Museum and
Science Center- New Paltz-Shawangunk Mountain
Range- Buffalo-Naval Serviceman's Park- Mahopacthe- Sedgewood club- Whitesboro- Whitesboro High
School's room 513- Rome-Fort Stanwix- University At Albany-Pierce Hall- Bronxville-Concordia College- |
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| This reminds me - I was going to
write about Saratoga Springs State Park. What a collection of natural springs! On this last trip, I stopped in there after chatting with some locals. Each spring has its own characteristic flavor reflecting its particular mineral content, e.g., iron, sulphur. The water ranges from a mild, tap-like, to a pungent, high-test. There are about 20 or so springs within the park and they are all named. You can ride through on a road called The Geyser Loop, which hits all the springs in the park. If you're into water, this is a *must* stop whenever you're in the area. The park is about 1.5 miles off of I-87 (the Adirondack Northway) on Rt.9, in Saratoga Springs, NY. Going north, it's the first of three Saratoga exits. I didn't get to sample all of the springs in the park (and there are more scattered about the city, as well as the neighboring town of Ballston Spa), but I can recommend a spring named "State Seal", for particularly tasty water. If this isn't a RAT stop, it should be. ===== John Filak Sussex County ~ New Jersey |
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| The Big Duck The Big Duck is a wood frame, wire mesh, concrete surfaced building designed in the shape of a Peking duck to house a retail poultry store. The building was constructed in 1930-31 on busy West Main Street in the town of Riverhead on Long Island, New York. It measures approximately 15 feet wide across the front, 30 feet long from breast to tail, and 20 feet to the top of the head. The eyes are Ford Model "T" tail lights. The interior is approximately 11 by 15 feet. In 1937, owner Martin Maurer moved the Big Duck four miles southeast to Flanders, where it occupied a prominent roadside location near the duck barns and marshes of Maurer's new ranch. The Riverhead area, including Flanders, was the center of Long Island's well-known duck industry. By 1939 there were approximately 90 duck farms in the county. Maurer's unusual tactic for enticing customers to purchase his ducklings was apparently a success. The Big Duck's prime location, on one of the main roads leading east from New York City to the Hamptons, earned it a lot of attention. Many criticized the Big Duck, especially in the 1960s and early 70s, but architect Robert Venturi claimed that it clearly combined functional and symbolic aspects of architecture, and therefore was noteworthy. In fact, Venturi coined the term "duck" to describe a building in which the architecture is subordinate to the overall symbolic form. The Big Duck closed in 1984, and since 1988 it has been located in Sears-Bellows Pond County Park between Flanders and Hampton Bays on eastern Long Island. It now houses a retail gift shop operated by the Friends for Long Island Heritage. |
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| Harriet
Tubman (1821--1913), a renowned leader in the Underground Railroad movement,
established the Home for the Aged in 1908. Born into slavery in Dorchester County,
Maryland, Tubman gained her freedom in 1849 when she escaped to Philadelphia. Working as a
domestic, she saved money until she had the resources and contacts to rescue several of
her family members in 1850. This marked the first of 19 trips back into Maryland where
Tubman guided approximately 300 people to freedom as far north as Canada. Maryland
planters offered a $40,000 reward for Tubman's capture at one point during her time as an
Underground Railroad conductor. Active during the Civil War, Tubman aided the Union Army
as a spy, nurse, cook, and guide. From Port Royal, South Carolina, in June of 1863, she
directed a detachment of 150 African Americans in a raid up the Combahee River, destroying
Confederate mines, storehouses and crops, and liberating about 800 slaves. Dedicating her life after the Civil War to helping former slaves, especially children and the elderly, Tubman also became active in the women's rights movement and the AME Zion Church. With the help of the AME Zion Church, Tubman established the Home for the Aged in 1908 on the property that she had purchased at auction 50 years before from Governor William H. Seward. Tubman spent the last few years of her life at this house and died there in 1913 at the age of 93. Though not directly associated with Tubman's activities with the Underground Railroad, the Tubman Home for the Aged, a designated National Historic Landmark, is a tangible link to this brave and remarkable woman who is known as "the Moses of her people." Located at 180--182 South Street in Auburn, New York. It
is managed by the AME Zion Church and is open to the public by appointment. |
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| Built in 1836, St. James AME Zion is believed to be the oldest church in
Ithaca and one of the first of the AME Zion churches in the country. An Underground
Railroad station, the church is located in a community that was an important transfer
point for fugitive slaves en route to Canada. Many of these slaves, impressed by the
support of the local community, decided to stay in Ithaca and constructed homes in the
area surrounding St. James. The congregation officially expressed its antislavery
sentiments through the writings and preaching of its pastors such as Thomas James who was
known to have provided assistance to fugitive slaves. Famous leaders in the Underground
Railroad are associated with St. James. Harriet Tubman, who played an active role in AME
Zion church affairs in central and west New York, often visited St. James and Frederick
Douglass is documented as visiting the church in 1852. St. James AME Zion Church continued to be a focal point in the black community of Ithaca into the 20th century. In 1906, in the basement of St. James, seven African American Cornell University students, frustrated by the discriminatory all-white fraternities, formed Alpha Phi Alpha, the nation's oldest official black fraternity. Today, St. James plays an active role in the community as a religious and social center of the southside section of the city. St. James AME Zion Church is located in Ithaca, New York at 116-118 Cleveland Avenue. It is open to the public. |
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| Gerrit Smith
(1797-1874), a nationally prominent and influential abolitionist and social reformer who
played a critical role in the operations of the Underground Railroad, lived on this estate
and conducted business out of this land office. A major turning point in Smith's life
occurred when he attended the Utica Conference of 1835, where 600 antislavery advocates
assembled at the Bleeker Street Presbyterian Church to hear famous abolitionist William
Lloyd Garrison give a speech. A mob of 80 rioters, including Congressman Samuel Beardsley,
stormed the church, forcing the group to flee the building. Smith offered to host the
meeting the following day in his home town of Peterboro, a small community named after
Gerrit Smith's wealthy father, Peter. The events surrounding the Utica Conference moved
Smith to serve as president of the New York Anti-Slavery Society between 1836 and 1839. By
the end of his term, Smith was calling for abolitionists to defy the law and help fugitive
slaves escape into freedom. During the 1840s and 1850s, Smith acted as a "station
master" in the Underground Railroad. His Peterboro estate provided a widely
recognized safe haven for runaway slaves enroute to Canada and was recognized as a
financial and intellectual center of the antislavery movement. The Smith family had extensive land holdings in New York, and the Land Office, constructed by Peter Smith in 1804, was the administrative focal point of the family's real estate activity and business ventures. Out of the Land Office, Gerrit Smith sold farm tracts for one dollar each to 3000 poor African Americans, many of whom he had helped escape into freedom, with approximately 140,000 acres being transferred betwen 1846 and 1850. Now owned by the Town of Smithfield, the building provides a tangible link to the life of one of the Underground Railroad's most active participants. The Gerrit Smith Estate and Land Office are located in Peterboro, New York at the corner of Nelson and Main Streets. The Land Office is the only building on the original Smith estate that is open to the public. |
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| John Brown
(1800--1859) considered this farm, a National Historic Landmark and New York State
Historic Site, his home during the ten years leading up to the infamous 1859 raid on
Harper's Ferry where he was killed. He requested to be buried at this farm, which
soon after his death became a "pilgrimage" site for free African Americans and
white abolitionists. In 1849, John Brown moved from Springfield, Massachusetts, where he
owned a wool brokerage business and was an active conductor on the Underground Railroad,
to Lake Placid, New York. Increasingly impatient with the stalemated public debate on the
issue of slavery, Brown appears to have concluded that more decisive action was needed. He
heard of wealthy businessman Gerrit Smith's plan to give parcels of land in upstate
New York to free African Americans. Purchasing a lot from Smith, Brown moved his family to
the upstate wilderness area where he acted as a leader and teacher to the black families
who were developing their own farms. Brown and his followers had a difficult time farming
the barren land around Lake Placid and a few of the homesteaders gave up and moved away.
This may have been the deciding factor in John Brown's 1855 move to Kansas where two of
his sons were leading an armed struggle against proslavery forces. After 1855, John Brown returned to his farm for only six brief visits to see his wife and some of his children. After his death in 1859, his family and the remaining black settlers were left in a declining community that ultimately did not survive the harsh climate and isolated economy. John Brown's family moved to California at the onset of the Civil War, and in 1870 the John Brown Association was organized and purchased the site of the farm and grave. The property was transferred to the State of New York in 1896, but the John Brown Association still organized pilgrimages to the site. With money collected from private donations, the Association erected a statue of John Brown and a young African American boy in 1935 that stands near the gravesite. This historic property commemorates the man who took on the forces of slave interests in an armed struggle that created one of the most enduring legends in the Nation's history. Located on John Brown Road, just south of the intersection with Old Military Road in Lake Placid, New York. It is open to the public. |
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| Foster
Memorial AME Zion Church was founded in 1860 by Amanda and Henry Foster, Rev. Jacob
Thomas, and Hiram Jimerson. Amanda Foster, considered the "Mother of the
Church," was the driving force in the formation of the congregation whose first
meetings were held in her confectionery store. Born in New York in 1806, Amanda, in
possession of her "free papers," obtained employment as a nurse to Arkansas
Governor Conway. While in Arkansas, she contributed to the Underground Railroad movement
by using her "free papers" to help a young fugitive slave girl escape. She moved
back to New York in 1837 and established her business in Tarrytown where she met and
married Henry Foster around 1845. In 1865, after five years of the congregation meeting in
the Foster confectionary store and other business establishments, construction of the
church began with funds donated primarily by the local Dutch Reformed and Methodist
congregations. During the Civil War, members of Foster AME helped to provide food and
shelter to fugitive slaves escaping to Canada, and also provided assistance to those
fugitive slaves who decided to settle in Tarrytown. Like most AME churches, Foster AME is
a religious and social crossroads for the black community, providing a meeting place for
worship and a place for public interaction. Foster AME Zion Church is located in Tarrytown, New York at 90 Wildey Street. It is open to the public. |