Small Town Living In North Lawrence, NY - Part 1

North Lawrence is a tiny community near me and I found this photo on a local Facebook page. It inspired me to take another driving tour there. Of course this picture was taken in autumn and my driving tour was in winter, but you can see how pleasant small town life can be:

The Google Earth view of North Lawrence:

The township of Lawrence, New York includes the tiny, rural hamlets of Lawrenceville and North Lawrence. I began in Lawrenceville and stopped at this old, unused barn for my first photo:

A huge old barn and silo along the highway:

It appeared to me that this old barn was formerly used for winter boat storage, and of course probably for livestock before that. Now it appears to be unused:

I arrived at the intersection of Route 11C, a state highway little used except for local traffic. But before turning north onto 11C, I stopped to photograph this old, abandoned farm house:

I'd gone past my turn in order to take the above photo, so I pulled into the driveway of the old farm house and was surprised to see the old barn which sat behind it:

But then I turned north north onto Route 11C and began snapping photos of the farms and rural homes on my way into North Lawrence. All of these places would have had the mailing address of North Lawrence:

This gigantic old barn always amazes me when I pass by it. I'd love to see inside it, but only in the summertime - not in this cold weather:

An old farm house with smoke coming out of its chimney - and a former carriage house, now a two door garage:

This is comfortable, scenic country living:

There was a cemetery in North Lawrence which, I deduced from the signs, was actually two cemeteries. This one was the Maple Grove Cemetery:

And adjacent to it, with no dividing barrier that I could see, was the St. Lawrence Cemetery. The Catholic church in North Lawrence was called St. Lawrence Church, so I guessed this was their cemetery:

This horse farm appeared to be new, or perhaps I'd just never noticed the sign before. The barn looked both new and expensive. The sign said it was

NATURAL HORSE LOVER FARM

HOLISTIC CARE & EDUCATION FOR PEOPLE AND ANIMALS

The sign gave their website address, so I checked it out. You can see the page with all the photos by clicking here:

 

I passed this old farm house, also with smoke coming from a wood stove, and its red barn out back. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Maple Ridge Road In Brasher, New York - Part 3

Maple Ridge Road took me alongside the St. Regis River (see also Parts 1 and 2, posted previously):

This old barn sat back in the trees as if it hadn't been used in many years:

The St. Regis River ran beside the road for a long way, making it very scenic:

And yet there were still farms, barns and silos along the way:

Non-farmers had been building homes in this scenic, rural environment because they loved country life. Who wouldn't want to live here?:

This old cemetery suggested the settlement here was once called Carville:

A hip roofed home, set back in the pines:

A neat and tidy farm, with its buildings lined up in a row:

I came to the end of Maple Ridge Road and toward the hamlet of Helena, NY. This large dairy operation drew my attention, though, so I kept snapping photos:

Forage wagons and barns. This was a large, busy farm:

Old and new barns with silos and grain bins. The white plastic off to the right appeared to be bagged silage, a modern version of the bunker silo:

I arrived in the Hamlet of Helena and stopped at this old church, which a sign said was now the museum for the town of Brasher. I hope to find out more and possibly visit it:

October On The Farm

The Red Poll ladies must still be eating well because they are spending more time than usual lounging around and chewing their cuds. I guess there is still plenty of grass:

 Remy, imp that he is, has widened the hole in the front of his muzzle enough to ingest big globs of Pennsylvania Smartweed:

 Blue too has widened the hole in the front of his muzzle, though he is NOT eating the Canada Thistle in the photo. He just happened to be standing next to it and I thought it would make a nice photo:

 The hens are doing well, and probably hoping for another chance to go outside and scratch around the yard:

 The little horses spend each night inside the barn. Each morning I put their muzzles back on and let them out to join their friends, the cows. They run across the field, anxious to be part of the herd again:

 Scarlett and Blue looked happy to be grazing together:

 As the leaves first began to change colors, I snapped this photo of the scene across the road. This is the view I get from my upstairs bathroom window, and it's both pleasant and calming:

 The same neighbor's barn as in the above photo, this is a typical sunset in the western sky:

 And just down the road from me, a farm family's Halloween display:

 A bit farther down the road, the Fort Jackson Cemetery was beginning to look like Halloween also:

 Many of the town's pioneers are buried here, and I wonder if their ghosts come out at Halloween:

Also on my road is this Amish schoolhouse. One day I saw children outside playing, but Amish are loathe to have their pictures taken. I only photograph their buildings when no people are present:

The John Brown Farm

From Saranac Lake (see the previous two posts), my sister and I drove the short distance south to Lake Placid. Just as we got this good view of Whiteface Mountain, we turned onto John Brown Road:

The John Brown home was not open (we'd known that before we went), but the grounds were open so we stopped and walked around:

Signs explained the site, John Brown's story and history of this former farm, now a monument:

I got the impression that John Brown was a severe, cold man, perhaps a religious fanatic, and not someone I might like, however much I agree with him about the evil of slavery. I took note of how seldom he came home to visit his wife and children:

John Brown was hanged after his trial for the raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and his body was returned to his wife at the farm in Lake Placid (actually North Elba), New York. The sign explains that 12 men are thought to be buried in the three graves here, including two of John Brown's sons:

The graves were encircled by a locked, wrought iron fence:

John Browns gravestone, which was originally his grandfather's, is protected by glass:


The tombstone was originally for John Brown's grandfather, but his name and the names of the two sons who died in the raid at Harper's Ferry were added:


The story of how the old Brown farm became a memorial, owned and operated by the state of New York:

The farm house was closed, so we didn't get to see inside that:

This huge stone memorial was outside the fence and behind the gravestones, but I couldn't read the inscription and couldn't find it online to tell me what it said. I could, however, see enough to tell me that it was a memorial to John Brown:

When the museum is open, the barn is also open and has displays inside. Knowing it was closed, we didn't walk down to it. Instead, we headed back toward Saranac Lake with another stop in mind (see tomorrow's post):