Historic Homes Of Malone, New York - Part 1

My last driving tour of historic homes in the village of Malone, New York inspired me to return to the road where I'd first seen what, to me, seemed like mansions. I began snapping photos of well kept, historic homes:

This huge, old home had a wrap-around porch and sat up on a hill:

An elaborately painted historic home:

A brick home with an American flag:

An elaborate home, immaculately kept:

I noticed the porch, the flag, the chainsaw eagle and the tree hydrangea - all characteristic of this area:

Notice the second story balcony and covered side entrances:

A chainsaw bear, holding a lantern, stood out front of this very large, well kept home:

Plenty of porch for quiet, small town summer evenings:

A brightly painted home with a porte cochere and a carriage house, not to mention a fireplace:

A smaller home (compared to the others), with a nice porch and a lovely location. There were still many houses to see, so I kept going and will post Part 2 tomorrow:

Old Market Road - Part 1

I turned north off of U.S. Route 11 onto Old Market Road in the town of Stockholm, NY near where Rt 11 crosses the St. Regis River. The first place I came to was the St. Regis Campground, on the banks of the river. Of course it was closed for the winter:

Then I passed this unusual house at the top of a rise:

As Old Market Road crossed Pickle Street, I passed this interesting A-Frame, with its balcony and giant sized chainsaw bear:

I soon realized that Old Market Road, while rural, was more woodsy than agricultural, and I passed through lots of snowy woodlands to prove it:

Many of the houses were suburban style, but tucked back into the woods and were no doubt owned by people who loved living in nature:

This old barn appeared unused and deteriorating. I'd love to know its history:

The house which went with the barn in the above photo. You can see the old, square wooden silo on the right of the barn in both this and the above photos:

A couple of small outbuildings, with both farm fields and forest in the background:

A traditional old farm house, which apparently still used its fireplace:

A tractor and other farm equipment, parked in the snow by a small outbuilding:

Lots of firewood:

A beautiful but seemingly unused barn set back in a snowy field, with only an animal's tracks to indicate anyone had been near it recently. But there was still more to see on Old Market Road, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

The Orebed Sugar Shack - Part 2

I was attending the open house at the Orebed Sugar Shack in Dekalb Junction (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). This was part of St. Lawrence County's "Maple Weekend." I was in the evaporation room, where this young couple was spinning maple candy to be sold to visitors:

I walked back into the main sales room, where they were selling light amber syrup, displayed along with family photos and various awards:

And medium amber syrup, displayed with tee shirts for sale below a maple sugaring quilt:

Dark amber syrup and more family photos:

And natural, handmade soaps (and more tee shirts):

I went back outside, where I saw chainsaw art on display:

And horse-drawn wagon rides, one of which was just beginning. But the day had turned cold, it had begun snowing heavily and there was a waiting line for wagon rides, so I continued on toward my car:

Along the way, I passed this chainsaw artist demonstrating his talent. I particularly liked the clever name he gave his studio, "Constance Carvings," a clever twist on the title of a K.D. Lang song:

The snow began coming down even harder as I neared my car and looked back toward the sugar house:

I passed the family's residence:

The whole place overlooked a valley, filled with farm fields:

I pulled back out onto Orebed Road, for which the sugar house had been named, a narrow dirt lane, and took one final look back at the Sugar Shack. It had been an enjoyable visit, and an insight into one of St. Lawrence County's important agricultural crops:

Celebrating Christmas In The Ideal Small Town - Part 2

I was taking a driving tour of the Christmas decorations on homes in Canton, New York (see Part 1, yesterday):

This home had natural red berries, evergreen garland and red bows - but what was that brown "ghost?" I never did quite figure it out:

While not truly Christmas decorations, the landscaping at this home impressed me enough to snap a picture, a trend I'd follow for the rest of my driving tour:

Evergreen garland and red bells:

It was plain to me by this time that the local zeitgeist for Christmas decorating was to keep it simple, dignified and tasteful:

A manger scene, the first and only one I saw. And isn't that a lovely home?:

 
Just a few strings of lights, but they stood out due to the dark and foggy day, and looked quite good along with the colorful paint on this home:

More wreaths, evergreen garland and red bows on a spectacular front porch:

This home had no Christmas decorations at all but was so ornate that I included it anyway. Perhaps we could say that those giant conifers were Christmas trees:

Garland, wreaths and bows - simple and elegant:

And one more home without Christmas decorations, but with those colors, who needs to add more?:

The last home on this driving tour had several small, plain, lighted reindeer, but the most interesting thing to me was the large chainsaw sculpture, It looked like a reindeer although I couldn't see antlers, but it was probably a - well, I couldn't tell. It might even have been a dog:

TAUNY At Christmastime

I drove to TAUNY in Canton, New York to see the Gingerbread House Contest (yesterday's post) but of course decided to stay and have a look around while I was there. TAUNY stands for Traditional Arts In Upstate New York and they specialize in the arts and crafts of local artisans and Native Americans:

They were having a Christmas open house and people milled around, nibbling on oranges and cookies, while looking at the displays and merchandise:

And there was plenty of merchandise to see, all neatly displayed on open shelves:

An A cappella group was singing traditional Christmas carols:

A woman fielded telephone calls over by the fiddle playing chainsaw bear and tables loaded with finger foods:

I have seen most of their merchandise many times but noticed, for the first time, these handmade lures and creel. The next shelves over held picture frames and bird houses:

Hand sewn quilts:

I walked upstairs and found a gallery of awards which they called their "Wall of Fame:"

Each frame held a North Country Heritage Award, people or groups recognized for their history of mastery of the traditional arts in the region:

I picked two of them at random to show here. The first was Yancey's Sugarbush in Croghan, New York. The Yancey family has been tapping trees and making maple syrup and candy since 1844:

Eli Tracy has been a blacksmith since he was a small boy helping his father in the blacksmith shop. Eli has been shoeing horses, making wagon wheels and bolts, and repairing broken farm equipment for nearly 70 years:

I began descending the stairs, from where I discovered the unique view which they offered of the bustling sales floor below. The A cappella chorus continued to sing Christmas carols and the whole scene was most appealing:

The register/sales desk was at the foot of the stairs and I could see out the front windows onto the wintry downtown main street of Canton. It was time for me to go back out to my car and continue on to other things: