September 11, 2024 Chased away from Albion we stop at Holley

 Wednesday Sept 11, 2024  Gasport to Albion to Holley   31 miles and 5.25 hours

Wound up making a very full day of it today.  Left Gasport and Seas the Dream behind with an early start to get to Albion before noon. Big plans for a bike ride to see the Cobblestone Museum. But first a quick stop passing through Medina for a pumpout.  Wound up being one of the best pumpouts we've used.  Quickly got the gauge to a rare "Empty" showing on the gauge. Albion is having the lift bridge on the western side of town replaced.  It was pinned in the up position so easy to get through and we settled in on the south wall. Construction equipment lined the north wall - 2 barges, a tug and a crane. As we were preparing for our bike ride, we heard a westbound call from a tow and barge to the second lift bridge on the eastern side of town.  Some discussion about whether there was enough room for him to get by us with those barges on the other side. As he approached, he told the bridge operator "Lift it up and let me see.  I'll let you know if I can make it".  Decided to give it a shot. Deckhands on the front of the barge on each side giving hand gestures of clearance to the captain as he slowly squeezed by.  Sorry, no pictures - too busy watching., 

Primary reason we stopped here was to bike over to the Cobblestone Museum in Childs about 2.5 miles away.  Our little folding bikes got a good workout as did we on the rolling country road! Cobblestone is an interesting artistic feature on buildings.  Stone buildings with 12" thick rough stone walls then had a facade put on with similarly sized smooth rocks. Mostly done in the period from 1820-1860 but seemed to have died out during the civil war period.  It's unique to a region within about a 100 mile radius of  Rochester. It's not an architectural style since it was done to all sorts of buildings - barns, shops, schools, churches, homes. Very labor intensive for collecting all the stones which were abundant in farm fields here.  But then the stones had to be sorted by size and shape. Masonry work was slow as only a few tiers could be done each day before allowing time for the cement to cure.

The museum is housed in the old Universalist Church

The old schoolhouse

Residential home 

Detail above the schoolhouse doors

Elongated stones were typically used with just the smaller ends showing. 
This provided a thicker and more solid facade

Corner detail on the schoolhouse

As we were getting ready to leave on our bike ride the bridge operator met us and informed us we probably didn't want to stay on the wall for the night.   Most of the bridge construction is done overnight from 7PM to 7AM.  Lights, jackhammers, etc.   Told us we needed to get moving by 4:30 to get through the bridge before she closed for the day.  On our bike trip we discussed alternative stops for the night and decided Holley would work - only an hour or so further down the canal.

After returning from the museum I headed downtown for a quick walkabout.   One of the best preserved collection of canal era main street buildings.  Most in decent shape but lots were empty.  Some lawyer offices as this is the county seat.    Nice example of Medina sandstone church with 175' spire.   There is another Universalist church in town that was funded by George Pullman of the Pullman RR Car Co. who was originally from Albion.  Contains 50 Tiffany stain glass windows.  Missed seeing it as the afternoon was winding down and it was time to go but pictures looked impressive. 

The Pratt Building had a large opera house on the 3rd floor

175" tall spire on this Medina Sandstone church

Interesting building - now a lawyer's office

Medina Sandstone was often used for roadbeds

One of the other things Albion was known for was resident Charles Howard (1896-1966).  He created the first "Santa Claus School" here in Albion in 1937 to teach the proper appearance and demeaner of Santa.  He was the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Santa for 18 years until his death in 1966.  

Statue commemorating Charles Howard as Santa

Once my tour of town was done we fired up the engines and headed east.  Several more lift bridges to get through before the bridge tenders quit for the day.  Made it to Holley.  Very nice town wall and park.  Power, Water, bathrooms, etc. all free.  Short walk into a small downtown area.  Cute, couple shops, pizza place and ice cream shop.   Stomach satisfied, back to the boat.  

Right side of downtown Holley which was built around a town square
 rather than a Main Street on the canal front.  

 

Journey for Sept. 11, 20204