Day 74 & 75...Canajoharie, NY and Palatine Bridge, NY

MONDAY, JUNE 11, 2012

     Gary and I did get a chance to do our walking today.  We started off across the bridge to Palatine Bridge, New York.  A few of the building we saw were made of stone.  The square one is the Town Hall and the other one is an unusual house.  

     Gary needed to go UP the hill to the NAPA again.  We also went to the ACE Hardware for an air conditioner filter.  

     These are the same kind of chores we would do if we were home, but the scenery is definitely different.  I took theses pictures of Lock 14 on one side and TRAVELLER at the free dock on the other side from the bridge.

     We rested for a little while in the shade under the pavilion.  A lot of people were here today too.  They came to just sit and look at the water, fish, feed the ducks and have lunch.

     Later we decided to walk into Canajoharie.  That's the "boiling pot" in the first picture.  It is a seemingly perfectly round gorge in the creek bed that fills with swirling water.  They even had a sign to tell the origin of the town name. 

     There is an old Beech Nut factory here that closed in 2011 since they built a new, high-tech in Florida, NY.  

     Main Street has churches, restaurants, gift shops and other stores you would expect in a small town.  While we were walking, I even found a street named after Gary.

       There is supposed to be falls and a gorge close to town, but we aren't sure whether it is close driving OR close walking.  They told us to go to the "dummy-light" and turn left.  It is a traffic signal on a pedestal, which sits in the middle of an intersection.  This light was first installed in 1926 and is one of at least three still operating in the United States.

     We went looking for it today but found a retirement home,

 a very steep hill,

and a treehouse in front of a bigger house.  See what's left of the tree coming out of the top of the treehouse. 

     We also stopped back by the Arkell Museum and Canajoharie Library that was built in 1924.  We toured the free parts.    

 It was hard to find the entrance.  This isn't it.

This isn't the entrance either.  

YES.  Finally this is the entrance.  Close to the entrance was an interesting sculpture and pool filled with what looks like river rocks.

There is also a reflecting pool in the courtyard. 

     Inside the library there were watercolors on display, a children's corner and a Juvet Time Globe.  This globe looks like other globes, but it has a mechanism inside that turns the globe on its axis at the same rate that the earth turns.  This globe is one of only two 30 inch  diameter globes ever made.

     In the part of the museum that dealt with local history, there were photographs of places we recognized from along the canal, the floor was painted with the canal route and artifacts were displayed.

     The library was worth a trip into town.




TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 2012
     Gary and I decided to spend another day here in Canajoharie.  The electricians were in the park yesterday and got the three electricity pedestals hooked up.  Our Internet is good here too.  It was supposed to rain today and boy did it ever.
     We walked in the sprinkling rain to find the "boiling pot" and found where it was supposed to be.  It amazing what you can find with good directions.  What we did find was a big red sign that said DO NOT ENTER   NO TRESPASSING  TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED.  You know I'm a chicken so I wouldn't let Gary go down the trail and neither did I.  I did stand at the top and take this picture of the falls that are hidden by trees.  I was very disappointed, but I did not want to be thrown in jail here (or anywhere).

         I took pictures of a couple of the older looking homes on the way.

     There was also a famous house we walked past.

     I thought Mama might like to see the bank's night deposit door.  It was between 1 1/2 to  2 feet wide.

     It was sprinkling harder and we were getting pretty soaked so after I took this last picture of the day we hurried back to the boat.   We tried to stay dry and enjoy the rest of this drizzly day.  I found out later that the old building is the West Hill School.  This 3-story limestone building served as the local elementary school for over 100 years.  It was constructed in 1891 on the site of the former Canajoharie Academy, where Susan B. Anthony taught before joining the Women's Suffrage Movement.