Wordless Wednesday- Sodus Lighthouse

Phelps General Store & Home

Address: 140 Market Street, Palmyra, NY 14522

Phone: (315) 597-6981

Website: http://www.historicpalmyrany.com/phelps_general_store_museum.htm

There is an admission fee- but what a bargain:

Adults.............................$3.00 individual museum  or  $7.00 for the TRAIL TICKET*
Children (11 to 17).........$2.00 individual museum  or  $5.00 for the TRAIL TICKET*
Seniors (70 and older)...$2.00 individual museum  or  $5.00 for the TRAIL TICKET*

*The TRAIL TICKET includes admission to all Museums for one low price!
Save over 35% on Adult admission to all Historic Palmyra Museums!

 

Hours: May 1st to Oct. 31st 10:30am to 4:30pm, Tuesday through Saturday. And Tuesday – Thursday Nov. 1st – April 30th, 11am- 4 pm.

It was a tavern, a bakery, a general store and a boarding house over time since it was first built in 1826. William and Julius Phelps were the proprietors over the years.

This building once housed a general store, which served the needs of the Erie Canal. It was built right along the canal and existed there for many years. Boats would tie up alongside the building to come in and shop or, depending on the era, perhaps have what we now refer to as “an adult beverage” or two. From 1905 onward, Julius Phelps a general store for the village of Palmyra and it was the place for many of a housewife to buy her essentials during the Great Depression. The war years of the Second World War ended the building’s life as a general store. Today the store still exists with merchandise piled on the shelves much like you would find in any such store in the late 1930s. Where did they get the merchandise to create this museum? Right there!

Julius Phelps decided in 1940 that he could no longer afford to operate a general store. He locked the door and walked away. There sat the merchandise until the museum was ready to open. There is even a case with real eggs from 1940!

The only child of Julius was Sybil Phelps. In her early days she traveled to New York City and attempted to become an actress. She was a very talented musician as well as a Spiritualist. Later she returned to Palmyra and her parents’ home above the store. Rising two stories above the general store, this apartment is a spacious Victorian apartment. Furnishings typical of the Victorian age still occupy this space. The family lived here with no running water, only a cistern, and no electricity. In fact, it was last updated in the 1880s. After her parents’ deaths, Sybil continued to live here alone (besides her 15 cats that is) until her death in 1976 at the age of 81.

 

Since that time nobody has lived here. Or have they? Did I mention that Sybil was a Spiritualist? Did I mention that many people believe the place is haunted? Strange sightings have occurred here over the years. Black cats have wandered in and disappeared. Music has played when nobody is in the upper floors. Doors open and lights appear and disappear. All the trappings of a ghost story exist. Whether they are real or not, I will leave for you to decide. 

Historic Palmyra Museum

 Address: 132 Market St, Palmyra, NY 14522

Phone: (315) 597-6981

Website: http://www.historicpalmyrany.com/allingintro.htm

There is an admission fee- but what a bargain:

Adults.............................$3.00 individual museum  or  $7.00 for the TRAIL TICKET*
Children (11 to 17).........$2.00 individual museum  or  $5.00 for the TRAIL TICKET*
Seniors (70 and older)...$2.00 individual museum  or  $5.00 for the TRAIL TICKET*

*The TRAIL TICKET includes admission to all Museums for one low price!
Save over 35% on Adult admission to all Historic Palmyra Museums!

 

Hours: May 1st to Oct. 31st 10:30am to 4:30pm, Tuesday through Saturday.   And Tuesday – Thursday, Nov. 1st – April 30th, 11am- 4 pm. Watch for special events.

This museum is on the site of a former building that had a fire in 1964 that claimed 6 children and an adult. The building that is there now is a former hotel that was moved to the site. The museum talks about the history of the area, particularly the village of Palmyra. There are 23 themed rooms of memorabilia of Palmyra. Among the topics are, firefighting, military, death, children’s toys, religion, kitchen tools, local businesses, medicine, education and photography. There are local connections to the Civil War, Women’s Suffrage and the Book of Mormon.

 

Why would there be a local connection to the Book of Mormon? The Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormonism) started not far from here and their annual Hill Cumorah pageant takes place about five miles away. Stepping outside the museum’s door and looking towards Main Street you can see the building where the Book of Mormon was originally printed. 

Alling Coverlet Museum

Alling Coverlet Museum

Address: 122 William St, Palmyra, NY 14522

Phone: (315) 597-6981

Website: http://www.historicpalmyrany.com/allingintro.htm

There is an admission fee- but what a bargain:

Adults.............................$3.00 individual museum  or  $7.00 for the TRAIL TICKET*
Children (11 to 17).........$2.00 individual museum  or  $5.00 for the TRAIL TICKET*
Seniors (70 and older)...$2.00 individual museum  or  $5.00 for the TRAIL TICKET*

*The TRAIL TICKET includes admission to all Museums for one low price!
Save over 35% on Adult admission to all Historic Palmyra Museums!

(I will be talking about the other museums included in future columns).

Hours: 10:30 AM - 4:30 PM, Tuesday to Saturday. Closed July 4

Located on a side street in the village of Palmyra, this museum looks like there isn’t much there from the outside, but once inside, you’ll realize that the first impression is totally wrong! This museum is housed in a 1901 newspaper printing office.  Coverlets were once a big industry in the Palmyra area and the museum has the largest collection of American hand woven coverlets in the entire United States.

“What exactly is a coverlet?” you may be asking. It is a type of woven bedspread that is usually paired with decorative pillows on the bed. All of the ones in this collection were woven between 1820 and 1880. This is the age before commercial manufacturing when all were made by hand on a large loom. Although we often think of women on pioneer farms weaving cloth, men actually usually made these in small cottage businesses.

The museum houses many items related to the weaving trade including looms, spinning wheels, and other tools of the trade. There are punch cards that were used with some of the later looms to form the patterns. If you’re old enough to remember the punch cards that were used to program early computers, these are the forerunners of those cards.

 

What makes it special: There are many, many coverlets on display at any given time. However, there are so many that it takes them 6 years to rotate through the entire collection!

The gift shop also has many great items to look through. There are books that tell more about the weaving industry and its history as well as recipe books and many of the usual historical type souvenirs available for purchase. Although this museum is not genealogical in nature, it has a lot of information on the background of an early industry that was done by many people. If you had an ancestor that was involved in the weaving trade, especially of coverlets, there is a wealth of information here to help you fill in details about what that ancestor’s life was like!

Wordless Wednesday- Palmyra Historical

Palmyra Meeting

Today was the semi-annual NYSCOGO (New York State Council ofGenealogical Organizations) meeting in Palmyra, New York.  Eleven people gathered for a meeting and to tour Historic Palmyra, Inc.  Historic Palmyra is a group of historic buildings and museums in downtown Palmyra with a rich history of the area. I will be writing more about these places in the days to come, but for now here are a few tidbits of information that were heard at the meeting that will be of interest to people researching here and the surrounding areas:

The Seneca County Historical Society in the Waterloo Library no longer has information and historic records of the area. This is now housed  at the Memorial Day Museum in the village.

The Wayne County Historian’s Office has database for everyone who has ever been mentioned in the county. It is called the Surname Database and is located on the left hand side of their database. <http://web.co.wayne.ny.us/office-of-the-county-historian/>

All thirteen Wayne County libraries have access to Ancestry.com and many are starting to have genealogy clubs in these libraries. They are part of the Pioneer Library System that covers much of the Finger Lakes area.

Palmyra library has a good local history collection as does Newark and Geneva libraries. I haven't had a chance to visit any of these libraries, but they are on my list of places to get to!