[at-l] Minor trip report--Not on the AT

Thu Aug 28 14:56:00 CDT 2008

Hey, as a tourist I've visited worse things than a drain tile museum.  How about this old prisonl in Wyoming?  I've been there.  Scoll down to get the grisly details:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tour/93day5.html

Yes, I'm warped.

Joan

-----Original Message-----
From: Lilla Thompson <LThompson at hollins.edu>
To: 'kent_gardam at yahoo.com' <kent_gardam at yahoo.com>; at-L at backcountry.net <at-L at backcountry.net>; bluetrail at aol.com <bluetrail at aol.com>
Sent: Thu, 28 Aug 2008 3:40 pm
Subject: RE: [at-l] Minor trip report--Not on the AT

Remind me not to travel with you ;)

From: at-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:at-l-bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Kent Gardam
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2008 3:37 PM
To: at-L at backcountry.net; bluetrail at aol.com
Subject: Re: [at-l] Minor trip report--Not on the AT

Joan,

I can't believe you missed one of the highlights of the Finger Lakes area from an historical perspective.  In Geneva, New York is the Rose Hill Mansion, a Greek Revival mansion of some note maintained by the Geneva Historical Society.  While that is all well and good, the highlight was the discovery that the historical society also housed a Drain Tile Museum on an adjacent property.  Probably the most complete collection of field drainage tile to be seen in this country!  I can tell you my family was thrilled with the hour invested in that visit and still talks about the experience to this day.  In fact they brought it up again this su
mmer when we stopped on vacation in Chatanooga and I suggested a visit to the National Tow Truck Hall of Fame and Museum.  Once burnt, twice shy, I guess.

>From the society's website:  

The Mike Weaver Drain Tile Museum is comprised of a collection of over 500 drain tiles ranging in date from 500 B.C. to plastic “tiles” of recent times. The museum is housed in the 1822 home of John Johnston, a pioneer in tile drainage technology.

The Mike Weaver Drain Tile Museum at the John Johnston House chronicles an important innovation in American agricultural development, the introduction of tile drainage to American farming.  By laying curved tiles or pipes just under the soil’s surface, a farmer can drain excess water off of the land, thereby increasing crop yields. This a technique which has existed for millennia, but which was not widely used in the United States until John Johnston laid down tiles on his Seneca County farmland in 1838.

The origin of tile drainage is obscure. In 200 B.C. Cato described the use of brush, straw, poles, stones, boards and tile to drain fields. Pliny in the first century A.D. suggested the use of roof tiles in drainage.   Eventually farmers realized that curved drainage tiles were more effective than flat ones and used poles to form horseshoe-shaped tiles. The tiles were handcrafted until the invention of the extrusion machine in 1843 in England, which allowed the manufacture of ti
les in a myriad of shapes.

The Mike Weaver Drain Tile Collection

Marion "Mike" Weaver was an engineer in USDA Soil Conservation from 1936 to his retirement in 1966. He then worked for 20 years as a consultant in drainage, irrigation, and dam building. Weaver started his tile collection in 1950 when workers dug up an odd-looking tile during a project excavation and gave it to him. The collection grew as other engineers learned of Weaver’s interest and began giving him tiles to preserve. Eventually, the collection grew to over 500 pieces and in 1964 Weaver wrote and published the book, History of Tile Drainage. In 1994 Mike Weaver gave his collection to the Geneva Historical Society in recognition of the area’s connection to the development of this important technology.

The Weaver collection also includes letters, papers, pamphlets and books on tile drainage. These are available for viewing at the Geneva Historical Society Archives. For more information, please call the Society at 315-789-5151.

Currently only a small portion of the Drain Tile Collection is on display in the Johnston House. More of it will be displayed in the future.

--- On Thu, 8/28/08, bluetrail at aol.com <bluetrail at aol.com> wrote:

From: bluetrail at aol.com <bluetrail at aol.com>
Subject: [at-l] Minor trip report--Not on the AT
To: at-L at backcountry.net
Date: Thursday, August 28, 2008, 3:16 PM

Finished a trip to northern & western NY and Toronto about two weeks ago.
  I can highly recommend the following:

NY state parks were wonderful, particularly the ones that get less use.  Reasonable prices for a tent, and most had little day hikes or nature hikes.

Watkins Glen State Park hike.  Only 1.5 miles and VERY touristic (it's a paved path with 832 steps), but it's worth it for the sixteen waterfalls along the way.  It was busy not overcrowded on the day we went.  http://gowaterfalling.com/waterfalls/watkins.shtml

Little short hike to drumlins at Chimney Bluffs State Park.  Reminded me a little bit of the hoodoos at Bryce Canyon.   http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/info.asp?parkID=168

Letchworth State Park.  Hiking along the "Grand Canyon of the East."
http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/info.asp?parkID=12

Top three museums:

1.  Adirondack Museum at Blue Lake.  Absolutely fabulous--even has a little section on backpacking in the 'dacks.  It could easily take a full day to visit here, and you still wouldn't see everything.

2.  Hate to admit it as I'm not a baseball fan, but the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

3.  Corning Glass Museum.

Best animal sighting--a fox at Letchworth State Park.

Best views while dining:  the Glen Iris Inn at Letchworth State Park-- and overlooking Horseshoe Falls from the Canadian side at night with colored lights playing over the waterfalls.

Most surprising thing:  Got into the Fasig-Tipton sales arena in Saratoga to see the induction ceremony for the Horse Racing Hall of Fame.  Barb
aro's vet was the keynote speaker, and he was wonderful.  To make it AT related, he started school at Dartmouth (site of several ALDHA Gatherings) as a theater major!

We drove a long way along Lake Ontario, and I was surprised at all the little farms that had honor stores along the way.  We bought wonderful peaches, blueberries, sweet corn, cucumbers, homegrown tomatoes, peppers, raspberries and blackberries.   

Best tasting treat of the trip:  maple cotton (cotton candy made from maple syrup) at the Erie County Fair.   

Joan
bluetrail at aol.com

Check out AOL Video to see what's making news today! 

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