Let's Go Places: Rochester, New York

 

Oh man oh man have I got a travel story for you.  It's about winning the lottery, FLW, and lighthouses.

Don't get too excited about the lottery thing.  It was for a slot on the 2024 tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright Boynton House in Rochester, New York.  This is a privately owned home that does tours once a year to benefit the Landmark Society.  Due to popular demand, you can only buy a ticket if you win their lottery.

Rochester is four hours away, and I figured that I'd cut out of work a little early and get there on Friday night, tour the house and whatever else I could find on Saturday, and come home on Sunday.  As soon as I saw what the offerings were in Rochester I adjusted my schedule to take a full day off on Friday.

My jaw dropped when the internet told me that Rochester is home to the George Eastman Museum, which is one of the Holy Grails of film preservation.  Another promising offering was the Susan B. Anthony Museum.  Ok, that's a decent amount of stuff to see but what else...hmm...on my Buffalo trip a few weeks ago I'd hit up a lighthouse on the way home, any more of those in the area?  Eh, probably not.  I've been to most of the lighthouses on Lake Erie, and most of those close after Labor Day.  But still, no harm in checking to see what Lake Ontario had to offer.

You might be asking yourself how to find Lighthouses Near You.  There's a place on the internets for that and it's called lighthousefriends.com.  There was a little bit of hunting and pecking involved but I soon turned up some lighthouses...so many lighthouses.  There were three that were still doing tours in September and one that I could drive by.  Oh speaking of Buffalo remember how when Kyria and I were touring City Hall that there was a fire drill and we never got to see the observation deck?  Gotta drive through Buffalo to get to Rochester!

My next move was to Airbnb and after an intense session of zooming in on the neighborhood where the FLW house was I turned up a reasonably priced apartment that I thought was close by.  Good news: once I booked the unit and got the address it well within walking distance of the house and there was a nice park nearby.  Score!

Planned Itinerary:

Friday - leave in the AM to get to Buffalo around noon, go to City Hall and of course have lunch at my favorite vegan restaurant, Strong Hearts.  If I felt like it, I'd stop by the Fort Niagara Lighthouse and maybe check out Fort Niagara, though that was a question mark since according to the internets the lighthouse wasn't open for tours and I wasn't sold on the Fort, so I'd most likely skip it and go to the next lighthouse up, the Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse.

Saturday - check out the neighborhood park, tour the FLW house, and then hit up as much of the other stuff on my list that I could get to: Eastman, Susan B house, Genessee Lighthouse, Sodus Bay Lighthouse, and a handful of other Rochester highlights.

Sunday - do whatever was left from the Saturday list, go home.

Here is how it went down.

Friday - wheels up

I packed up the car, kissed Hubs and the puppy goodbye, and hit the road.  Three hours later I was in Buffalo and back at City Hall.

I took the elevator to the 25th floor and then it was a few more flights of stairs to get to the Observation Deck.  The view from inside:

The view from the deck:

After City Hall my next stop was of course lunch at Strong Hearts.  I got the Sweet Sassy Molassey again (smoky tofu, lettuce, tomato, onion, avocado, and a sweet BBQ sauce).

Now it was decision time.  Was I going to Fort Niagara where I could see a lighthouse or to Thirty Mile Point where I could go inside a lighthouse?  It wasn't necessarily either/or since Fort Niagara was on the way to Thirty Mile, but lighthouses close early so if I went to both I might have to rush through Thirty Mile.  I (mentally) tossed a coin and decided why not, let's drive by the Fort Niagara lighthouse.  I can be pretty quick.

Yep just a dinky little lighthouse.  You can't tell from the picture but there is a lake behind it and back in the day the parking lot for Fort Niagara wasn't right up against it.

Wait what did that sign out front say?

It turns out that the Fort Niagara Lighthouse is normally closed to visitors, but every once in a while they open it up.  There is still some restoration work being done, so you can't go all the way to the top, but it was still worth it to be inside a lighthouse and to see the views from the tower windows.

Now then, what was up with this Fort Niagara place?  I knew that it was going to take a bit of time to go through so if I went in there wouldn't be enough time to go to the Thirty Mile Lighthouse that day, but I had the rest of the weekend so that just meant that I would see it later.  Something told me that even though Fort Niagara isn't a lighthouse there just might be something interesting to see here.

Yep, "something interesting to see here" is the Reader's Digest version.  Way back when the French were on this land and they told the native settlers that they wanted to build a trading post.  The only thing was that their "trading post" was massive, made of stone, there was a moat around it, and there was a well inside, meaning they had an internal water source which was an odd thing for a "trading post" that was inches away from Lake Ontario.  Pro tip: if you want to build a military fort it's a lot easier to ask for forgiveness than to get permission.

The French lived large at Fort Niagara until the French and Indian War.  The Brits laid siege and ended up with the Fort, and kept it even after the Revolutionary War.  When they were finally ousted, they set up shop across the bay in Canada and made a few more plays to get it back until the War of 1812 when they were finally sent packing.

[P.S. standard disclaimer that I'm paraphrasing what I heard on the tour...for historical accuracy please do your own research]

While the Fort was impressive, the real stars of the show were the pagoda like structures that the British built.  Yes even when you're building military might there's no reason why you can't be inspired by Japanese architecture and class things up a bit.

The views from the "pagodas" were to die for.

Fort Niagara is mostly a self guided tour, but they have volunteers to talk you through stuff and get you started in the right direction.  I got in on a group and got to hear the history that way.  Before we started the tour, our guide suggested that we look at the Fort flag from the war of 1812.  It was...large.  Someone in the group had the bright idea to ask someone to stand in front of it so that our photos would show the scale.

Of course I know that the US Flag has a star for every state, and maybe I knew that there are thirteen stripes for the original 13 states, but if I did I had long forgotten it.  What I didn't know was that back in the day a new state meant not only a new star but also a new stripe.  By the time they got to 15 stars and 15 stripes, the flag was starting to get unwieldy so eventually it was decided to add stars and keep to the original 13 stripes.  It also wasn't possible to keep the flag up to date in real time, so when this 15 star n'stripe flag was in service, there were actually 18 states.

The red stripes are closer to brown, which is partly from age and partly that fabric dyes weren't all that back in the day.  They also weren't colorfast, hence the brown splotches on the flag.

Two hours later I was ready to move on from Fort Niagara.  Not bad for a "I'm just going to drive by and see a lighthouse" stop.  I got myself back on the road and headed for Rochester.  I had a gut feeling that I'd picked a good Airbnb, and sure enough I had.  It was a nice quiet little neighborhood that was walkable to everywhere.  I walked around a bit and then settled on the neighborhood watering hole for dinner.  As you might remember, Kyria and I went on a buffalo wing spree in Buffalo, and when I saw that Jeremiah's Tavern right around the corner touted that they had the best buffalo wings in Rochester, I felt that I had to give it a try.

I was pretty hungry so I got two five piece servings - one with their hottest buffalo sauce, and one with Korean BBQ sauce just to mix it up.  The Korean BBQ was just OK but the hot buffalo rocked.  Duff's in Buffalo still has the top spot in the Wing Wars, but Jeremiah's is a solid second.

After dinner I tucked back into my place and slept soundly.

Saturday - adventure awaits

I started Saturday with a casual run/walk.  My goal was Cobbs Hill Park.  I'd read that there were some old water towers and other neat stuff to explore.

The only thing is that I couldn't figure out how to get to the water towers.  The route that I took went around the park, not in it.  Hey, no harm no foul because the neighborhood on my side of the park had lots of neat "normie" historic houses and the neighborhood on the other side of the park had lots and lots of "way above my income level" historic houses.  I gawked at all of the eye candy and finally came to an entrance into the park.

There were no old water towers but instead there is a current day water reservoir with a recreational path around it.

The view from my side of the fence was pretty good but my phone's view was even better.

And there was a spot with nice views of downtown (see top of post).

I went back to my pad, had a nice leisurely breakfast, and then it was time for the main event.  Just a short walk away into an "even more above my income level" neighborhood and the Boynton House.

The scoop is that the Boynton house was built for some rich fat cats back in the day, and then it went the way of most FLW houses and fell into a cycle of disrepair and restoration attempts.  Finally in 2009 the current owners bought it and broke the cycle.  They poured a lot of love and a lot of cash into it and made it their forever home.  It turns out that they not only care about their house but their community as well, so once a year they open it up for tours to benefit the Landmark Society, and as I said before, there is so much interest that there is a lottery for tickets.

Being a private home, the visitation rules are fairly strict.  There were a ton of volunteers to make sure that everyone was where they should be and not getting up to anything that they shouldn't.  Interior photos were not allowed.  Overall the owners restored the house to the original condition and design, but added a few modern creature comforts (they converted the servants quarters into a breakfast nook, and the kitchen looks like a 1910s kitchen but behind the cabinets it's all the latest and greatest 2020s stuff).

So what now?  My belly said that it was lunchtime, so I headed back to my neighborhood and hit up the local vegan eatery...the butcher.  Seriously, it's an old school butcher shop...it's just that their products never had a mother and never had a face.  They also have a sandwich menu.

I got a "pastrami" sammie for the road and ate it on the patio at the Airbnb while I plotted my next move.  Eastman, Anthony, two lighthouses.  I knew that I couldn't do all of it in one afternoon, so maybe I'd split things down the middle and do one museum and one lighthouse, and then get the rest on Sunday.

After much (mental) coin tossing I decided to go to the Susan B. Anthony House and Museum first.  All that I knew about her was that she was an early feminist, and the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin was a thing when I was a young 'un and at the time it was the only piece of US currency with a lady on it, so it made an impression.  And my mother likes to say "and I am Susan B. Anthony" to discredit any improbable statements that were made in her hearing.

Young Susan was a bright kid and the daughter of Quakers who were big into abolitionism, women's rights, and education.  She got into Big Trouble at school when she wanted to learn long division and wasn't satisfied with her teachers explanation that math was for boys.  Her parents weren't satisfied either so they yanked all of their kids out of school and set up their own.  Susan and her sister grew up and became teachers, and they took note of the difference between women teacher salaries and men teacher salaries.  In their spare time they took note of the whole women being their fathers or husbands' property thing and the not being able to vote thing.  Suitors came along in pursuit of the Anthony sisters, but neither married, since as Susan put it, they never met any guys who were worth giving up their rights for.

Her sister shook up the school system and got a dude's paycheck, and Susan and her buddy Elizabeth Cady Stanton took up women's rights.  Elizabeth was better at writing, and Susan was better at public speaking, so they made a great team.

They started with getting ladies the right to keep their paychecks and being able to inherit property instead of having to turn everything over to the men in their lives.  After that they tackled the not being able to vote thing.  They needed a way to draw attention to the cause, so Susan and a posse marched into a polling station and asked to register to vote.  They were hoping to be kicked out and/or arrested, but the polling staff were not interested in fighting the battle so they let them register and vote.  That wasn't going to stand, but now The Man had to teach her a lesson without giving her the attention that she was after.  The police showed up at her house a few days later and arrested her on the DL.  Susan was not down with the DL, so she demanded to be handcuffed, but was instead escorted onto the streetcar and taken to jail.  Much to her chagrin she was bailed out.  She finally had her say at her trial and got the conviction that she was looking for.  Her "sentence" was a $100 fine, and the courts declined to take any action to collect it (meaning that when she didn't pay they didn't go after her so she didn't have a way to appeal her case or to move it up in the court system).  She hit the lecture circuit with a transcript of the trial instead. Though she didn't live to see it, her work as a woman born in 1820 led to all US women getting right to vote in 1920.  All of which is to say that if you have a passion project and things are moving slowly, think long term.

After the tour my plan was to go to a lighthouse, but it was raining.  I'm not a wuss but I felt it was likely that lighthouses might have to suspend the tours for rain/lightning, so I pivoted and went to the Eastman Museum.  The good thing about that was that a museum membership that I have at home got me in for free, and the bad thing was that the mansion was closed for repairs so whomp whomp there wasn't much to see.  It ended up being a very quick visit to cross it off the list and I decided to take a chance on the nearest lighthouse being open.

Sure enough the rain was gone by the time I got there and it was finally Lighthouse O'Clock.  The Genessee Lighthouse offered the dual delight of a lighthouse AND lightkeeper's house tour.  Sometimes lighthouses are an in and out thing, and sometimes they are an hour plus thing.

Every lighthouse has its quirks.  The Genessee Lighthouse's "feature" is that the stairs go almost to the top...and there is a ladder to get the rest of the way.

But it's always worth it to go into a lighthouse for the views.

It was time to call it a day on adventures and think about dinner. But before that, I went to Wegman's and had a good ol' grocery store gawk.  Their prepared foods section was lush, and I thought about having a grocery store dinner.  However I knew that I would end up spending more for that then I would for a restaurant meal.  I still had beer on the brain from the night before, and I spent quite a long time in the beer section picking up a sampler six pack of hazy IPAs - the beer varieties there were different from what I have at home.

I went back to the Airbnb and from the walkable options I settled on takeout from Blue Taro, which is a Vietnamese restaurant.  I wasn't necessarily looking for vegan food, but they have a lot of vegan options so I went for it.  I got egg rolls and spicy soup - basically pho.  It had vegan ham, vegan meatballs, tofu, mushrooms, veggies, and noodles.

I cozied up in the Airbnb where I sipped my soup, munched on eggs rolls, and knocked back a few of the beers.  It was a nice low key night after a busy day.

Sunday - last day!

Sunday morning started with a long walk around the park to try to find the old water towers.  I failed in that mission (GPS took me to a bunch of trees) so no problem I consoled myself with another walk around the reservoir.  Then I packed up and went on a mission to see the sights of Rochester to kill time until the lighthouses opened.

My Rochester adventures did not pan out.  The sunken garden was closed for an event, so I moved on to the High Falls downtown.  My GPS took me to a park where to put it mildly, I picked up a vibe that it was not safe to be there so I hightailed it right outta there.  I was more than happy to trade a sketchy 'hood for an early arrival at the lighthouse.

Sodus Bay is about 45 minutes east of Rochester, and I had a fine old time walking around until the lighthouse opened at noon.  The lighthouse was attached to the lighthouse keeper's residence, which I've seen before but it was next level in that there was access to the lighthouse tower from every floor of the house.

Sigh, it was time to turn west for my last stop on the trip.  At long last I finally came to the Thirty Mile Lighthouse.

The admission price was a "request" for payment of one dollar.  There was a tour of the keeper's house and then on to the tower.

I feel confident in saying the the Thirty Mile Lighthouse will be my last lighthouse visit of 2024.  Given that my lighthouse visits in 2024 went from zero at the start of September to five by the end of the month (one on the Buffalo trip and four on the Rochester trip), I'd say that it was a good year for lighthousing.

 

Let's wrap it up

• Winning the lottery to see a FLW house: 10/10
• Getting to see another awesome NY city and hanging out for a few days: 10/10
• Finding awesome food at every turn in the awesome NY city: 10/10
• Getting to stay in an affordable historic neighborhood within walking distance of not affordable historic neighborhoods: 10/10
• Having a few things not pan out, like the Cobbs Hill watertowers and the sights of Rochester, and having the Eastman Museum being kind of a flop: no harm no foul
• Thinking that Fort Niagara was going to be a "just drive by" thing and have it end up being an "all afternoon" thing: 10/10
  
• Going to NY for FLW and getting a bonus Lighthouse bender: 10/10
  

 

Thanks for the memories Rochester!  Who's been there?