Be a Time Traveler to New York's Cobblestone Country

By Sue Freeman, New York Outdoors Blog

When early pioneers began to settle the wild frontier, they followed the Hudson River north, then the Erie Canal west, carving out a life of farming in New York State. They had to clear the forests to create farmlands. At first they built small log cabins, but as they cleared more land they found they could ship the lumber on the Erie Canal as a cash crop. The building material of choice became the glacially deposited cobblestones that rose to the surface each time they plowed their fields.

The farmers developed building with cobblestones into a fine art. Initially their buildings were crude, using stones of random sizes and colors, but it evolved into sorting stones and creating buildings with stripes, herringbone patterns and all sorts of creative flairs. They built houses, churches, schools, factories, smokehouses, stores, and even tombstones. It was hard labor, taking up to 3 years to manufacture a building, including hand hewing each window and door frame, and sometimes even carting wagon loads of stones back from the shores of Lake Ontario in a sled over snow. Imagine quarrying your own materials (such as ground limestone or dolomite, sand and water) to make mortar and waiting for it to age a year under a pile of manure until it was ready to use. That was only a small part of the entire process. Fascinating historical accounts of building cobblestone buildings can be found in the guidebook “Cobblestone Quest.”

This building technique came to a screeching halt with the outbreak of the Civil War, but many of the buildings still stand today as a testament to their fine craftsmanship. The buildings are clustered in the northwestern part of New York State. You can drive by them to enjoy their diversity and learn the history of each using “Cobblestone Quest – Road Tours of New York’s Historic Buildings,” (Footprint Press, Inc.). There are also cobblestone buildings you can tour as museums, antique shops and art galleries, restaurants you can eat in, and Bed and Breakfast Inns for an evening’s repose.

Travel back in time to the days when New York State was the wild frontier. Come explore New York’s unique cobblestone history.

RV Campground Options:

1. Medina/Wildwood Lake KOA, Medina
2. Redbreeze Secluded Waterfront Campsite, Waterport
3. Hamlin Beach State Park, Hamlin
4. Lakeside Beach State Park, Waterport
5. Letchworth State Park, Castile
6. Lei Ti Campground, Batavia

Cobblestone Bed & Breakfast Inns:

1. Captain Throop House Bed and Breakfast, PO Box 145, Pultneyville, NY, 14538, 315-589-8595
2. Maxwell Creek Inn Bed and Breakfast, 7563 Lake Road, Sodus, NY,14551, (315) 483-2222
3. Peppermint Cottage and Jackson Schoolhouse B&B, 336 Pleasant Valley Road, Lyons, NY, 14489, (888) 997-1998

Cobblestone Museums:

1. Babcock House Museum, 7449 Lake Road, Appleton
2. Hartland Historical Society District 10 Schoolhouse, 9713 Seaman Road, Hartland
3. Cobblestone Society Museum, 14393 Route 104, Childs
4. Alexander Town Museum in Alexander Classical School, 3323 Church Street, Alexander
5. Livingston County Historical Museum in Geneseo District #5 Schoolhouse, 30 Center Street, Geneseo
6. Chili Schoolhouse Museum, District #4 Schoolhouse, 2525 Scottsville Road, Henrietta
7. Tinker Homestead & Farm Museum, 1585 Calkins Road, Henrietta
8. Wallington District #8 Schoolhouse, 6135 North Geneva Road, Wallington

Cobblestone Restaurants:

1. Wilson House Inn, 300 Lake Street, Wilson
2. The Cobblestone Restaurant, 3610 Pre-Emption Road, Geneva

Cobblestone Antique Shops & Galleries:

1. Golden Lynx Art Gallery, 16 Mendon-Ionia Road, Mendon
2. Cobblestone Antiques, 6452 Victor-Manchester Road, Victor
3. Cobble Ridge Antiques, 3049 Parker Road, Palmyra