Van Tour 63 Canada 1999

Roadtrek Tour No. 63

North to Saint Catherines

August 1999

9 Days

1,137 Miles

Itinerary

August 5-13 1999 Tour No. 63North to St Catharines (9 Days)

Lackawanna Coal Mine and Anthracite Heritage Museum, Scranton, PAZwaanendael Museum, Lewes, DERiverside Acres CG, Wysox, PAGrand Canyon of Pennsylvania, Wellsboro, PAPA Lumber Museum, Couldersport, PAZippo (lighter) Museum, Bradford, PAPenn-Brad Oil Museum, Bradford, PADew Drop Campground Kinzua, PAKinzua Dam, Kinzua, PA Warren County Historical Museum, Warren, PADunkirk Lighthouse, Dunkirk, NY Lake Erie State Park, Brocton, NY Naval & Servicemen Park, Buffalo, NY

USS SullivansFort Erie, Fort Erie, ONTWelland Canal Lock No. 3, St. Catherines, ONT

Shalamar Pa, Niagara-on-the-Lake, ONTBrock's Monument, Queenston, ONTLaura Secord Homestead, Queenston, ONTWalking tour Niagara-on-the-LakeInniskillin Winery, Niagara-on-the-Lake, ONTNiagara Power Project, N. Niagara Falls, NY Old Fort Niagara, Youngstown, NY Hamlin Beach State Park, Hamlin, NY High Falls, Brown's Race Market, Rochester, NY George Eastman House, Rochester, NY Green Lakes State Park, Fayetteville, NY Grey Towers, Milford, PA Upper Mill, Milford, PA Dingmans Campground, Dingmans Ferry, PA Martin Guitar Factory, Nazareth, PA

Scranton, Pennsylvania

Log Entry: The mine tour featured an inclined cable pulled railcar ride 250 foot deep into an anthracite ("Blue Coal") hard- coal mine running all the way across the valley under the cities of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. The walking part of the tour followed old rail tracks in the mine along the coal veins. Some mine shafts were so low, miners sat or crawled to get coal out. Children as young as nine worked (and died) in the mines, serving as "donkey boys" to pull the cars and "breaker boys" to sort the coal.

Lackawanna Coal Mine

Anthracite Heritage Museum

Log Entry: The museum traces the history and culture of Pennsylvania's hard-coal region. One gallery is dedicated to the history of disasters, a major one being in January 1959 when the Susquehanna River broke through into a mine under it and drowned 11 people. They are still there. Another exhibit featured the unionization of the mines by the United Mine Workers Union. As the mines shut down, textiles and lace making came in and the women went to work in the mills. Various looms and knitting machines are exhibited along with an exhibit on the International Ladies Garment Workers, eventually their union. Other exhibits show the ethnic backgrounds of the area and a church, saloon and men's locker room at the mines is also depicted.

men's locker roomcoal wagon

Scranton, Pennsylvania

Wellsboro, Pennsylvania

Log Entry: Detoured off US6 to take in the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania outside Wellsboro. The western rim was difficult to find, not well marked, and we wound up on the east rim, which doesn't have as many facilities, or as good a view. But we had been to the western rim before. The Pine Creek River creating the 1,000-foot deep gorge in the forest was low from the local drought

Grand Canyon

Couldersport, Pennsylvania

Log Entry: Stopped and walked in historic downtown Couldersport with it's many old well-kept homes and businesses.

Log Entry: We crossed Denton Hill Summit at 2,424 feet near the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum, outside Couldersport, which we toured next. The museum featured artifacts of the lumber industry and there was a diorama, with audio, of a tanning complex where tree bark was used in the hide making process and as a dye. When the hides were scraped, the animal hair was sent to mattress factories. Other displays featured fire prevention and "Smokey the Bear". Outside, was a logging camp complete with a logging locomotive, Barnhart log loader, bunkhouses, a messhall, blacksmith shop, horse barn and a circular sawmill. A log cabin built in 1936 by the Civil Conservation Corps (CCC) is on the grounds.

Lumber Museum

Historic House

Bradford, Pennsylvania

Log Entry: Took a detour off US6 to drive up to Bradford to see the Zippo (lighter) Museum and the Penn-Brad Oil Museum. Zippo was started during the depression as a "portable flame" and they became famous during WWII, when they were carried by just about every GI because they always lit and stayed lit Thank you letters from Eisenhower and MacArthur are on display along with hundreds of engraved lighters and there is even a replica of a foxhole and two GI's using their Zippo lighters. The museum also featured exhibits of Case Knives, which was bought out by Zippo. The lighters have a lifetime warranty no matter what happens to them and some that have been run over, crushed or mangled are displayed outside the repair shop which has a window wall to watch. Outside, the parking lot and street are lit at night by giant Zippo street lights, with the flame providing the light. Out in the parking lot we saw a French Citroen car which was completely plastered with ads and slogans proclaiming it had gone around the world in 13 months and 350,000 miles putting it in the Guinness Book of Records..

Zippo Lighter Plant

Bradford, Pennsylvania

Log Entry: The Penn-Brad Oil Museum has a replica of a 72-foot high wooden derrick oil rig, circa 1880. In the museum there are sandstone bore samples and the curator gave an explanation of how oil is suspended in the rock and stays there. When a hole is drilled into it, the oil seeps out of the rock into the hole and it is then pumped to the surface. The hole was "drilled" by actually lifting a heavy rod with a sharpened end up and then letting it fall, slowly creating a hole. All the old time equipment for oil drilling is on display along with a lot of other articles donated by the community. They include a player piano, horse drawn fire engine and sheet music from the early 1900's.

Penn-Brad Oil Rig

Dunkirk, New York

Log Entry: Drove into New York State and on up to Dunkirk, NY, on Lake Erie, to visit Dunkirk Lighthouse, one of the 66 lighthouses on the lake. Climbed the 1875 lighthouse after touring the museum in the keeper's house, which is furnished for the period and features exhibits relating to Lake Erie lighthouses. Other exhibits in the house have memorabilia and uniforms of the armed forces, through Desert Shield, with memorials to those from the area who lost their lives in wartime. A second building, on the grounds, features displays on the U.S. Coast Guard and has a submarine exhibit. At this point, it is 29 miles across Lake Erie to Canada.

Dunkirk Lighthouse

Buffalo, New York

Log Entry: Drove along lake to Buffalo, NY to tour the Naval & Servicemen Park. They have a museum, three ships, some planes and outdoor displays of a PT Boat, tanks, a Weasel amphibian, etc. The ships are the guided missile cruiser U.S.S. Little Rock the destroyer U.S.S. Sullivans and the submarine U.S.S. Croaker. The Sullivans has a memorial to the five Sullivan brothers who were all killed on the cruiser Juneau during WWII and it is currently used by Sea Cadets from the area. The Little Rock has a number of memorial compartments honoring its sailors, the marines, WWII Polish Army freedom fighters, black servicemen and women in the military. The army, navy and marines are all represented by displays in the museum and there are interesting artifacts relating to the Great Lakes. These include a model of the paddlewheel steamer SS Greater Buffalo as it was in 1923 and a second model of it converted to the training aircraft carrier U.S.S. Sable during WWII.

Brig Niagara USS Sulivans

Fort Erie, Ontario

Log Entry: Toured Fort Erie on Lake Erie at the entrance to the Niagara River. The impressive fort is the second on the site and was restored in 1939. In 1814, during the War of 1812, the then incomplete fort was captured by Americans and held until the end of the war. We arrived on a weekend when about 400 re-enactors, including women and children, from Canada and the U.S. were encamped at the fort staged a battle occurring in August 1814 when the British tried to retake the fort. Their attempt failed but we saw a good show.

Fort Erie Reenactment

St Catherines, Ontario

Log Entry: Drove up to St. Caterines, ONT and stopped at Lock No. 3 on the Welland Canal to watch a ship pass through. We had been there before. They had trouble opening the lock gate to let the ship through.

Welland Canal

Niagara Parkway, Ontario

Log Entry: Drove a short distance down the Niagara Parkway to see the Floral Clock, which is forty feet in diameter and contains 15,000 plants, which are changed, spring and fall. The 35-mile long parkway runs from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario and has many flower gardens and scenic overlooks as well as bicycle path and picnic areas. Drove back to stop and tour Brock's Monument, where we climbed 235 steps to the top. It is the resting-place of General Sir Isacc Brock, "saviour of Upper Canada" and overlooks the Niagara escarpment near the village of Queenston. Brock's army stopped an American army from Lewiston, NY, which landed in Queenston, but he was killed in the battle.

Floral clock

Brock’s Tower

Log Entry: Drove up the parkway to its end at Niagara-on-the-Lake and walked the well kept tourist town which has flowers everywhere, in gardens, pots, baskets and even on the light poles. Walked to the park overlooking Lake Ontario and the end of the Niagara River and Fort Niagara on the U.S. side. There was a wedding taking place in a gazebo in the park and they rode off in a horse drawn carriage. Walking back into town, on a side street, we saw a "Boatorhome", a combination motorhome and boat, never saw anything like it before. . After a lunch out, we drove to the Inniskillin Winery for a tour and wine tasting.

Fort Niagara

Niagara-on-the-Lake

Niagara Parkway, Ontario

Youngstown, New York

Log Entry: Toured Old Fort Niagara in Youngstown, NY. It was begun by the French in 1726 and has the "French Castle" a three story stone building that is the oldest on the Great Lakes. The castle has an interior well in the entry way and the roof was removed by the U.S. during the War of 1812 to mount cannon to fire at Fort George in Canada on the other side of the Niagara River. It was active under three flags, the French until the French and Indian War in 1759, The British until after the Revolutionary War in 1776 and then the U.S. It was briefly recaptured by the British in the War of 1812 but ceded back in 1815. Other buildings on the grounds include a furnished French kitchen, sleeping quarters, officer quarters and a bakery.

Old Fort Niagara

Rochester, New York

Log Entry: Drove to Rochester, NY to see the High Falls and take a guided tour the George Eastman House. The falls are in the middle of the city and the streets not well marked for finding them. They are impressive when you finally find them and they can be seen, face on, from an 858-footlong pedestrian bridge over the Genesee River at the gorge below them. The area at the bridge is called "Brown's Race Market" and is an upscale location with restaurants and tourist attractions. The area is named after the Brown brothers, who dug a millrace from above the falls to a mill below, where the water returns to the river. Traces of the mill and the race remain today and there is a self-guided tour of the area.

Genesee River High Falls

Rochester, New York

Log Entry: The highlight of the whole trip turned out to be the Eastman House, which took over three hours to go through. The three-story house was built in 1905 and restored in 1990. A two story conservatory joining the house and wings was enlarged by Eastman by moving the back section of the house 9 1/2 feet rearward on railroad tracks. Most of the paintings are actually photo composites of original oils. One painting not only had eyes that followed you, it also had a boot which seemed to turn as you walked past. The house was one of the few with electricity when built and had its own generator if the power was turned off. It also had a central vacuum system and all the clocks in the house were synchronized to a master in Eastman's bedroom. The museum sits on a two-story, below ground vault for storing photos and film. Originals of "Gone with the Wind" and many other famous movies are stored here. The galleries range from pictures by famous photographers to areas with displays of hundreds of different cameras and projectors, both still and movie. An Eastman quote is "What you do for a living is what you will have. What you do for leisure is who you are". We also took the garden tour which featured several formal gardens a rock garden with restored grape arbors circling it and a garden off the conservatory with brick paths and an oval pool.

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Eastman House

Milford, PennsylvaniaLog Entry: Stopped in Milford, PA to tour Grey Towers, the home of Gifford Pinchot , founder of the USDA Forest Service and a Pennsylvania governor. Unfortunately, it is closed for renovations. We could walk from the gate about 3/4 of a mile up the drive to the house to see the outside and gardens. It is a three-turreted, three-story stone home resembling a French chateau. The gardens were in disrepair during the construction and everything tinder dry because of the drought. There are many patios and walkways with water areas around the house, which was deeded over to the Forest Service in 1963.

Pinchot’s Gray Towers

Nazareth, Pennsylvania

Log Entry: Drove to Nazareth, PA to tour the Martin Guitar Factory. Martin has 550 employees producing about 180 guitars a day, costing as much as $35,000. They. have been in business since 1833. Out in the factory, the tour began with the selection of wood, some on the endangered list, and progressed through the string winding and packaging area (they produce all their own strings) to the actual guitar parts production and assembly. Some guitars get custom inlaid mother of pearl and special finishes with layer upon layer of coatings. People like Gene Autry, Elvis Presley, Eric Clampton and Paul McCartney owned these special guitars. The tour ended in a room full of custom guitars and mandolins in cases along with regular models that you could pick up and strum. Excellent tour.

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Martin Guitar

Gregg Graphics Gradyville, Pa.

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