local history

At the head of Keuka Lake in Steuben County sits the village of Hammondsport. Settled in 1796, it was first surveyed in 1808, by Judge Lazarus Hammond.…

In 1785, Abel Kidder and his brother John traveled from western Massachusetts and settled in an area on the west branch of the Delaware River. Others soon…

In 1791, Joseph Beebe, his wife Rhoda and brother-in-law Amos Todd, paddled up the Tioughnioga River from Windsor, to settle in Lot no. 42 in the Central…

In the late 1780’s pioneers from Vermont settled on rich farmland along the Susquehanna River. The settlement grew, and in 1791 the town of Jerico was…

In 1785, John Doolittle arrived in present day Broome County from New England, cleared land and established a farm, becoming the first permanent settler…

General John Patterson arrived in northern Broome County in 1791 to settle what originally called Patterson’s Corner’s, along the Tioughnioga and West…

In 1794, John W. Watkins and several other partners purchased 350,000 acres of land near the outlet of Seneca Lake in what is now Schuyler County. The…

In 1794, Simeon DeWitt received 1,400 acres located along the southern banks of Cayuga Lake from his father-in-law. DeWitt divided the land into lots and…

In the early 1800s, Isaac Shepard and Deacon Ephraim Strong settled on land within Town of Barton in Tioga County. Situated on the east bank of the…

Entering Norwich from the south on Route 12, a roadside historical marker indicates the spot where Avery Power first settled along the Chenango River in…