Your Hometown Page…

You’ve got a story, and I’ve got a story, and we all got a story to tell…..

about this place we call Montezuma….this community?

People develop a “sense of place” through experience and knowledge of a particular area. A sense of place emerges through knowledge of the history, geography and geology of an area, the legends of a place, and a growing sense of the land and its history after living there for a time.

Through time, our shared experiences and stories (history) help to connect this place and people who live here, and to transmit feelings of place from generation to generation. Shared physical perceptions and experiences help people from different cultural groups fashion a local culture that expresses their (comm)Unity in a place. Finally, place becomes unique and special for individuals and, and the community solidifies its identity.

Developing a sense of place helps people identify with their community and with each other. A strong sense of place can lead to more sensitive stewardship of our cultural history and natural environment.

What experiences and stories (history) can we share here to connect our community that will transmit feelings of this place from generation to generation.

Here’s a place to collect people’s stories about their own experiences in our community, building that sense of place for the next generation:

I remember when……

….. Roland and Doris Janes pictured above were the oldest citizens in the 1976 Bicentennial Parade representing our heritage on a “Montezuma” Canal Boat Float made especially for the occasion. In “Years Gone By” by Lock 52 Historical Society of Port Byron, Roland remembered in the 1920’a his Dad would tote him to Stop 70  (on Purser Road) where he rode the ‘trolley’ for violin lessons from Mr. Orlando in his music room at the hotel in Port Byron. (Learn more about the ‘trolley’ on this blog post: http://www.montezumahistoricalsociety.org/savannah-montezuma-port-byron-trolley-line-connections/ )

I wonder….who was the youngest in the parade? Does anyone know?  This baby would be about 38 years old now.

October 25, 2015….Anne McCarthy remembers..

… a childhood memory of a replica of a Viking ship sailing down the Seneca river in 1982.  It would eventually go down the Hudson to the Atlantic ocean and then on to Norway..  She remembered being under the bridge near the Montezuma Marina waiting for it to go by.  Tom Fraher Sr. was there because when the ship went by, Byron Lapp turned his car lights on and Tom yelled at him to turn the lights off.

Mellony Carner remembers being at May’s Point when it came through. An online newspaper article reported it was called the Hjemkomst, a 76-1/2 foot vessel built by Robert App. App and four of his children were among the eleven man crew that fulfilled their father’s dream of sailing to Norway.

Anyone else remember this?