I received an email from Geoffrey Harding, who was interested in the spring at Cold Springs Cemetery. He is researching a tale of the transportation of prisoners to Fort Niagara by Native Americans. I passed onto him what I knew. Hartland town historian Norm Lajoie...
With records going back to the early 1800’s there is good documentation of a natural cave under Lockport NY. On April 19th at the Town of Lockport Town hall(6:30) I will be presenting my research on the famous cave sponsored by the Town of Lockport Historical...
The town of Lockport Historian, Jean Linn and I wrote an article for the Union Sun and Journal and the Niagara Falls Gazette, November 8, 2022 abou this historic mill in Rapida NY on the Tonawanda Creek. The mill dates back to the mid 1800’s and is being...
Great day at the Locktoberfest in Lockport NY. The Niagara County History Center and the Town of Lockport Historical Society set up a joint table with a Civil war clothing and equipment display and local history books. 8 hours of nonstop history discussions.
I went with our famous local cave explorer Scott Ensminger on Sunday to take one more look at the Devil’s Hole cave. Much has been written about his cave on the cliffs over the Niagara River but questions remain. It was originally 3/4 mile long now it is 42...
The Niagara County Historical Society and the Town of Lockport Historical Society are teaming up to provide a community history table on October 1st at the Locktoberfest. Local artifacts will be displayed and history questions answered.
I set up the Vanishing Past booth Saturday the 6th of August, 2022. A light crowd because of the Niagara County Fair. However there were a number of people interested in history and I was asked some tough questions as people responded to my History Question?,...
I have had 5 inquiries about relatives at the Niagara County Poor House(s)-there were two Poor Houses. The spreadsheet is working well to quickly look up death records. Jim Boles
NIAGARA COUNTY NY, POOR HOUSE (Niagara Street Extension), INFIRMARY RECORDS (Davison Rd), Lockport NY -Records from 1829-1970’s Jim Boles, [email protected] 4/30/2021 Blog: vanishingpast.com Niagara County Historians Office Original book death...
As the legend goes settlers in early 1800’s learned of the Lockport Cave from Native Americans, at that time, it was known as Devil’s Cave, there was an entrance on the west bank of 18-mile creek. The present location would be near Cave Street off East Avenue. It...
In the brush and trees of Somerset, New York, is an old salt spring believed to have been used by local Native Americans. Sitting quietly beside Fish Creek, the area is marked with the tracks of animals who have traveled there for the salt. As the local history is...
Note on Visiting the Springs Many of the springs described in this blog are on private property, and you may need permission; often there will be posted signs. I have tried to indicate if the springs can be visited, but access often changes. The water quality varies...
This article is a preview of “Stories from The Springs” an historical book that was released in 2020 by Vanishing Past Press. This publication will document the many tales from the historic springs in the Niagara Region. In the past I published under the “Abandoned...