Travels in the 2nd half

Cazenovia Lake   This week we continue on our journey along U.S. Route 20 through New York State. This leg of our trip took us through the Finger Lakes region of the state, passing along the northern tips of the largest Finger Lakes. It was a wonderful chance to explore each of these towns, and to see how they differ in their interactions with the lakes. I started the trip in the town of Cazenovia, New York . If you read my blog about the Lorenzo State Historic Site , you might remember that the town was created as an investment scheme by Dutch bankers in the early 19th century. They hired John Lincklaen, a local agent, to buy the land, divide it into lots, and then resell it. I stayed overnight at the Lincklaen House , a hotel and restaurant built in 1835. My room was comfortable, especially for an older building. However, there is no elevator in the building, and all rooms are on the second floor or higher. The Lincklaen House Walking along Albany Street, I found buildings repres...

  Lorenzo Mansion from the formal garden Central New York has many historic homes and estates. One that is sometimes overlooked, but is historically important, is the Lorenzo State Historic Site , in the town of Cazenovia. John Lincklaen by Charles B. J. Févret de Saint-Mémin, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons The home was built in 1807 by John Lincklaen (1768-1822), the founder of the town of Cazenovia. Lincklaen was an agent for the Holland Land Company, a syndicate of Dutch investors based in Philadelphia. In the early 1800’s foreigners were not allowed to own land in New York State, so the investors hired Americans to purchase and develop tracts of land in the central and western parts of New York and Pennsylvania. Lincklaen brought a large swath of land along the what became Lake Cazenovia, developed the land, and began selling lots to settlers moving in to the area. Lornzo Mansion by rossograph via wikicommons media John Lincklaen married Helen Ledyard (1777-1847). They built a mans...