Upstate New York Travels

We got to Belhurst Castle early, so we could do some wine tasting in their wine bar. My husband sampled two different ciders and I sampled a port. That went by quickly and we still had more time before dinner, so we walked down from the hotel to the lakeshore. Large grass lawns and gardens surrounded the castle. Where there were trees, the squirrels were very busy collecting fallen nuts. They were in their heyday, rushing to store up for the winter. We must have seen a dozen or so scurrying around the lawn. Then we went to the bar to wait for the last twenty minutes before our reservations. Shortly thereafter we were led into the dining room with our Moscato and Prosecco, and seated at a large window that overlooked the lake. We had an amazing dinner and you can read about the meal on my review of the food here. It was all delicious and we left with smiles on our faces.

As much as we loved the ambiance and food at the Glass Magnolia B&B, we had other places to go, and our next stop was at the Sonnenberg mansion and gardens, also nestled in the Finger Lakes region. Sonnenberg Gardens is a State Historic Park offering one of the few remaining estates with a Queen Anne Victorian-style mansion and fifty acres of formal gardens, opened since 1973.

Frederick Ferris, a New York City banker and Mary Clark Thompson, the daughter of a New York State governor, married in 1863. It was the Thompsons who purchased the 300-acre farmstead near Canandaigua Lake for a summer estate. Restorations began and by 1887, they had uncovered buried gardens, fountains and renovated the structure. We walked through the first two floors of the mansion and then walked the huge gardens. The gardens had a Japanese tea house, a Roman bath, a falling apart temple to Diana, and nine other formal floral gardens. Over fifty photographs were taken and more pictures and a separate review is here. I have to include at least one picture of the gardens here as a teaser.

Then we continued on our drive heading north again toward Rochester via the town of Palmyra. On the way, we stopped at the Joseph Smith’s homestead with his parent’s log cabin, and my husband walked the perimeter to the Sacred Grove, where Smith reportedly found the golden tablets. Here’s the short version of the story. In 1823, Joseph Smith said he was visited by an angel named Moroni, who told him of an ancient record containing God’s dealings with the former inhabitants of the American continent. In 1827, Joseph retrieved this record, inscribed on thin golden plates, and shortly afterward began translating its words, which resulted in the Book of Mormon. Then he organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and sat as its first president. He was a controversial figure, loved of his followers and hated by cynics. He and his brother Hyrum were eventually killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, in 1844.

We drove to Rochester to the George Eastman House, now the museum of his life, with galleries and exhibits of all the renditions of the Kodak camera that were invented. Here is a picture of his living room with huge palms, the head of an elephant, and water buffalo hoof ashtrays. For much more on Eastman’s life, the history of the camera and film business and of his house, a review of the sight is available here.

At 3:00, we made our way to our next B&B, the Dartmouth House in Rochester. We parked in the back and entered through two sets of doors in the front. We met Milena and her husband Gary, and were assigned the Hemlock room upstairs. A strong name for a room, considering that even though it has a pretty flower it is a poisonous plant. A review of the Dartmouth House B&B can be found here. That night we went to the Cub Room in town for dinner and a review of that restaurant is here.

After dinner, I suggested that we drive to Lake Ontario to see it, as the night was clearing, but the morrow predicted rain. Twenty minutes later, we were at Lake Ontario State Park. A few lights lit up the large park, and by the time we had crossed the expansive lawn and walkways to the water, no one was there but us. We enjoyed the quiet lapping of the water and stars that were trying to peek out from the clouds.