Guilford and More Adventure: April 28, 2011

It all started a few days ago when I was trying to get information about the Guilford New York Historical Society. In a roundabout way I came upon the facebook page of the wife of the Guilford Town Historian. She responded with a phone number that I thought was for the Historical Society, but it turned out to be her home phone number.

When I reached her on the phone, I asked her for direction to the Roots Corners one room schoolhouse. She said her and her husband would gladly take me there. I recruited my friend Carol, and we agreed to meet up in South New Berlin early Thursday afternoon so that we could do some exploring and then meet up with Wilma and Tom Gray in Guilford at three p.m.

We met up at one p.m. and drove south. Carol knows the area, and she navigated while I drove.

Our first stop was in the hamlet of White Store. There is an old hotel and restaurant which may or may not be open. Its hard to tell. Nobody responded when
we knocked on the door, but a car had just pulled out as we were approaching. Here are a couple of pics: and


Then we went to the White Store Church and Evergreen Cemetery. This old church is on the National Registry.
and



Then we headed to Mt. Upton. WE stopped to look at THE OLD MILL. I hope to eat there someday.

In Mt. Upton, we stopped to look at a church that was in dire need of a paint job, found out that it was open and went inside. It is a beautiful church. Then we looked at the abandoned school next door. I could not find the road to go to see the Lady Uptons monument, so we missed that.

Further down the road, we stopped in the hamlet of Rockdale. Unfortunately, the old hotel/restaurant closed down recently. Here is a pic:


The we headed towards Guilford, stopping in Guilford Center to see THE PILLARS (former Angels Inn). It is apparent that a little bit of work has been done on it.
The broken windows on the first floor front are boarded up.

In Guilford, we met up with Wilma and Tom Gray at their house. They live right next door to what was once a blacksmith shop
and then a creamery and across the road from a shingle factory. They showed us their albums of information and pictures of historical Guilford.

Then we went to THE KLEE HOUSE, where we saw the angel that used to adorn THE ANGELS INN. It is much smaller than I expected. We also saw a display of artifacts retrieved from the bottom of Guilford Lake.

Then it was on to the ROOTS CORNERS SCHOOLHOUSE. Tom had the key and we were able to go inside, but the inside is being renovated. I hope to someday see the finished product. Here is a picture of the school.

Guilford New York One Room Schoolhouse, a photo by JuneNY on Flickr.

Then Tom led the way to the remnants of an old mill. These ruins are on property that he owns.
The creek was full and wild and frothing and very loud at the area where it became a rushing waterfall. Tom showed me a cave that was built by Italian
immigrants, probably associated with the mill. Here are a couple of pictures. and



After that, we headed towards Gilbertsville. I stopped at THE OVERLOOK to do maintenance on my geocache. We drove around a bit and then went to CHRIST CHURCH where there was a free community dinner. It turned out to be tossed salad, roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, peas, green beans and brownies or rice pudding for supper. It was a great meal.

Then I drove Carol back to S. New Berlin where we started this adventure!
It was a great day, thanks to Wilma and Tom!