Turtle Tales: Day 28 - Mallards, Lighthouses and the Erie Canal

We had a good soaking rain during the night at The Landing RV Campground, but when we awoke, the rain had stopped and although the sky was gray, the temperatures were moderate (mid 60's), and it was a good day to begin our trip towards Niagara Falls. While we were preparing the RV for departure, one of the many ducks that call the park home, came to supervise the hook-up and departure! Guess we did okay, as he didn't raise a ruckus!

We stopped at Dunkin Donuts and got one of their breakfast croissants - if you have never had one, you need to try them! They are better than the one's that Sonic used to sell! Really, really good! :)

Oh, BTW, we had stopped to get gas last night after dinner, and paid $3.97 a gallon, and saw it on the road today for $4.09 a gallon! Ouch!

Once we got off the New York Thruway (another $9.00 - it costs to drive on the roads in NJ and NY), we passed through some very nice, quaint towns on the shore of Lake Ontario. It reminded us of the shoreline of Lake Michigan when we were there last spring. Believe it or not, we even saw another barn quilt on a barn in the area where we are staying. If you remember from our blogging during Part 1 of this journey, we saw many barn quilts in Wisconsin..........

We arrived at our home-away-from-home, Niagara County Camping Resort, (located in Lockport, N.Y. - aptly named as the Erie Canal runs straight down the middle of town!) around 12:30, and had a wonderful conversation with the manager, who, after we told her we would be going to Niagara Falls tomorrow, offerred to dog-sit the girls so we wouldn't have to take them with us and leave them in the truck. How awesome is that! Actually, she volunteered her 15 year old daughter Kayla, and then after she met the girls, she offerred to watch them while Kayla is at school! As I have said many times before, it's not the journey itself, but the people you meet along the way......

After setting up the RV and eating lunch, we set out to find two lighthouses in the area - the Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse in Golden Hill State Park in Barker, N.Y, and the Fort Niagara Lighthouse in Fort Niagara, N.Y..

The Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse towers over Lake Ontario's shoreline and is the northern most point on the southern shore of the lake. Its colorful history begins with a shoal and an exclusive sandbar that once existed thirty miles east of the Niagara River. At least four ships have sunk in these treacherous waters. The first ship to sink belonged to the French explorer LaSalle in 1678. (The same LaSalle that landed at Indianola, TX - down the street from our house!)

The Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse was built in 1875 at a cost of $90,000. The stone for its 70 foot tower and attached keepers quarters was imported from Chaumont Bay at the eastern end of Lake Ontario The lighthouse was decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1958. A steel tower with an automated beacon replaced the light in the lantern room.

The next lighthouse we visited was located at Old Fort Niagara, in Fort Niagara, N.Y. The Fort is the oldest continuously occupied military site in North America. The Fort was fist built in 1678, by the explorer LaSalle and it was then called Fort Conti. In 1687, the Fort was rebuilt by Marquis De Denonville, who changed the name to Fort Denonville. In 1726, the "castle" within the Fort was built as a trading post. The Fort was expanded to its' present size in 1755. The Fort contains the oldest buildings in the Great Lakes area. The Fort fell to the British in 1789, and was ceded to the United States in 1796. During the War of 1812, the British recaptured the Fort in 1813, but later returned it to the United States (1817 - The Rush-Bagot Treaty). For more information on Old Fort Niagara, go to www.oldfortniagara.org or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Niagara. For those of you that are history buffs, there is a pamphlet (or mini-book) entitled Old Fort Niagara, written by Frederic Ray that can be purchased through your favorite on-line book supplier. The ISBN is 0-941-967-06-9.

The Fort Niagara Lighthouse is located in Fort Niagara (imagine that:)). In 1871, Congress approved $16,000 to build a 50 foot octagonal, limestone tower with an attached oil room. Work began in 1871, but masonary work had to be suspended in November due to the early cold weather. Work resumed on April 15th of the following year, and the light was first exhibited in June of 1872.
The Coast Guard decomissioned the lighthouse in 1993 and replaced it with a light on a nearby radio tower. Friends Of The Thirty Mile Lighthouse Association were able to get an electric automated lamp returned to the lighthouse where it shines to this day.

So today was an interesting, educational day....tomorrow will be just as interesting as we travel to visit Niagara Falls and a few more lighthouses on the Great Lakes.

Enjoy the pictures.........

"Speedy" wasn't sure he wanted to leave the campground........