2002-2011 CVD page - OpenVMS and AIX system administrator

The Mohawk Valley

The chic locale for enjoying history, scenery, food, film, music, and physical recreation, too.
Just a bit north of Soho, and west of Poho* " .

* Powell House Quaker Conference Center

	THE VALLEY & my usual range in it Click this map to link to its source at SUNY Stony Brook, "Sample images from the New York State historical map collection". The smidgen on display is from Simeon De Witt's 1802 map of New York, housed in the Library of Congress. St.Johnsville is just west of center, on the west side of the "W" bend in the river. Canajoharie is at the bottom of the bend. The large creek entering from the southeast is Schoharie Creek. The larger of the two lakes to the southwest of St.Johnsville is Otsego, where Cooperstown is. The smidgen of DeWitt's map takes in most of the area between Utica and Albany. In the silver and black image above, the valley is a short "belt" at the center of the image, between the almost circular-looking dome of Adirondack mountains to the north and the long, less high Allegheny Plateau to the south Click this map to link to its source at USGS.It's from USGS' fantastic black and white landform map of the lower 48 states. If I give reasonable credit, can I keep using them awhile? The Mohawk Valley has gems. Some of these are mineral gems, like Herkimer "Diamonds" (quartz, actually) that are pretty, interesting and easy to come by, as well as other calcite crystals of extraordinary size and color. I'm no expert, I just saw an array of them in a local private collection. Other gems include the villages and farms, the Mohawk River and Erie Canal, the Valley itself, and the cultures of Native American, Dutch, English, Palatine German, Scots, Latino, Italian - among many, since this was the way west for much of the country's population. Agriculture flourished here in the sometimes 20 foot deep soils of the Schoharie and Mohawk Valley bottom lands (uplands, a local soils map showed the most complex soils I or friends had seen. We'll just say that land varies in quality). Wheat was the big crop when the country began. The "Dutch" wheat barns of the time were oriented east-to-west, like the valley and its winds, with big doors in the ends. Horses, rigged so as not to pollute the crop, trampled the wheat on the barn floor. The doors were opened to let the prevailing westerly wind carry the chaff out through the eastern end. The crop was so valuable that the farms were systematically attacked by French and Huron allies, and then the British, Tories, and their Indian allies until the end of the revolution. Thousands of patriot men were killed defending the farms or as conscripts away from home, leaving women and orphans to farm by themselves or get out. Corn was important to the indigenous people. Before the Revolution, French forces attempted to burn out native corn fields as a way to extend their power and fur trade south. During the Revolution, the Oneida, as allies and neighbors in the Valley, carried corn to feed the troops at Valley Forge as other supplies ran low. After the Revolution, General Sullivan, foreshadowing Sherman's march through the south, swept from the Mohawk Valley down into Pennsylvania to destroy native corn, burn their villages, and get rid of the people. When the canal was built, the new lands of the midwest were opened to grain production, which was carried to market on the canal barges. But as grain agriculture's center moved west, livestock and dairy agriculture grew in the valley. This became a famous cheese area in the mid 1800s. Large scale manufacturing - of goods such as carpets in Amsterdam, guns, bicycles and typewriters in Ilion, canned meats and paper sacks in Canajoharie, leather goods in Gloversville - also came with the canal and with the railroads that paralleled it. Stone had been locally important - as seen in the houses, mainstreets and barns - but gained a national market with the canal to carry it. A Canajoharie quarry supplied the Brooklyn Bridge with limestone. Limestone caves and sinkholes abound in parts of this countryside (Howe's Cavern and Secret Caverns are the commercial ones). And mineral waters, laced with the solution of limestone, made resorts for the rich and recovering in the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries. Sharon Springs and Saratoga Springs still have productive springs and spas. And Sharon Springs just revived two fine old hotels - they have great food, music, and hospitality. WEBSITES Joseph Brant Museum This site is not in the valley, but is about one of its major figures on the British side. This is from a Canadian perspective. The site includes a link to one about Molly Brant, as well. "Drums along the Mohawk", not the novel, but a local historian's excellent work on the web.
	TOWNS, VILLAGES and COMMUNITIES Many people are working hard to build these communities. SITES AND WEBSITES Canajoharie-Palatine Bridge Ft.Plain-Nelliston Chamber St. Johnsville Town of Rensselaerville Central Mohawk Valley Alliance communities - Ilion, Frankfort, Herkimer, German Flatts, Little Falls, Middleville. Sharon Springs Kanatsiohareke, The Mohawk Valley Project. Oneida Indian Nation Montgomery County
	PLACES TO GO, THINGS TO DO The list below is not comprehensive. It's just some of what's on my 'radar'. And don't forget the nearby halls of fame for baseball and soccer. I'll stick to listing the places I got to know during my first two years here, most of which are close at hand and very worthwhile. SITES AND WEBSITES Outdoor activity along the Erie Canal, presented by the NYS Canal Corporation. Fort Stanwix, Rome, NY. Restored fort that fought off a seige in the Revolution. It's an excellent and active National Park Service site. A few miles away is the Oriskany battlefield, where patriot and Oneida forces clashed with British and Tory and their indian allies - mainly Mohawk, Cayuga and Seneca, if memory serves. The battle, which occured during the siege and caused its end, was remarkable for two reasons: it quashed British plans to sweep northern New York and join together in Albany for an overwhelming march on New York City. It also marked the first time the Iroquois Confederacy members fought each other, therein extinguishing the council fire (The collective memory of the conflict has affected relations among the Six Nations of the Confederacy to this day. The August anniversary is an occasion for solemn gathering). Canal Side Restaurant, a four-star french restaurant in Little Falls, also has one suite for overnight stays. Overlook Mansion Restaurant and B&B, in Little Falls. Very elegant and a great view. Includes a bar. Moss Island, Little Falls. A "NATIONAL NATURAL AREA". This is a cool place with good parking just a mile off the Thruway. It's a rocky bump next to the river which became an island when the canal was cut between it and the neighboring hillside. It has a lot to offer: Access to a paved bike path that connects the city with Gen.Herkimer's home and museum; A popular rock climbing face; The nation's highest canal lock; a most amazing and extensive collection of "potholes" (variously sized, smooth, round holes and columns carved in the rock by glacial meltwater); and blueberries. - All free of charge except the rock climbing. The city charges a small fee for a permit for climbing. And Please: Carry out what you carry in (and then some, if you can.)! Fort Klock, St.Johnsville's 1750ish fortified house; it lasted through the burning of the valley and the various conflicts. The house is representative of many thick-walled stone houses to which the farmers repaired when attacked. The practice of building such forts had advantages and disadvantages: they both preserved the locals and made it harder for patriot leaders to muster them for counter attacks. It's well preserved, has a nice gift shop, and hosts many events. Crystal Grove Mine and Campground just north of St.Johnsville. Find your own Herkimer Diamonds in a low-key, low-cost place with its own, nice campground. Has small but very nice and nicely priced gem/mineral shop. Herkimer Diamond Mine, Middleville. The more famous of the mines, has a good restaurant, large gem and souvenir store, KOA camping. Ace of Diamonds mine, Middleville. Next door to Herkimer Diamond Mine. Possibly the grandparent of 'em all. El-Rancho Drive-In Movie Theater, Palatine Bridge. I mean, WHERE can you find drive-ins? HERE! It's clean, the proprietors are friendly, the movies are...the movies. Glove Theater, Gloversville. Being restored, and hosting many plays and movies while restoration is in progress. Louis B. Mayer (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movies) started in Gloversville, in the factories (For bonus points, guess what he made. Buzzzz. Sorry, you must have guessed wrong). When he made it big, he premiered all his flicks at this theater for decades. Van Dyck Lounge & Restaurant, "Fine Food and Brewery; Music in the Stockade". also in Schenectady, 518-381-1111. Big names appear frequently. (Call a couple weeks in advance for the biggies) Proctor's Theater, in Schenectady, great old theater with cheap movies, when not hosting big-time shows. Mellow Joy Cafe, in Schenectady. Very tasty and real New Orleans food and drink. Small and friendly. Owner plays good bluegrass. On a street of small shops. Riverview Orchards Apple Farm, in Rexford, near Schenectady. Great product, and they mail-order. Palmer House Cafe and Pub, Rensselaerville, 518-797-3449 (see Rensselaerville link) Award winning food. Good pub! Mill Cottage Gallery beautifully crafted natural fiber art and apparel, here, on Main Street, Rensselaerville, 518-797-5191. Catalpa House Main Street, PO Box 248, Rensselaerville, NY 12147 518-797-5280 or 518-797-3484, Owners: Marlene & Steve Omlor, Open all year. Friendly, comfy, good rates, elegant and tasty continental breakfast. Political Graveyard, a fine and fun website for tracking down long-gone politicos you'd always wondered about, or digging up interesting ones you never knew existed. Saratoga National Historical Park
	GETTING AROUND From way south, come up either rt 81 to Binghamton or 95 to NYC. From NYC, take the Thruway to exit 29, cross the river to rt 5, and come on about 12 miles west. From Binghamton, come up rt.88 and choose a route north from the big and slow-to-download jpeg map. From New England, come to the Thruway from either the MassPike, rt 7 in Troy, or down the Northway from Burlington and Ticonderoga. Then west to exit 29, etc. I have a great ride to work. I head south from the bottom of the valley, across the river and past the marina, to the top of the east-west running ridge (great sunrise/set views up there). The road continues south down the other side of the ridge toward a cleft, visible only when the branches are bare, in the still-distant and higher plateau. On any morning the view is beautiful and always different. The cleft marks the crossroads of Salt Springville, about eight miles off. The road winds around a bit in this broad, sort of back-valley, passing the old grange that's now a small personal concert hall for a famous fiddler, past dairy farms whose silos teem with pigeons and swallows (The first season I made the commute, they kept careening off my car - birds, not fiddlers :-) Happily, either their behavior or mine has changed so I'm not hitting them like that, now.). Fields are in seasonal flowers. Last month, they were filled with classy blue and white ones. Now they're yellow and purple. The small peaks that begin the Allegheny Plateau are ahead, and a wide-angle view of Adirondack foothills is behind. I wanted to buy two works by artist Jody Primhoff that I'm sure were based on this view. Somebody beat me to 'em, so I contented myself with another by her. The road rises steeply through the cleft at Salt Springville after passing a 250 year old Dutch Barn that's become a concert, craft show and poetry venue (There's a story to its reconstruction at this spot. Visit it and find out). A thick bed of yellow-brown sandstone appears on the right. I want some of it to face a Rumford fireplace for my next house. I did manage to collect a bunch, over time, to make a low garden wall. After emerging at the top of the cleft, one can see (during winter, anyway) a rock shelf so long and regular it looks like an old road or railroad bed, parallel to and east of the road. This higher valley of farms and few houses is comparatively open until we reach Otsego Lake of James Fenimore Cooper fame. Foxes live along the road by the lake, and an abundance of deer and turkey. I wave to a smiley biker most mornings, if I'm not running too late. This part of the trip is more intimate, with creeping greenery on the talus of low cliffs close by the road. Hemlock branches interlace above. The road zigzags in the narrow confines of hills and lakeshore, on its way to Cooperstown.
	THE ROAD AHEAD ...so to speak. Although I really got to like this area quickly, I ~~continue to look for~~ found a place about an hour south, much closer to Nell and work. I'll be moving from a good place, nice landlord and extended family, a yard with play equipment, and Nell's friends, too. She says she'll really miss her friends.
	ELEANOR'S PAGES Visit Nell's latest page, the Summer 2002 issue
	CHARLIE'S PAGES Glide on over to my page Why is the site organized like this?
	PLANNING Some thoughts on my experience.
	COMPUTERS Links from 2002: This is what I do for a living these days. I've been system admin at a hospital. They're nice people and it's a very pleasant place to work in. So, on to it! Technical Notes about a relatively non-technical site Links of 2011: At work, I made an intranet site to document much about the systems I was responsible for. Here's a page of Sample Shell Menus, written for the job. How about a few Sample Shell / DCL / VB Scripts, or parts thereof? Here are my latest résumés. References and contact info upon request: Résumé in English, CV en Español et CV en Français.
	DOWNTIME During a NH camping vacation, Nell learned to ride her bike. We didn't do any hiking this year but had a good time with family and renewed a friendship from the campground, canoed a bit, fished a bit, caught something to cook, too. We also got a vacation at the RI beach. Had a good time with friends, poker and re-discovered speidies, bodysurfed and boogieboarded, got up on and fell off of a surfboard for a couple of hours. Skiing is good. We've been doing XC for a long time,and I finally used the second-hand wooden pair I got some years back. The skis are in good condition, and work better as I learn how to wax them. I usually go to state land at Rockwood along Rt.29. It's quiet there and you can go off trail the whole day when the snow's deep like last year. On the other hand, I took Nell for a very successful lesson at Lapland Lake. She enjoyed it and got confidence she hadn't had before. And the place is loaded with amenities. I began downhill skiing two winters ago, partly because I figured I should try it while I can, and partly because my on-call beeper works there but not in the woods where I X-C ski. The crowds, if you can call them that, are friendly and I've had a good time. Sometimes I get really pumped and other times pretty tired and discouraged. Still, I got better and am just a half-hour from Royal Mountain ski center. Snow Ridge is farther (1 1/2 hrs from my house or job) but is good, too. This year I tried snowboarding a couple times. The first lesson involved using a tow rope to go up the bunny slope. I couldn't manage it. I had to unstrap the board and walk up each time. Meanwhile, five-year olds are shushing around me, with exasperated sighs and hands on hips. On the downhill of the bunny slope I'd fall and struggle comically to get on my feet. On the second day (and at a different beginner slope), I was a picture of masculine elegance, with sweeping curves and graceful transitions. OK, that was after bumping down the steeper part, sitting down, the first time. BUT I DID GET BETTER! La lucha continua!