Time Traveling Route 20 — Chapter Two: Bouckville

 

Froggy went a courtin,’ that’s a bonifide bullfrog

Further east along Route 20, far from the Antique Mile lies a tiny town that loves antiques:  Bouckville. This short section of road has several big shows each summer.

The first weekend in June is a three-day Outdoor Antique Weekend with more than 150 dealers from all over the northeast, and free admission.

August is the Madison Bouckville Antique Week which is the biggest show of the year in New York State, with over 2,000 vendors!

For more information on Bouckville stores.

For more information about the shows. The FaceBook Page.

What’s not to like with so many different dealers! For lunch we scooted over to the Colgate campus in Hamilton, NY for a sammich at the Hamilton eatery.

 

Enjoy a summer day traveling from the eastern gate of the Finger Lakes through small charming towns like Lafayette, Pompey and Cazenovia. Just past Morrisville you are getting close, tinier towns  like Morrisville Station follow next. After Pineville  is the even tinier Bouckville, which is a hamlet of the town of Madison.

 

Erie Canal Bike Ride: Palmyra to Newark

A sunny Sunday in April inspired us to ride the canal from Palmyra to Newark. The Erie Canal  provides a safe and completely flat ride with towns spread out every ten miles or so.

Parking in Palmyra is easy and free.

We parked our car in the Palmyra Aqueduct Park. The ride to Newark is scenic with several other creeks like “Garnargua,” intersecting the canal and a wider area, more like a lake, before Newark called “The Wide Waters.”

There are a lot of birds to see as you ride:  Herons, Ducks, Wood Peckers, …

The bush on the right was loaded with Cedar Waxwings.

The town of Newark was fun to bike around, though not much was opened on a Sunday afternoon, except of course, Tom Wahls!

To get a full history of the Eric Canal, you should visit the Erie Canal Museum, in Syracuse.