Paulina Reed, an eighth-grade student in the Fabius-Pompey School District, views the historic properties exhibit at the New Woodstock Free Library. (Photo by Norm Parry)
New Woodstock Free Library news
By Norm Parry
(New Woodstock, NY – July 2011) The New Woodstock Regional Historical Society and the New Woodstock Free Library have combined efforts to create a display of historic buildings in the town of Cazenovia.
The display, in the Frances Fuggle Program Room of the library, will hang through Aug. 31 and may be viewed during regular library hours.
The major portion of the display consists of hanging panels, each of which features a current photo of an historic building in the hamlet of New Woodstock, followed by a short history of the building and by older photos of the same building – a few dating back to the mid-1800s.
A smaller number of panels feature buildings which no longer exist, intentionally or accidentally razed by man or fire. Some of these, such as the New Woodstock Hotel, were very important components of the community.
This display, 36 panels in all, carries out the theme of New Woodstock’s Old Home Day, to be held Saturday, July 30.
Old Home Day, observed every other year on the last Saturday of July, is always an “old-fashioned” celebration, but this year it goes one better and highlights old homes, with the title, “These Houses Speak.”
In addition, 19 individual photos of other properties in the town are displayed, including nine currently on the national and state registers of historic places.
There are three maps from 1875, one of the hamlet of New Woodstock and two of the town (northern and southern halves). Each panel or photo was given a number, and the numbers are on small flags stuck into the appropriate map at the approximate location of the building.
The materials, photos and history are drawn, in part, from New Woodstock Historical Society records, including an extremely popular set of “House Books” created by Frances Fuggle, Historical Society charter member and longtime librarian, who died last year at age 100.
Further information was drawn from a book published by two women from New Woodstock in 1901, “New Woodstock and Vicinity, Past and Present.” These sources were used last winter by Historical Society members of a team of town residents who performed an inventory of potentially historic or significant properties in the whole town.
This effort, known as the HARI project (Historical and Architectural Resource Inventory), was called for by the Town’s Comprehensive Plan. The survey is complete, and is being evaluated.
An 1859 Madison County map, including details of the village of Cazenovia and the hamlet of New Woodstock, is on display. The map is part of the New Woodstock Regional Historical Society permanent collection.
Norm Parry is library director for the New Woodstock Free Library.
