Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 8.15, it's FLX Morning Monday and we're Zooming with Keri Lippincott from Historic Geneva at historicgeneva.org Good morning, I think I would write this down one of these days. So here's my first question for you. The other day I had Nancy Taylor on talking about the Lake to Lake Women calendar and I asked her if anyone had every edition of the calendar going back I think it's 61 years and she said that Historic Geneva might. Do you happen to know?
Kerry Lippincott: I think we might not have every year but we have close to it because she makes sure that we get a copy. So we might not have a complete run but we have most of them, yes.
Paul Szmal: Wow, so they've been doing that for 61 years. So we have some walking tours. That's amazing.
Kerry Lippincott: Yeah. We have a walking tour on Friday downtown at 5pm. John Marks will lead the walk and tell us about some of the stories of Geneva that he can tell. Yeah, so we're going to meet at the intersection of Seneca and Scott LaFaro and we'll go down Seneca, down Exchange, up Castle, and then down Linden Street. One of the things I like about downtown, not only the architecture but sort of the names behind the street names, like Castle for instance, in the earliest days this actually followed the Haudenosaunee Trail from Seneca Lake all the way up to a settlement, Cananda Saga, and then the Haudenosaunee called settlements Castle. So that's how we get Castle Street.
Paul Szmal: Oh, I did not know that.
Kerry Lippincott: Yeah, yeah, and then Exchange Street was first Front Street and then they changed it to Water because the lake literally went up to probably the back of Lynches. And then in the 1870s merchants wanted to change the name because there was so much business going on so they changed the name to Exchange Street.
Paul Szmal: Oh, so this is Friday at 5 o'clock, it's 5pm, $5 per person. And again it begins at the corner of Seneca Street and Scott LaFaro Drive and you'll learn some of these stories and lots more about downtown. Then we move to a different neighborhood on July 15th, it's South Main Street. That walk is at 2pm. Of course that covers all those brownstones and the history of Hobart and William Smith. So tell us a little bit about that walk.
Kerry Lippincott: Yeah, so we'll start at Pulteney Park and we'll end up at HWS. And what I like about this one is you kind of get a feel for how Geneva developed because basically that's where Geneva started. Pulteney Park was the original Village Square and we'll end up in one of my favorite spots. There is, across from Geneva Hall, Trinity Hall, there's those benches that overlook Seneca Lake. Yeah. And that's originally how Geneva was supposed to be. You were supposed to have houses on the west side of the street and then garden lots going all the way down to the lake. And of course, economics got in the way and folks started selling off their lots and you get houses on both sides. But that is sort of originally how Geneva was supposed to be and it's been preserved right there.
Paul Szmal: So the downtown walk is this Friday, day after the 4th at 5pm and the South Main Street walk July 15th at 2pm, $5 per person for each. We've got the Rose Hill Concert Series going. Tell us about the concerts and that people should bring their blanket and everything and make an evening of it.
Kerry Lippincott: Sure. Yeah. Instead of three concerts this summer, we're actually going to have four and we're going to have two this month. So on July 7th, this Sunday, we're going to have the three of us featuring Geneva's owned Jim Richman and they're going to be playing a blend of rhythm and blues and funk out at Rose Hill. And then on July 21st, we've got the Cool Club and Lipker Sisters, definitely a local favorite.
Paul Szmal: Oh yeah. Oh my goodness. They played for us last year and it was really cool. All the concerts, they are free and open to the public. They start at 5pm and end at 7pm. We do offer a tour of Rose Hill. The last tour will be at 3.30pm. So if you want to get a peek at Rose Hill, you can come early, get your chairs out. But we encourage everyone, please, to enjoy the concert. Bring a picnic basket, bring snacks, but also bring your own chairs and blankets so you can enjoy the music. So yeah, those are July 7th and July 21st and they start at 5pm.
Kerry Lippincott: I had to laugh when you said it was going to be the three of us. I went, what? You, me, and who? We're hoping for a little bit more than three people, but there you go.
Paul Szmal: So there we go. It's the three of us, July 7th, and then the Cool Club and Lipker Sisters. Everyone loves them. Coming up July 21st. Tell us about Rose Hill tours.
Kerry Lippincott: Rose Hill is open for tours Tuesday through Saturday, 10 to 4. Sunday, noon to 4, and of course you have different types of tours and the top-to-bottom covering everything tour. Yeah, let me tell you, I think tour season is here. We've been kind of inundated at Rose Hill the past two weeks, which is wonderful to see. But if you've been on our regular tour and you want to see sort of behind the scenes or all of our nooks and crannies we are offering, the behind-the-scenes tour, we'll have those on July 6th and July 20th, and those Saturdays at 11 o'clock. And if you are interested, I highly recommend you purchase your tickets online because we've actually started selling out of those tours. We also have two exhibits. One is One House, Many People, and that's talking about the enslaved, paid, and volunteer workers from Rose Hill that have done a variety of work over the site's 200-year history. And then we have The Good Death, Illness and Death in the 19th Century, and this is just talking about 19th century ideas about death and illness, and just common practices that people developed to cope, especially with death. And those exhibits are open when Rose Hill is open, and I have to mention we do have a Carriage House gift shop that is open whenever the mansion is open.
Paul Szmal: Well, I find that one fascinating, The Good Death, Illness and Death. I just read a book that was set, this was even further back, like the 17th century, but the attitudes toward death were definitely different. For one thing, it came earlier in many cases in those days, and we didn't have all the medical things we did, so I think in a lot of cases there was more of an acceptance of it. It was sort of, you know, a fate that you knew it was coming, and you didn't really kind of fight it. The family gathered around and just kind of prepared for it.
Kerry Lippincott: Yeah, I would agree with that. I think what, in the 1800s, what people feared most, it wasn't death, as you said, but it was being when you died and not being remembered, not being mourned properly. So that's why you have all these elaborate mourning practices, which everybody did. Even if you, you know, from the working class all the way to the wealthy, if you couldn't, you know, get a whole new mourning wardrobe, you made changes to your wardrobe. You might add, you know, black sand or something. So everybody participated in this. And I think that's, you know, it's hard for us to understand. And I think, as you said, death was definitely much, was an everyday presence. We look at the Swan family, and they lost five out of their nine children before they were 11 years old. So definitely just a different attitude, a different acceptance of death than we have today.
Paul Szmal: Did you go on the Niagara Falls tour?
Kerry Lippincott: Yes, yes.
Paul Szmal: How was that?
Kerry Lippincott: That was fantastic. We actually got to see there is a farm site that was an actual underground site. They had in their barn, they called it a cistern, but it was a hidden room.
Paul Szmal: Wow.
Kerry Lippincott: It was fascinating to see. And then we stopped at the Underground Railroad Interpretive Center. And while we were there, there were a group of Buddhist monks who apparently have walked from Florida and they were making their way up to Niagara Falls.
Paul Szmal: Wow.
Kerry Lippincott: And they had quite the entourage. But if anyone gets a chance, it's the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Interpretive Center. If you get a chance, you must, you have to see it. Apparently it's on site where Harriet Tubman crossed into Canada. The bridge is no longer there, but that is what she used to get to freedom and how she helped other freedom seekers get to Canada as well. So if you're up near the falls, that must be a stop.
Paul Szmal: And that's a lead into the next trip, which is a bus trip to Philadelphia, August 20th through 22nd. And like you said, there's so many different angles you can take in Philadelphia. So what are some of the attractions people will see on this trip?
Kerry Lippincott: Oh my goodness, you could easily spend a week and we only have two and a half days to Philadelphia. So there'll be a dinner cruise on the Delaware River. We'll have a guided tour of Philadelphia. There'll be visits to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Eastern State Penitentiary, and Longwood Gardens. And I'm going to be honest, I'm looking forward to the Eastern State Penitentiary. Apparently this is where Al Capone was held. So the cost is $8.49 per person for a double occupancy. And we do have to have a minimum number of people signed up for this trip to be a go. We're about halfway there. So we do need a couple more people. You can call us for more information, 315-789-5151, or visit our website. We have the full itinerary on the website. But I think, I can't say enough. We work with Bus Group America, and this is, I think, our fifth or sixth trip. And they're amazing. They absolutely are. You'll thoroughly enjoy the trip.
Paul Szmal: Now, I'll ask you this every month until you're sick and tired of hearing it, if you aren't already. But how's the renovation work going?
Kerry Lippincott: Oh my goodness, it is going. We have, the heat pumps are going in. Power was in and out last week. It's always interesting working in a construction zone. We've got, the demolition has finished, and we've been told that they are on schedule, knock on wood, fingers crossed. So looking very much forward to the end of September, beginning of October, when things are supposed to be done.
Paul Szmal: All right. Go to HistoricGeneva.org, walking tour, downtown, July 5th, South Main, July 15th, Rose Hill Concert Series, July 7th, the three of us, July 21st, Cool Club and Lipker Sisters, Rose Hill Tours, Philadelphia bus trip, August 20th through 22nd. Sign up for that at HistoricGeneva.org. Carrie, thanks as always. We appreciate the visit.
Kerry Lippincott: Thank you very much. Thank you.
