Titusville, PA

Titusville, PA - Where oil was discovered!  This area was a lumber community from early 1800 till Drake stroke oil in 1859.  Oil was discovered when it intruded into a salt brine well.  Pittsburgh businessman Samuel Kier sold the solution as medicine "Kier's Petroleum" or "Rock Oil".  3 years later he began distilling it into "carbon oil" for a cheaper and safer lamp fuel.  He had difficulty meeting the demand.  Edwin Drake, along with his driller Billy Smith, solved the supply problem by drilling the first commercially successful well along Oil Creek in 1859.  Using the salt well drilling technology Drake introduced the "well casing" which allowed deeper drilling without the hole collapsing.   Of course this discovery brought people to the area and the area exploded!  Millionaires were born!  Oil companies like Quaker State and Pennzoil were born.  Standard Oil, John D. Rockefeller, had a major influenece on the area. 

This Museum / Park is dedicated to the discovery of oil in the Titusville area.  They are doing a nice job.

Location of Drake's orginal well in 1859!

Replicia of Drake's oil rig.  Rememeber lumber was the main industry of the area.  A steam engine powered the drill.  The orginial well burnt 2 months after the first successful find.  The well was shallow at 69' and only produced a minium among of oil.  Drake's concept of drilling and his initial find is what sparked the rush to Titusville!

This shows oil being pumped through the well.  Of course this is just recycled!

Steam engine powering the oil rig.

Museum display discribing flowers in the area. 

Curb side gas pump 1928 - Anyone rememeber this?  What no credit card?

Vintage oil drilling rig.  Notice the wood influence. 

The city of Titusville gained fame and the city grew with the oil.  Titusville has done an excellent job of documenting the historical sites and has an well laid out walking tour of the town.

"Heisman Trophy" - John Heisman was a native of Titusville.

The town has done an excellent job of maintaining the historical buildings!

Beautiful orginial stain glass windows

No house but Drake's home site is identified.

George Cluster (dealer in oil and real estate) house - brick construction which was unusal for a lumber area.

St. Titus R.C. Chruch - built in 1864 and renovated 1929. 

The railroad had a major influence on the oil industry and we had to take a ride.

Nice relaxing ride in a vintage rail car!

The open car allowed a good view of the outside.

A deer is crossing the stream, taken from the train.

The train depot offers rental lodging in rail cars 

Actual house in next photo

We ventured to Franklin, PA to see the nation's largest collection of automatic music machines.  Machines ranged from mid 1800's to 1940.  DeBence Antique Music World.  Just a few photos.  Believe each piece has a good discription peceeding the photo. 

Who remembers this????

OK now now listen to the music.  This is a new experiment.

Southern Finger Lake Area, New York

New York State wine country at its BEST!!!  This is another beautiful area of the country where you enjoy scenic mountains and lakes.  We stayed at Simpson State Park, located on the east side of Seneca Lake and about the middle of its North/South direction. 
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As you can see this was a relaxing area.  Hard day of driving the Motorhome or too much wine?

Park opened in 1960 (2,083 Acres)

Large sites which accommodate the "Unit"!

During the Revolutionary War, Iroquois towns were destroyed by the Continental Army.  Much of the land between Seneca and Cayuga Lakes was awarded to the soldiers as payment for their service.  WWII needed a naval training base so the quiet farm community gave way to the 2nd largest base in the country named after Rear Admiral William T. Sampson from Palmyra, NY.  It served as a State College after WWII and then was converted to an Air Force base during the Korean War. 

Museum collection

Entrance view with Seneca Lake in the background

Another NY State Park

Falls are 215' (note: 33' higher than Niagara Falls)

View from stream level

Walk along the stream included some very beautiful view points

Canyon rock formation along the stream which leads to Cayuga Lake

We enjoyed lunch along Cayuga Lake, RELAXING!!!

A visit to the "Museum of Earth", Ithaca.  Includes geological records documenting Earth's development.  Pictured is Mastodon Skeleton.  Larry and Sheryl Lozier of Hyde Park, NY was deepening their back yard pond when they dug up a leg bone.  They contacted the Paleontological Research Institute and six weeks of excavating yielded this mammoth skeleton. 

Female North Atlantic Right Whale - 44' long, 19 years old when she died.  Weighed 16 tons at death but probably was 2x this weight when she was healthy.  She died entangled in fishing gear off the Jersey coast.  Only 350 remain today. 

Besides the area having numerous wineries it also had pick your own orchards.  Yummy Yummy "FRESH" Blueberries!  We also enjoyed fresh sweet corn.

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY has an extensive Horticultural program.  Visited Cornell Plantations - 25 acres of botanical gardens with 150 acre arboretum.  Area also has 4,00 acres of protected areas.

Cheryl enjoying the numerous floral plantings.

Beautiful selection of flowers

Houston Pond

Interesting concrete structures within the park

Nice view looking back over the Plantation

View of the wooded area of the park.

Since we were in the area we visited Corning Glass.

Always amazing watching the talent of these glass blowers!

Tiffany stained glass windows

Various glass collection

Watkins Glenn State Park.  This was spectacular!  It is very difficult to capture the beauty of this gorge with a small digital camera.  This was an awesome walk through the canyon filled with running water, falls and rock formation.  Water  has formed this gorge over 1000's of years.

How it got started! 

Water flowing through the gorge.

Rock formation formed by years of water erosion

Nice walkway over looking the water

Vegetation growth from the hill side

Water, Water - this was a great Kodak moment!

I can hold it up!!!!  Walk included several areas where you passed through the rock.

What a view!

This is another breath taking view.

Ready for a shower???

This is a must see area if you are in this area of the country!

You had to visit a winery or two while in this area.  Can you tell whether this was before or after wine tasting?

Winery over looking Seneca Lake.  Yes the wine industry economy did benefit from the Flick's visit.