If anyone ever questions why we have a certain “fire” in our belly, this ought to answer it.

As early as the mid-eighteenth century, these creatures captivated Continental visitors.

Nearly a mile long, for seventy years its spindly steel trestle spanned the Genesee River valley. It became a signature piece of man-made triumph whose memory remains forever etched in the minds of old-time Allegany County natives and helped the Erie Railroad become more competitive. More clues would give it […]

The last section of the Erie Canal to be completed, Lafeyette once likened it as the artificial equivalent of the Niagara Falls

Here’s a story that hides the true hidden gem behind it.

You can’t really claim something often called “the eighth wonder of the world” is a hidden gem, but Niagara Falls does have a forgotten (on purpose?) legacy to a truly inspiration movement that benefits all Americans. Do you know what it is? You can find the answer in “Such is […]

Hint: The answer may – or may not be – right on your lips. I know it’s on mine.

If Greater Western New York was a State, what would it be called?

Let the reader beware, this is most definitely a trick question. Back in the late eighteenth century, the Greater Western New York region contained few European settlers. The Niagara Frontier really was a frontier back then. Yet the territory represented a not-so-hidden gem to the politicians of a fledging America. […]

Who were they, what happened to them and what was their everlasting imprint on our region?