MOHAWK RIVER VALLEY, NEW YORK
 |
| Mohawk River & Barge Canal, Main Street, Fultonville, New York |
We woke early Wednesday morning,
checked out of our hotel, and were on our way to Womelfsdorf before 6:00 am.
Traffic was light on eastbound route 422 as the sun struggled to burn off the
morning fog hanging over the farm fields along the highway. We made the twenty-minute drive to our cousin
John Grime’s home where we planned to leave our rental car. After parking, we
stayed in the car because we were about ten minutes early. Soon John’s wife,
Harriet, came to the door and invited us inside.
She had set out a lovely and
welcome breakfast for us! We left the hotel before the complimentary breakfast
was available, so we were happy to sit down and enjoy the spread and converse
with Harriet. She was out of town when we met John in 2021 so it was our first
meeting. Like John, she is articulate, intelligent, involved in many pursuits, and
quite charming. John soon joined us as we polished off eggs, bagels, homemade jam,
and fruit to fuel us for the start of our bus trip.
We loaded our gear into John’s
car and made the short trek to Conrad Weiser Middle School where our bus
was waiting. The parking lot was bustling with activity. Host Paster Bruce
Osterhaut was making introductions, co-host Charlotte Moyer was handing out nametags,
and travelers were rolling their bags up to the belly of the bus. We joined the
group, stowed our possessions, and found comfortable seats across from John in the big brown
Elite tour bus. We were soon on our way a few minutes after 7:00 am.
Over the next few hours our
driver, Betty, expertly guided our bus over the rolling hills and mountains leading
to our destination. Passengers snoozed, chatted, and took in the wooded scenery
as we traveled north on Interstate 81/88. We crossed the Pennsylvania state
line in about three hours and made a rest stop at the Southern Tier Welcome
Center near Kirkwood. It was a perfect place to record our first glimpse of the
Empire State. The facility is situated on high ground, providing a grand view
of the surrounding rolling countryside. We took advantage of a huge “I ‘Heart’
NY” backdrop to take some photos to document the first part of our journey.
 |
| Southern Tier New York Welcome Center on I-81 |
 |
| LaRita & Me at the Southern Tier New York Welcome Center on I-81 |
Our next stop was at Brooks’
House of Bar-B-Q in Oneonta. Our preordered box lunches were delicious, and we
had perfect weather for an outdoor picnic in the open-air pavilion on the
property. Lunch was our first opportunity to mingle with other folks sharing in
our adventure and we met several delightful people. We were ahead of the
estimated travel time to our lodging, so we were able to stretch our legs and
relax for a bit before boarding the bus again.
 |
| Picnic Lunch at Brooks' Bar-B-Q in Oneonta, New York Photo by Carol Deiffenbach Kantner |
Cobleskill
We arrived at the Super 8 Motel
in Cobleskill about an hour later. Everyone received their room key, grabbed
their luggage, and quickly checked in. The Super 8 was our home base for the
remainder of the trip and Cobleskill was the first of our destinations which
held special significance in the history of our Palatine ancestors. The area
around the town was named after the Palatine immigrant, Jacob Kobel [also
spelled Coble], who built a gristmill on Cobleskill Creek which runs through
the area. Both the town and stream were named by combining Jacob’s surname and
“kill,” which is the Dutch word for stream.
Jacob was the head of one of the
847 families who traveled from the Palatinate to New York as indentured servants
to the British Crown in 1710. He was placed in Hunterstown in the East Camp of
immigrants on the Hudson River. (We will visit that area on Friday.) He and the
other immigrant men were put to work stripping the bark from pine trees in
preparation for extracting sap to manufacture tar as waterproofing material for
the British Navy. The work proved to be in vain when the pines in the area
proved to be the wrong species for the project. Since no income was generated
from the support of the Palatines, funding for their food rations was
discontinued by Parliament about two years after their arrival. The Germans
quickly realized they would starve if they stayed on the unproductive soil near
the Hudson River and depended upon British charity. Jacob, his wife and their two
small children joined a large group of the Germans who relocated to the fertile
Schoharie Valley in March of 1713. They made the forty-mile trek over rocky,
hilly Indian trails on foot while carrying or pulling their possessions on
sleds.
Jacob settled in Kniskerndorf,
one of seven small villages named for the “listmakers” or captains from the
camps on the Hudson. Kniskerndorf was located near the place Cobleskill Creek
joins the Schoharie River. The immigrants negotiated with the Indians to
acquire land but were unaware that the Indians had no qualms about selling the
same land more than once. With the help of established Holland Dutch settlers
and members of the Mohawk Nation who lived in the area, Jacob and the other
Palatines were able to survive until they could clear fields and plant enough
crops to be self-sustaining. Jacob and his family would later be among the
Germans who migrated to the Tulpehocken Valley in the mid-1720s after their
land was once again taken away from them by the colonial New York authorities.
 |
| Afternoon Scenery in the Appalachian Mountain Range in New York State |
Our Lady of Martyr’s Shrine in Auriesville
 |
| View of the Coliseum from the North Gardens |
We were soon back on the bus and
on our way to Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine in Auriesville for the first lecture
on our tour. This shrine is one of many sacred places around the world where an
apparition or historical event of Christian faith has taken place. Catholics make
pilgrimages to shrines because they believe special Divine Grace is attained by
visiting places where significant spiritual events occurred. Three French
Jesuit missionaries who were ministering to the Mohawks were murdered here in
the 1640s.
An excerpt from an article in The
National Catholic Register published on July 2, 2016, sums up the historical
importance of the Shrine.
The Shrine…sits atop a hill
overlooking a bend in the Mohawk River. By tradition, the site is believed to
be the location of the fortified Mohawk village known as Ossernenon. The Jesuit
martyrs St. Rene de Goupil, St. Isaac Jogues and St. Jean de Lalande laid down
their lives sharing the Gospel with the Mohawk Indians. St. Kateri was born here
little more than ten years after their deaths. Many other Catholics, less known
to history, also suffered torture in order to share the love of Jesus among the
Mohawks at that place.
 |
| Sanctuary of the Coliseum |
 |
| Two of the 72 Entrance Doors to the Coliseum |
 |
| One of Many Beautiful Statues on the Grounds |
 |
| Welcome Sign |
 |
| One of Four Altars in the Coliseum |
 |
| View of the Mohawk River and Beyond from the Shrine Gardens |
Trinity Lutheran Church, Stone
Arabia
Old Palatine Church, Fort Plain
 |
| Old Palatine Church Sign |
 |
| The Old Palatine Church Photo by Ryan Strause |
Pastor Elizabeth Aurand spoke to us about the history of the Palatines’ Lutheran and Reformed churches in the Mohawk Valley while we finished our evening meal. The original Trinity Lutheran Church in Stone Arabia was built in 1729 by Lutheran and Reformed Palatine immigrants. They came from the dorfs in Schoharie Valley, but moved to Mohawk Valley, while others migrated to the Tulpehocken Valley in Pennsylvania at about the same time. The original log church was burned by British forces in 1780 during the Revolutionary War. The current church was built in 1792 and is known to house the oldest Lutheran congregation in the Mohawk Valley. Trinity is also the mother church of our next destination, the Old Palatine Church.
.JPG) |
| Interior of the Old Palatine Church |
We made the quick five-mile drive to the rural Old Palatine Church on Caroga Creek between St. Johnsville and Nelliston. The congregation was founded in 1749 and the church was erected in 1770 using limestone taken from the nearby creek. It served as a Revolutionary Army camp in 1780 and was spared destruction in the war. The present owner of the building, the Palatine Society, is in the process of restoring the gorgeous interior of the sanctuary. The painted white walls, pews and arched window frames provide a fine contrast with the dark wooden rafters and accents on the furniture. The wine-glass pulpit, organ, and a thirteen-star flag from about 1876 provide splendid focal points in the bright and airy space.
 |
| Ceiling Rafters in the Sanctuary |
The room was warm, but fans kept the air moving as we were treated to an inspirational church service. Skilled organist, Sidney Chase, opened the service with a prelude on the organ which he helped build! Congregational singing, introductions, prayer, scripture readings, and a homily followed. We heard from a stellar group of ordained ministers and lay people during the memorable evening; Pastors Bruce and Julie Osterhaut, Pastor Dan May, Bishop Lee Miller and Charlotte Moyer.
 |
| Cousin John's Best Expression for the Day! |
We finished off
the evening with a group photo outside the church. As we stood outside, many of
us marveled at the gilded bronze rooster weathervane atop the church’s tall
louvered spire. It was first placed on the spire nearly two centuries ago. The
rooster is a reminder of human frailty shown in Peter’s three denials of Christ
before the rooster’s crow, and the fowl's morning crow as the signal of new light for
the world, just as Christ was.
 |
| Weathervane Atop the Old Palatine Church Photo by Ryan Strause |
 |
| Our Intrepid Group after a Long Day! |
 |
| Day One Destinations |
No comments:
Post a Comment