Category: Events

Summer’s here, and with it comes the 26th Annual Strawberry Social.  Mark the date, June 26^th from Noon to 3 PM at the museum on High St.  Social regulars know what an enjoyable time this is.  You get to enjoy a dish of strawberries, shortcake and ice cream with friends and neighbors on a nice summer’s day.  You can even get a takeout tray if you’re on the run.  But if you decide to linger, Fred Burgess and Jim Shear, aka The Loose Marbles, will be playing familiar songs on their acoustic guitars.

If you just want to stop by to enjoy the music and the museum, there’s no charge.  But while you’re here, you owe it to yourself to get the strawberry shortcake ($5.00 – $2.00 for children under 12).  You see, the Burnap’s in Sodus supplies our strawberries, Bee Tee’s donates the ice cream, and several of your fellow members have volunteered to make the shortcakes.  So most of your money will go to help fund Historical Society operations, and you get to enjoy strawberries in season!  How can you lose?

Hope to see you on the 26^th.

Michael Keene, frequent speaker at many New York libraries and museums and producer of several award-winning history programs, has announced his latest offering, “The Psychic Highway”, scheduled for viewing on YouTube Premier, Thurs. April 1st, 2021, at 11:00 a.m.

It delivered people to important places for important reasons, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Seneca Falls for history’s first women’s convention, to Rochester to meet and support abolitionists Frederick Douglas and Harriet Tubman, to witness the Fox Sisters summon spirits, or maybe people on the temperance bandwagon hurrying to the Burned Over District so Charles Finney could save their souls.

The Psychic Highway intertwines the origins of the Erie Canal with the historical, religious, and social issues of the day.

The program is free but registration is required at michaeltkeene.com/registration

If you enjoyed Michael Keene’s YouTube Premier of “Hart Island”, you may want to catch his next historical documentary, “Madhouse: The Hidden History of Insane Asylums in 19th Century New York”.

The documentary chronicles the history of the establishment of the major insane asylums in New York State along with exploring the lives of some of the remarkable people who worked in these institutions and patients treated there.

Included will be Willard Insane Asylum, the Monroe County Poorhouse, Buffalo State Insane Asylum, NYS Asylum at Utica (Old Main), Binghamton Inebriate Asylum, Hudson River Insane Asylum and others! The program will be told through the use of archival photographs, narration, and original music.

The premier of “Madhouse” will be shown on YouTube on Tuesday, December 1st, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. EST. 

As with the “Hart Island” documentary, there is no cost for the program but registration is required at michaeltkeene.com/registration