Tag Archives: history

The Spooky Spirits of McCollum House

McCollum House Circa 1910

In the spirit of Halloween, I thought I’d share some of the spookier tales we have uncovered about the property. Whether it is the Carveth Estate, McCollum Orchards or Grandma Josie’s house, this place has had many names over 180 years. However you remember it, the farm’s legacy and its stately buildings have become an almost endless source of lore. You would not believe how many people we talk to end the conversation saying, “Oh, by the way, I hear it’s haunted.”

When we first moved in last year, we were greeted with a tale of a ghost sighting in the kitchen. Just a couple years before, the family hired a lady to help clean the house. All was going well until she started on the kitchen. The next moment, she ran out of the house to her car, face gone ashen white. Scared out of her wits, she said she saw a ghost. “There is a woman in the corner of the kitchen!” Needless to say, she never came back. Later, we found out that great-grandmother Josephine Carveth was bedridden in the kitchen for a long time and passed away there. Could it have been her?

We have heard about rumors of secret passageways that were used during the underground railroad, buried treasure, and even unmarked graves on the property. Many people might find these kinds of stories unnerving, but I have heard them all my life.

Music in the Basement

Growing up, I spent parts of my summers on the farm alone in the house with just my grandmother. In a big, old house like this, things do not merely go bump in the night. Colds winds suddenly ripped down the hallway, doorknobs turned by themselves, figures were seen in the windows. You swore you heard the faint sound of music coming from the basement or a whiff of perfume as you passed an old portrait. This is on top of the usual squeaks and creaks that you might expect. My grandmother always chalked it up to “the spooks” (whom she also blamed for misplacing her things). At night, when the whole house would echo with the sound of shutters banging in the wind, it was enough to keep a young boy with an active imagination hiding under the covers.

Words Entwined

We have found that the more we fix up the farm and buildings, the warmer and more inviting it becomes. The chaos that much of the farm was in made it feel, well, creepy. It is amazing what cleaning, organizing, and applying a fresh coat of paint can do to make it feel homey again. But there is one mystery we cannot seem to solve. In the process of organizing the house, we kept finding stacks of books bound by twine. Some stacks of books would be standing up, some would be on their side. There appeared to be no rhyme or reason to their grouping, with the occasional library, school or phone book thrown in. We learned that one of my great-aunts, who lived in the house in her later years, would compulsively tie books together with twine, like a nervous tic. We did what most people would do and untied the books. We cut the twine and organized them again. The strange thing is that we are never done. No matter how many books we set free, we keep finding more stacks. It is as if someone goes through and binds them up again. It became somewhat frustrating, so we just stopped trying and let the house spirits have that one.

Some of the many books bundled with twine

The love and loss that this house has witnessed cannot be summarized in a single post. Many people have asked us if we have seen a ghost here. Even though we sometimes catch ourselves looking over our shoulder, I honestly have to say no. This house holds memories of generations who called it home. Their memory is felt in their portraits, books, photos and letters that remain. If there are ghosts here, they are my family, right? So, the next time you drive by the house and you think you glimpse a figure peeking out from an upstairs window, just smile and wave. It might be a relative, stepping out of their place in time to check our progress.

Happy Halloween from all of us!

Pennies, Pipes and Prophecies

We are pretty sure we got a sign from the ancestors on Monday.

Raised beds made from old stone windowsills (used to be along driveway)

On Monday evening, Rich was finishing up a few raised beds in the garden. He reused some old stone windowsills as edgers. The beds will house herbs and lettuce this year. Once more acreage gets cleared, we plan to convert this garden space into a designated herb and “show-and-tell” garden.

One idea is to plant a historical ‘1883 garden.’ Last fall, while organizing some old papers, Rich found a seed purchase receipt from the farm dated April, 1883. It is fascinating to see what the family grew four generations ago. Rich had the idea to try to find the same seed varieties and plant an ‘1883 Garden’ in 2013 – for the 130th anniversary. We want to get school groups involved as a fun way to learn about farming and history.

Back to Monday night. Rich, who has a knack for finding things (which is probably why he enjoyed archaeology), swung the hoe into the soil and caught the glint of metal. He bent down and picked up a small, round, earth-caked object. He brushed off the dirt and corrosion and discovered a coin.

With a little more cleaning, he realized it was an Indian Head Penny dated 1883. Right in the place where we plan to plant the 1883 Garden! We have a saying around here, when something that we need or have been looking for suddenly appears, that ‘The House Giveth.’ But, this find takes it to a new level.

1883 Indian Head Penny found in the garden

When we are so busy with hard work that is also so new to us, and a future that is largely unknown to us, we cannot help but want a little sign that we are on the right track. This was one of those moments that makes you marvel at the many ways this old house connects our past to our future. We feel lucky to just be here now, right where we are.

Hope it’s not a pipe dream! (Clay pipe from early 1800s)

PS: The very next day Rich also found an old clay tobacco pipe in the same area. What could our ancestors be hinting at now?

Farming in the City: Variances Approved

In the springtime

We are very happy to report that all of our variance applications were approved on Tuesday by the city zoning board! This is a huge step in our efforts toward trying to save this family farm property. The meeting proceedings even made it into the local news, in the Lockport Union Sun & Journal and the Buffalo News.

The Process

We found out last month that the whole 100-acre property, that has always been farmland, was zoned residential. In order to operate it as a farm, we needed to apply for variances for land use, retail to sell in the barn, some signs and a place for people to park. Notices were sent to all our neighbors. Well, since we are located in a city, that totaled about 60 residences around the perimeter of the property. The process included a zoning board meeting that is open to the public. About 40 people attended and were able to hear our proposed plans and voice their concerns and opinions. We were able to address them with further clarifications. In the end, the board passed each of the variances unanimously.

Next, the plans go through the County Planning Board for recommendations. This is because our property line touches the town border. After that, they will go through the City Planning Board. These address more technical issues, such as size of the parking lot. For this, we will have to hire a landscape architect because all the plans need to be drawn up to scale.

This was an unexpected process to do this Spring. But, just like healthy soil for plants, we realized that it is a necessary step to make sure our farm business is on a solid foundation. Fortunately, the process has been well laid out and people have been very helpful, even though it is uncommon for the city to see this kind of business start up. We’ve come to find out that it is not all that uncommon anymore. More and more farms are being tilled in private and vacant lots in cities around the country.

Barn & sheds, view from the yard

We’re Not Alone

To prepare for the meeting and for our own knowledge, we reached out to friends who knew about the urban agriculture movement and to pretty much anyone who might be able to provide information or share experiences. We got a lot of responses. A school friend active in Louisville’s local food movement was even willing to help go through ordinances with us. It is not just farmer’s markets anymore. People are moving the farming right into the cities.

We were surprised and thrilled with what is occurring across the country. In February, the Boston mayor kicked off a zoning process to encourage community farming, as it beautifies the city and widens access to fresh, healthy food to people who can’t usually get it. In 2010, Cleveland passed a very progressive recoding policy to make it as easy as possible to start farming in the city limits because it attracts and keeps residents. One of Milwaukee’s two booming urban farms, Growing Power, is hosting the 2012 Urban & Small Farm Conference: Growing the Good Food Revolution. In Buffalo, there are four gardens/farms that we learned of who are growing fresh produce within the city limits: Wilson Street Urban Farm, Queen City Farm, and Cold Spring Coop, and the Massachusetts Avenue Project aquaponics project. Right here in Lockport, Hall Apple Farm is a historic farm that is in both Lockport the city and the town.

So far, we have mostly thought of our efforts as preserving this special house and property that has somehow remained intact and in the family by making it our home and restarting the farm. This week, we realized how much bigger it is than just our little corner. It is connected to the neighborhood, the city, and even to a trend that is taking a many people back to their roots and to the roots. We may have many more meetings to attend and rows to hoe, but we are more committed to offering fresh locally grown produce from our barn doors. Thank you to all those who have encouraged us along the way.

Sunset over the fence

Flash Back – Cobwebs in the Attic

A dusty box of papers in the attic revealed some amazing insights about life on this family farm back in the late 1800’s. For years, dozens of post-Civil War Era receipts and contracts from my great-great-grandfather, Silas Wright McCollum, and local businesses sat collecting cobwebs. It wasn’t until our “Big Clean” that some of these documents came to light. They give us a rare glimpse at the business of the historic farm. They also paint a vivid picture of this bustling town on the banks of the Erie Canal.

An invoice for seeds dated February 1883 from James Vick (of Rochester, NY) show what my family planned to plant and sell that year. It also gives a hint at what grew best on the farm and what produce was in highest demand during that time. Beans, peas, potatoes, cabbages and onions were among the many vegetables ordered. Near the bottom, you’ll see an order for a plant called Salsify, an oyster-flavored root vegetable. I guess our tastes have changed.

With the farm being situated next to the Erie Canal and a railway, it is possible this produce was shipped out West, along the Atlantic Seaboard and even out of the county.

A Memorandum of Agreement dated March 1884 was signed between my great-great-grandfather and the Niagara Preserving Company. In this, S. W. McCollum agreed to plant fifteen acres of “the best variety of tomatoes” and sell them only to the Niagara Preserving Company in exchange for a pre-negotiated selling price of $8 dollars per ton.

Besides needing to feed his own family, Silas also had to feed his workers and care for a wide range of farm animals. This bill from Arnold & Little, merchants from a Lockport city mill, shows a balance of $180.89 for the purchases of flour, feed & grain between October 1883 and March 1884.

Just like today, advertising your products and services is a key part of doing business. At a time before radio, television and the internet, printed word was your best option to reach the masses. In this receipt from October, 1884, Silas paid $23.50 in advertising expenses to the Union Printing and Publishing Co., owners of the Lockport Daily Union and the Niagara Democrat, the “best advertising mediums in Western New York.” In that spirit, we want to say, “Silas, welcome to Google.”

Rebuilding the Past

Back in April we wrote about a powerful freak windstorm hit Lockport, NY with wind speeds recorded at 83 mph. Dozens of trees fell, knocking down power lines and blocking traffic. The most notable casualty was a grand century-old Locust tree that shaded our quiet neighborhood street. When it fell, it left an 8-foot deep crater in the road. It also crushed an old iron fence and a section of a historic fieldstone wall that my ancestors built back in the 1830’s.

The fallen tree lay there for a few weeks (during which neighbors and passerby stopped to take photos) until the City hauled it away. The crew had to bulldoze a wider span of the old stone wall to drag it off our property. Just what I needed: another project.

Back in the day, horse- and ox-drawn plows crisscrossed the farm, tilling the ground. Rocks that were plowed up were carted to the sides of the fields where they were used to build stone walls that marked plots and property lines. Several generations of farming had produced a sizable wall of stacked rock. It stretches through the fields, in neighbors’ yards and even pops up on the other side of the street.

Project Rebuild waited until the end of the summer, after planting and the weather cooled off and when my brother-in-law, a former Russian body-builder, happened to be visiting. The first step was actually to clear the jumble of rocks and dismantle more wall so I could see how it was originally constructed. It brought me back to my days working as an archaeologist.

It was a double-wall construction, where two lines of large flat-faced rocks were placed on either side, and small rocks were piled in the middle trough. Thin stones where then used as shims to stabilize the layers. This back-breaking process was repeated until the wall was about 4.5 feet high, then a large capstone was set on top to hold everything in place.

Putting the wall back together was like finishing a large, very heavy jigsaw puzzle. The biggest boulders weighed over 300 pounds. And we have no oxen. It took pick axes, pry bars, perseverance and a lot of brute strength. But, we repaired the wall. Then, we even moved on to rebuild some other sections that had crumbled and collapsed over the decades. When we were finally finished, we’d added 20 feet of new wall with stones that we had collected during this growing season.

Repairing that wall made me appreciate the amount of labor that went into building this farm over the generations. It’s the kind of work that has to be done by hand. Sure, a machine could move the rocks, but only a person can construct that complex wall. Rebuilding the wall was like rebuilding a connection to my ancestors who did the same project on the same spot 180 years ago.

Next time you drive through the countryside and see an old stone wall in the woods, take a second to think of the family who toiled in the fields and built that wall in their attempt to clear the land and make a life for themselves. Until the day comes when no more stones surface in the fields, the wall on our property will be, as it’s always been, a work in progress.