Hello Everyone,

John Adamski, President
Board of Trustees
Finger Lakes Cultural & Natural History Museum Project

Photo: “Waiting for Spring” at Canadice Lake, Ontario County, NY.

As the traditional season for giving draws to a close and the New Year approaches, I find myself searching for the right words to express my gratitude to all of you who have taken an interest or are playing a part in helping to make a dream become a reality.

Since last March, when my Life in the Finger Lakes magazine article first introduced the notion of creating a museum to showcase the Finger Lakes Region, I have heard from hundreds of people in the 14-county area. The overwhelming majority favor the proposal. So far, only two have expressed doubts to me.

In the nine months that have elapsed since then, a lot has happened. The Finger Lakes Cultural & Natural History Museum Project has held six monthly organizational meetings, elected a Board of Trustees, appointed several committees, developed a Strategic Plan, retained excellent legal counsel, and applied for a Provisional Museum Charter from the New York State Board of Regents, which will grant us corporate status.

And I have made dozens of new friends. More than fifty individuals have attended our monthly meetings, many of whom now generously contribute their energy, time, and talents to moving the project ahead. We have entered alliances and partnerships with regional academic institutions and organizations, and we are looking forward to more.

As we look forward to 2009 we see a number of challenges, not the least of which is the potential for fundraising. Federal, state, and corporate grants will be harder to come by due to economic belt-tightening, as will private contributions. Our Strategic Plan calls for a shovel-in-the-ground date of 2013, which will hopefully be preceded by a healthy economic turnaround.

So as we step into the uncertainty of the New Year, I want to thank each and every one of you who share our vision, are helping to make it happen, or plan to do so in the near future. I also want to thank our friends at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake and The Wild Center in Tupper Lake for cheering us on and sharing their experience and insight. And lest I forget Kelly Jo Martin at Buttercups Bakery in Naples, thank you for all of the special treats that you have contributed to each of our organizational meetings.

Happy New Year to all! And thanks for the enthusiasm. Pass it on.

John Adamski, President
Board of Trustees
Finger Lakes Cultural & Natural History Museum Project

Photo: “Waiting for Spring” at Canadice Lake, Ontario County, NY.

Welcome to the Finger Lakes Cultural and Natural History Museum Project, a proposal to create a new museum that will showcase the 9,000-square-mile Finger Lakes Region of New York State.

Contact:                     John Adamski
Contact Info:             Phone: 585-746-6247
                                  Email: mail@fingerlakesmuseum.org

Exhibits are planned to include Native American culture, early colonization, and the histories of agriculture, viniculture, and commerce. Artifacts will range from antique boats and farm equipment to an immense freshwater aquarium containing the fish species that are native to the Finger Lakes. Outdoor exhibits will feature live specimens of native wildlife in natural settings like beavers, otters and the Seneca White Deer. Special focus will be given to invasive species such as lamprey eels, purple loosestrife and zebra mussels.

Each of the eleven Finger Lakes will be individually featured with geographical, geological, glacial and topographic details that depict the effects of the receding glaciers on the region 12,000 years ago.

Included in the concept is an art and photo gallery, an auditorium, a bookstore and a research library as well as flex-space for any other regional museums and historical societies within the fourteen Finger Lakes counties to present their own exhibits on a rotating basis.

How far along are we and where do we go from here?

Although the project is still in an embryonic stage, it has received the support and endorsements of the Finger Lakes Future Alliance, Finger Lakes Sierra Club, Life in the Finger Lakes magazine, Seneca White Deer, Inc., and The Nature Conservancy. Soon we will be forming an exploratory committee to study feasibility, select a site, prepare a business plan, and search for members of the Board of Trustees. Fundraising will begin as soon as a not-for-profit corporation is formed and the board is seated.

We are planning for a new facility of about 40,000 square-feet, which will feature state-of-the-art interactive indoor and outdoor exhibits.

How can you help?

Soon this website will be equipped to accept membership applications and other offers of support and announce upcoming fundraising events. Please feel free to offer your ideas and suggestions by contacting us. Thank you.

John Adamski, Project Director

Secret Places

We Live Here and We Love IT! Best of all we willing to show you why!

Secret Places is a customized walking / driving tour FREE to anyone who asks. (Of course if you’re a registered guest at one of our Skaneateles Suites Properties you will get the really good stuff!)

Free for asking, just walk up to any member of the Suite Dreams Team. Then, you tell us about your interests; wineries, history, shopping, outdoor adventure, sitting on bar stools or, well, you tell us.

Then we scratch our heads and give you a walking or driving map of some very cool Secret Places to Go and See or Do. Best of all, it’s FREE!

Welcome Finger Lakes Living at http://www.fingerlakesliving360.com/ which is a collection of articles from a family who lives here in the Finger Lakes Region o Central New York and loves it.

They write…

Recently we spent an afternoon in Skaneateles, New York. The little village of Skaneateles is nestled on the northern end of Skaneateles Lake which is one of the five largest New York Finger Lakes. This beautiful finger lake is surrounded by country estates which are set back from the water by large gently sloping landscaped lawns.

And have written a book: “Last of the Family Farms”. See for your self at http://www.amazon.com/Last-Family-Farms-James-Ph-D/dp/1419694995/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220313248&sr=1-1

(more…)

Make Tracks to Model Railroading Open House
September 27th 2008
Frontenac Museum, 178 Cayuga St
Union Springs, NY 13160
315-889-5875
http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~frontenac/index.html
 
On Saturday, September 27, 2008 from 1:00 to 4:00 PM, the Cayuga Valley Model Railroaders will hold an open house at the Frontenac Museum, 178 Cayuga St., Union Springs. Featured will be operating displays of old railroad artifacts as well as model railroads, including a set up for children (adults too!) to operate. At 2:00 a special presentation, Being a Teenager in the Last Days of Steam in the Village of Cayuga, will be given. The event is free and open to the public with refreshments to be served. Plan to attend this fun event for the entire family, both young and young at heart!