Yearly Archives: 2021

If you are travelling through upstate New York you might want to take a trip into the small town of Ticonderoga to visit the Star Trek Original Series Set-Tour. You might ask why is it in Ticonderoga - and you'll need to go for yourself to find out! This is not just a place for Trekkies to visit it is a fascinating insight into TV history. its authenticity has been confirmed by members of the original cast, including William Shatner (Captain James T Kirk) who makes regular visits here.

When the city of Syracuse, New York started installing traffic lights in the 1920s the Irish community didn't take kindly to the set of lights put up on a busy intersection on Tipperary Hill. They did not like the fact that the 'red light', which they associated with the British, was above the 'green light' - green being the colour of the Irish. So, some youths in the area threw stones, breaking the red lamp. The city replaced the lamp only for it to be smashed again. The city eventually gave up flipping the light so the green light was at the top. These upside-down lights remain until this day and have become a local attraction.

If you are in the Finger Lakes Region near Ithaca then you might want to check out Gourdlandia. This is the storefront and workshop of Graham Ottoson, a former mid-wife turned gourd artist. She takes gourds grown in her garden, dries them out and turns them into beautifully carved lamps, bowls and other gourd oddities.