This is one big, old bell. I knew that it would be from hearing its history, but it was pretty interesting to get to see its age and craftsmanship up close. The bell is functional, I found out; it's hooked up and everything. It's just that it doesn't get rung. Instead, this is responsible for the chimes heard daily:
It's the technological age, I suppose.
Walking up the tower was pretty routine, just normal stairs through a few small rooms and hallways, until I got to the ones right before the bell:
Ha, kidding. Those are the "Vertigo" stairs. These are the actual ones:
Not too tricky a climb, as it turned out. Well-worth getting to see what was at the top:
On Tuesday, I attended my first Elmira Pioneers game. (And now that I've actually been to one, I feel like I can start calling them the "Pios" like everyone else.) They clocked the Amsterdam Mohawks, 5-0.
It's a great opportunity to see some young up-and-comers play. I didn't realize before going that the Pios are part of the Perfect Game Collegiate League, so the players are from colleges around the country.
The Perfect Game League also includes the Glens Falls Golden Eagles, Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs, Cooperstown Hawkeyes, Newark Pilots and Watertown Wizards.
Oh, and the Albany Dutchmen. Which I had to check out because my high school teams were also the Dutchmen, and I was wondering if these Dutchmen, too, were symbolized by a boat. But nope. Turns out Albany has what appears to be a pretty menacing looking Dutch man wielding a large bat instead.
More intimidating than a boat, for sure. But that was a pretty low bar.
Pios games also provide a good family-friendly place to hang out on summer evenings when you want to get out of the house.
Plus, I think this type of baseball does a lot to foster a sense of community. There were announcements and prizes throughout the game featuring local businesses, like when it was announced that "love is in the air" and the Pios mascot, Stitches...
...walked around with a bouquet of flowers from Zeigler Florists until he chose a "lucky lady" to give them to. Or when busting out the best YMCA dance moves won some fans a pizza from Pudgies. Hometown fans know these places, and such promotions give out-of-town folks ideas of places they might like to visit, so I think there's a feeling of connectivity there.
Of course, the flower thing was after Stitches had caught his breath from racing a youngster around the field.
Stitches took a little "tumble." And the kid blazed on to glory.
There were lots of these entertaining types of activities, with young fans dizzy-bat racing, or seeing which one could put on a Pios uniform the fastest. There was a nice crowd rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" as well.
And throughout the game, if you had gotten a program and a certain page had been signed in it, you won a prize.
There were also some enjoyable song snippets to accompany what was happening in the game, including lots of clap-along tuneage. My personal favorite was when a player from the other team kept getting the "Jaws" theme when he came up to bat, and if he was struck out, spectators were treated to beer and soda for $1.
Man, I love the "Jaws" theme.
All of this made going to a Pios game seem delightfully old school to me, all the way up to the seats at the tippy top:
Plus, you get the chance to experience historic Dunn Field, which can be found over on Southside near the Chemung River.
I had never been to Dunn Field, or known anything about it, but the field's been home to professional and collegiate teams since 1888.
The field went through a couple of reincarnations; the first two ball parks there were named the Maple Avenue Driving Park and then Recreation Park, but the latter burned down in 1938. Dunn Field, circa 1939, was named for Edward Joseph Dunn, a local businessman who donated the land to the City.
"If you build it, he will come."
Cool fact? On November 21, 1902, when the field was the Maple Avenue Driving Park, it was the site of the first ever professional football game played at night under electric lights. The Philadelphia Athletics football team - part of the first NFL - whomped Elmira's Kanaweola Athletic Club, 39-0.
(In their defense, though, the Kanaweola Athletic Club was originally a bicycling club before trying to branch out into football.)
That day also happened to be a Friday, so it's like we're pretty much the ultimate origin of the phrase "Friday Night Lights." Think of that the next time you watch a football game at night.
And think of spending some time at Dunn Field this summer, where the Pios are keeping the tradition of playing under the lights alive and well.
Working next to the Chemung County Courthouse, there is a particular sound I hear regularly all day:
Curious about the origins of what must be a very old bell, I paid a visit to Chemung County Historian J. Arthur "Archie" Kieffer at the Chemung Valley History Museum.
This is quite a guy, by the way. He's a WWII veteran who started working for Buildings and Grounds back in 1966, has written four books about Chemung County, has been involved in the community throughout the years in ways far too numerous to mention, and at age 90 can still be found in the museum preserving and sharing its history.
He has his own day, folks. March 27th, his birthday, was recently proclaimed J. Arthur Kieffer Day in Chemung County.
So, the bell in question? It isn't actually ringing. Go look sometime; it's not movin' when you hear it "toll." From what I understand, the sound is computerized now, and songs are programmed in.
But the bell does, indeed, maintain a place of honor up there, in a belfry that was apparently long, long overdue for one.
Here's your Top Five Things to Know About The Courthouse Bell:
1. It's the old Elmira First Presbyterian Church bell. It was subscribed for by the Presbyterians in 1857, and cast by Jones and Hitchcock of Troy, NY. The whole thing was cast, tuned (in the key of G), delivered, hung and paid for within four months.
Speedy.
2. The original cost of the bell was $847.53. That included freight charges, as the bell traveled by canal to Canandaigua, where the Elmira Railroad picked it up.
Sort of makes you want to sing "15 Miles on the Erie Canal," doesn't it?
3. The bell weighs in at 2,200 pounds, including the clapper (which Archie describes to a bell novice like me as the "bing bing bing").
4. The courthouse, built in the 1860's, had never had a bell before this one. The bell was fitted to a new yoke (what holds it up) and then hung in the tower on July 4, 1976, as part of the local Bicentennial Celebration.
The bell had been in storage; the Bicentennial Commission, who had made securing a bell for the tower their top priority, expressed interest in it when the Presbyterian church's tower was to be torn down.
The bell had been "reconsecrated to freedom" by Rev. Lloyd Peterson, and was rung at noon on July 4th by seven descendants of the 19th century Elmirans who helped purchase it (contributors included William and John Arnot).
In short, a bell made it into the belfry a century late. But made it, it did.
5. The bell doesn't actually belong to the county. It's on permanent loan from the church. The original agreement states that the bell is to remain in the custody of the county until return is requested, or the county wants to return it.
In listening to Archie speak about bells in general, I think there's a lot that probably gets overlooked in the day to day of hearing them. As he put it, "bells are the voices of the past," and a bell is "the conveyor of sound to the greatest distance; it's first to convey the sound of our sorrows and it conveys our joys, also."
Back in the day, people used to have jobs as bell ringers, and bells were sounded for just all sorts of things (some of which are still prevalent reasons for ringing them today): the start and end of religious services, when a soul departed from a body, start of a new year, summoning court, ringing a curfew, calling meetings to order, police and fire emergencies, and, my personal favorite, for tax dealings.
Someday, I'd like to get up in the tower and see this piece o' history up close. Hopefully the climb's not Jimmy-Stewart-"Vertigo" style, though.
I am terrible at golf. In high school, I took golf in gym class one time, and to this day I can't believe how horrifically bad I was at it.
However, I love putt-putt. I'm no Chevy Chase:
But give me a bunch of happy little greens with obstacles surrounded by fountains, and I'm good to go. If there's a theme, even better. And at Eldridge Park, the theme for its new mini-golf course is the Victorian Era.
Where else in the world are you gonna find a Victorian themed golf course?
This gate is from a castle in Belgium.
Plus, you can ponder a different bit of wisdom from our pal Twain at every hole. Because this course is actually two-for-one as far as themes go.
The course's other homage to Twain can be found in the form of a replica of his study.
(Ah, note to prospective putt-putters - do not choose your club color based on your ball color. Doesn't work that way. Different colors of clubs represent different heights. Choose a pretty blue one to go with your pretty blue golf ball, and you might end up attempting to swing a club that only reaches your thigh.)
I cannot look at this and not think of Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn." (Keats wrote about 1,009,245 "Ode" poems. Yes, a slight exaggeration, but the man forsure liked his "Odes"). Except that this is, in fact (according to its plaque), an Italian urn.
I managed to conquer this little beast right here with a hole-in-one:
Hey, it's a lot trickier than it looks!
In addition to all this themeage, you've even got a train roundin' about the course. Awaiting your turn? Hop aboard and go for a spin. I thought it was just for kids, but it's actually all-age friendly.
It's a mini-golf course with a railroad crossing.
And if you're looking for a ride of a larger variety, go check out the fantastically restored 1920's carousel.
You buy tickets for the carousel, putt-putt, and the boats. Putt-putt is the most expensive, at only $5, so it's all super affordable.
All of the carousel animals have a name, and many of them have sponsors.
But some? Some don't have sponsors :( And I bet they'd really like one. Carousel residents like:
"Adopt me!"
(That's also pretty much what I imagine every available animal on the SPCA's website saying to me.)
Gruff is looking especially sad not to have a sponsor, if you ask me ;)
All of the animals are really intricate, distinct, and interesting to look at. Plus, this particular carousel has an additional bonus in that turns all of its riders into Gollum.
"My precious."
As far as Wikipedia is concerned, you can only try to grab a brass ring on sixteen other carousels in the entire country. And they were used, in part, to get people to sit on the outside row, where folks wouldn't always want to sit because those horses didn't move up and down.
Apparently the outside of the carousel is the fastest-moving (I wouldn't know because I took physiology to get out of taking physics in high school). But that would explain why I was too much of a wimp to try reaching for the ring once the ride picked up speed. In my defense, though, this carousel is really movin'. It's an actual ride; it's not one of those carousels that sort of putter along. My friend Josh, though? Rocked the ring grabbing, and now he gets to ride again for free.
I think my personal favorite Eldridge activity is taking a ride on Jasper II, the Dragon Boat:
What can I say? He won me over.
If you check out http://www.eldridgepark.us/, you'll find some interesting accounts of Eldridge Park memories. Which is where I learned that once upon a time, because this (manmade) lake was widely rumored to be "bottomless," it was kind of spooky for kids to be riding a dragon around on it. But I found the circular trek on Jasper, who roars and blows smoke, to be pretty tranquil.
Jasper shares the water with some dragon paddle boats.
What I think are some very well-fed geese.
The park is open now from 5 to 9 p.m. Fridays, 12 to 9 p.m. Saturdays, and 12 to 8 p.m. Sundays (until June 29th, when it will also start being open on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 9 p.m.).
Be sure to stop by and see Jasper this summer, I think he likes visitors.
