The Unexpected in Rochester, NY while in search of the American Dream

Tweet

Poets, Butterflies in Winter--Who Knew?

By Norma Jaeger Hopcraft

I traveled to Rochester, New York recently to see family and to explore my daughter and son-in-law's chosen place to live. They arrived February 1, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. An average 20-degree temperature difference all year long between the two cities. In Rochester it snows daily, in Chapel Hill once a winter.

Well, they went to school here, met here, and have family and friends here. So it does make sense.

Rochester was hard hit for a long time by the failures and/or exits of Kodak, Xerox, Bausch & Lomb. But it is experiencing a resurgence, quite possibly led by artists and the arts, as it is in Buffalo and Detroit and many other places. There are a dozen theater companies. Eastman School of Music puts on several music shows every night, for much more moderate fees than you can find in New York City, where I live. There is an entrepreneurial spirit here as well. The city is on the rebound. But is still affordable for young families and artists like me.

So, when I got to Rochester, I explored. Rochester has an arts district, known as Neighborhood of the Arts, or NOTA for short. There's a poets walk in this neighborhood, with bronze plaques set in the sidewalk honoring Rochester-related poets. Luminaries like E.E. Cummings, and Naomi Shihab Nye. Who knew? I didn't expect to see that.

Village Gate is the former home of Stecher-Truang Lithographic Co., one of the world's largest lithographic plants. It now houses restaurants, studios, salons, shops, offices, and residential lofts.

A sculpture just hanging out in the neighborhood.

Writers and Books Literary Center is in a former police precinct house. The list of writers who teach here is luminous, just like the poets walk.

A close-up of the beautiful doorway.

Step in to make a call to poetry.

Whimsical streetside bench.

Whimsical paint on one of the superb houses in the Neighborhood of the Arts.

Another former factory turned into a gift shop.

The residents are doing whimsical sculpture by growing a wisteria vine up the stairs.

Another whimsical streetside bench.

Here it is, outside another incredible house.

I wouldn't mind living here, among the gables, dormers, and bay windows.

Look at this lovely lady.

A lovely architectural detail on the same house.

There are plenty of reasons to love Rochester. The citizens are hardy, survivors of tough winters and short summers. They are hearty -- robust, outgoing, helpful toward neighbors, deep believers in strong, stable families. 

Even though Rochester has had its setbacks, the citizens are still in search of the American Dream.

My daughter and I took the little guy and did some more exploring, this time along the fabled Erie Canal. We took the 18-month-old to a park near the canal and let him toddle around, put him in the swing, took him out, let him climb up and come down the slide. Then, with the ants out of his pants temporarily, we walked the Erie canal about a mile to have coffee in the town of Fairport.

A bridge house, complete with platform for gazing, on the Erie Canal in Fairport.

A bridge over the canal, and the town's beautiful new library just beyond it.

Here's my daughter, pushing Babo across the bridge after a toddle in the library.

Does it give you the urge to sing the Erie Canal song? Do they teach it in school anymore...it's a part of our American heritage, like "Working on the Railway" and "Dixie" and "Home on the Range," don't you think?

A former bridge house, now a kayak rental.

We scooted the mile back to the car before Babo got antsy.

Nothing like a sweeping curve.

We also went to the butterfly garden at the Strong National Museum of Play. Babo just kept saying "Wow! Wow!" and he was quite right.

A ground partridge.

A toucan.

Orchids.

How about you? Do you say or think "Wow!" in tropical gardens full of butterflies, lizards, and exotic flowers? I hope we all still do. Comment below!