I was looking for some information on our early businesses and citizens to give to the Committee working on Scipio's Comprehensive Plan when I found an old map. This map was apparently reviewed by a previous Historian and then provided to the Planning Board.
She had marked in some interesting places - old cemeteries that are gone or half-forgotten; houses that had walk-in fireplaces or were very old, etc.
With some help from our Cayuga County Rootsweb folks, I am now able to post a link so you can view this map for yourself. Let me know if you have anything to add!
Go have a look-see at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sandie.gilliland/ScipioCemeteries?feat=directlink
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Sandie, one might add the Warner (aka Bolt's Corners) Cemetery in a field on the south side of the Sherwood Road, east of Salmon Creek. Another candidate might be first house north of Bergerstock Road on the west side of Black Street. According to "A Hoskins Family Record" (1963) by E. R. Hoskins, this house was built in 1827 (see p. 30). All the remaining old rural schoolhouses could well be noted.
I suspect that many more old houses are overlooked on posted map, primarily because the necessary research has not been done (funded). For example, the northeast portion of my parents' old house has unpeeled, unsquared log floor joists just hewn on top to accept the floorboards.
Several old roads have also disappeared. Rice Road once extended north of Skillet Road to intersect the Fleming-Scipio Townline Road. As noted, present-day Keesee Road extended south to the Center Road. A road also ran between present-day Burtless Road and the Sherwood Road at one time. More examples could be found of disappearing roads in Scipio, including one in progress within sight of your house!
Now that many of the early structures and sites are plowed over or occupied by newer structures, it is increasingly difficult to locate and appreciate early Scipio history. One example is the Short Line railroad between Auburn and Ithaca. Vestiges of this route were readily visible in the 1950s; today they are difficult to find on the ground. Eventually, the same will be true (and in some locations, now is true) of the Lehigh Valley railroad between Auburn and Moravia.
Although perhaps out of the realm of budgetary feasibility at the current time, the right way to do this would be to use a Geographic Information System, layering in all the old maps over a modern base map and tracking the fate of early structures and sites of interest over time.
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