Grape Vines

July 22, 2007
Lantz Corners, PA to Wolcott, NY


205.4 miles
Another spectacular day!






Fascinating countryside – beautiful and green – lovely farmland – lots of fruit and veggie stands.

I need a little schooling in government here – there are Townships and Villages and Boroughs. So:

A township in the United States refers to a small geographic area, ranging in size from 6 to 54 square miles, with 36 square miles being the norm.
The term is used in two ways.
A survey township is simply a geographic reference used to define property location for deeds and grants.
A civil township is a unit of local government. Civil townships are generally given a name, sometimes abbreviated "Twp".

Now that makes some sense, because a number of the roads held ‘Twp’ designations!

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town or city. Though generally located in rural areas, the term urban village may be applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in Beirut, Lebanon. Villages normally are permanent, with fixed dwellings; however, transient villages can occur. Further, the dwellings of a village are fairly close to one another, as against being scattered broadly over the landscape (‘dispersed settlement’).
Villages have been the usual form of community for agricultural societies, and even for some non-agricultural societies. Towns and cities were few, and were home to only a small proportion of the population. The Industrial Revolution caused many villages to grow into towns and cities; this trend of urbanisation has continued, though not always in connection with industrialisation. Villages have thus been eclipsed in importance, as units of human society and settlement.

So, OK, these attractive little communities I’m seeing are mostly in agricultural areas, so this one follows too!

The word "borough" has many meanings relating to local government in the United States. Since the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution makes local government for the most part a matter for the states rather than the federal government, the states are free to have political subdivisions called "boroughs," or not to do so, and to define the word in many different ways.
The following states use, or have used, the word with the following meanings:
Connecticut, as an incorporated municipality within, or consolidated with, a town
Minnesota, formerly applied to one municipality
New Jersey, as a type of independent incorporated municipality
New York, as one of the five divisions of New York City, each coextensive with a county
Pennsylvania, as a type of municipality
Virginia, as a division of a city under certain circumstances

I was seeing most of those designated boroughs in Pennsylvania, and they seemed to be the largest and most organized of the little communities!

So much for lessons for today!

Penny gets bored when I lecture too much!

Passed thru Lewis Run, PA, which bills itself as the “Smallest Industrial Borough in the United States”, but I haven’t found out just why. As I’ve mentioned previously, little towns always must find claims to fame! Lewis Run did have a very nice, well maintained Pet Cemetery, so it gets my vote!

Also spotted an ‘Oil Well Museum’, located on the banks of Oil Creek in Venango Country of Pennsylvania, where Edwin Drake drilled North America's first oil well in 1859, though Drake never made any money from his oil. The museum collects, preserves, and interprets the founding of the oil industry in the state of Pennsylvania and its growth into a global enterprise. What is now a largely wild second growth forest with several cold water fishery creeks flowing through it, was once the site of the vast oil industry that dramatically changed the landscape and water quality of the Oil Creek Valley.

Guess I snuck in a little more history after all.

And speaking of history, I spotted a couple more of those storybook old cemeteries I like so much!

I do need to say something about driving across this land. It isn’t just the roads around where we live that are awful – terrible roads are everywhere! I’ve had more than my share this last couple days! And the other drivers are bad, no matter where you are! And they all speed! This trip of mine has been a challenge in that way – but worth it none the less!

Headed north thru the Finger Lakes area in New York, and oh my goodness it’s a beautiful area!

Lots of vineyards, with lots of little boutique wineries I’ve never heard of. Beautiful end to the day!