Jim Corsaro wrote: > > Vee: > > I don't exactly remember the Labor Day parade as a child, > but I do know that Youngstown is one of the prettier villages in NYS > and sits on a beautiful spot overlooking the Niagara River and Lake > Ontario. If I were anywhere near Youngstown, I would be there on > Labor Day! > > The only mistake re: historical matters I see in the > Lewiston-Youngstown area is that the name of River Road should have > remained and the name History Trail or whatever it is called today > should be eliminated. The name River Road goes back at least to the > 18th century and should be reinstated. > > Jim Dear Jim and All, It pleases me that you appreciate the beauty of Youngstown. It sure IS a special village. Now, regarding River Road. Again, I've done a bit of research--not thorough--but at least I can tell you the bottom line. River Road is still alive and well and continues to be named and called that. It just so happens that there may be more signs along it that identify it as part of the History Trail. In the late 1700s that stretch of road (which was hardly wider than the original Indian trail) was referred to as the portage. As a bit of background, during that time, more and more fur traders and more and more commerce and settling of this frontier was taking place, and waterways were of vast importance. To go from Lake Ontario to the other Great Lakes, meant having to get around the falls of Niagara. Therefore, they had to portage or carry their boats and supplies overland until they could then continue on in the Niagara River above the falls. That stretch of "road" was called the "portage." I noticed in several Title Searches of the properties in the Youngstown area that by around 1830 the road was referred to as "the road between Lewiston and Fort Niagara." And by the 1850s it was referred to as River Road and remains so today. Not only that, but it remains the prettiest winding road that one could take along the peaceful lower Niagara River--grand old trees and grand old homes and all! (With lovely ghosts of the past that go along with it! :-D) Happy Labor Day! Vee Housman