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The other day, I got off the Thruway at the Silver Creek Exit and drove home on the back roads. It was a delightful trip through the small towns and rural communities of Chautauqua County.
The route and roads themselves haven't changed. A well-paved county road runs fairly straight from just south of the Thruway through grape country to Forestville. At Forestville take a left on the Creek Road, and for a few miles you will be on a long winding drive trending uphill along the stream until the road "T's out" at Chicken Tavern, the old stagecoach-stop. Jog left from there for about a half mile, and turn right on the county road...the one that dissects Jared Wooley's old farm between the house and the barn.
After that, at the first stop sign, take a right on the road to Cassadaga. In about a mile, turn left on the Charlotte Center Road. That will take you to Sinclairville, winding back and forth as you criss-cross the same stream over a half dozen bridges along the way. In Sinclairville, turn right and go straight, under Route 60 and across the Cassadaga Creek flats to Red Bird corners...from there you can pretty much head straight for home.
It is a beautiful road trip. The terrain and road haven't changed in 50 years. It is especially scenic in the late Spring when the trees are all in their various shades of bright green.
I think the trip from Forestville to Chicken Tavern (the tavern is no longer there) is one of the easiest climbs that there is from the Lake Erie plain into the highlands. When you get to the top, you sort of breakout onto the Chautauqua Ridge, feeling you need a rest ... just like the old stagecoach drivers did who stopped at Chicken Tavern for some food and a "bracer" before continuing their trek.
At this point, in the county today, you are right in the midst of a huge windfarm. Large towers built with Wall Street money with their slowly moving blades are generating power headed for New York. They are an awesome sight, though some who live near them have complained of the wind noise they make and the light flicker that occurs as the blades cut the sun's rays. Yet, from the road, they look noble and artistic, like gigantic sculptures.
One change that saddened me along the route is the decline that I saw in dairy farming. Where there used to be many, I saw only one or two "going" dairy farms along the way...the days of the prevalence of the small, family-owned dairy farm are obviously behind us. One change that I looked for but didn't see, was new, affordable, rural housing. Many homes looked the same as they did 25 or 50 years ago, though some were in need of a coat of paint.
Yet, the small hamlets and villages are still beautiful in their unchanging nature. There is still a sign for the "Southern Tier Coon Hunters," a group that I befriended back in the 1970's when I was in the state Legislature. And, an upbeat scene along the way was the relatively new public library building in Sinclairville -- libraries are still at the heart of things in the heartland.
Hop in your car some nice afternoon, and take a ride through this changing, yet unchanging place we call home. You will come back feeling the better for it.
Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident.