Sept 27 to Oct 1

Monday
The tour started this morning about 8:00 am. We visited Fort Johnson and Guy Park at Amsterdam, New York and Johnson Hall at Johnstown, New York. We drove by many historic plaques and Butlersbury near Fonda, New York. all of the previous were in the Mohawk Valley of New York. In the afternoon we visited the Schoharie Valley and located the site of several of the Palatine Dorfs as well as Upper Fort, Middle Fort and Lower Fort. We saw Vrooman's Nose (a nice hiking hill) and where Timothy Murphy lived, Middleburg Reformed Church, the Tory Mann Tavern and The Old Stone Fort Museum. We then went back to Schenectady to visit the grave site of Clarissa Putman Consort of Sir John Johnson. We had showers threatening all day but it only rained when we were on the coach. Rain in the evening. We had a banquet in the evening and our speaker was Mark Jodoin, journalist and author. He talked about Rev. John Stuart a loyalist from the Mohawk Valley and some of his descendants. Walked 8.3 km.

Tuesday
The tour started this morning about 8:00 am. We did a quick tour of the Johnstown Battlefield and then headed back to Amsterdam to pick up some of the tour we had missed the previous day. We drove by the Clarissa Putman house, Queen Anne Parsonage, Fort Hunter and Schoharie Crossing. We then headed off to visit the Old Palatine Church at Fox's Mills and then to Stone Arabia, New York to visit Trinity Lutheran Church and the Stone Church (Dutch Reformed Church). Then we had a very delicious lunch (dinner) at Saltsman's Inn at Ephratah, New York. In the afternoon we visited the Nellis Tavern and Fort Klock near St. Johnsville, New york. After that we headed west to visit the Indian Castle Church near Little Falls, New York. Our speaker here was Ken Johnson, author of The Bloody Mohawk. While there we watched a very dangerous looking set of storms and clouds pass over. This ended with a short rain shower and them it started to clear. After that we headed to Utica and then New Hartford, NY for our hotel. There was a threat of severe storms all day long. Walked 7.3 km.

Wednesday
The last day of our tour of the Mohawk Valley of New York. We headed off from Utica about 8:30 and headed for Rome where we had a tour of Fort Stannwix. After that we headed back East to Oriskany to see the Oriskany Battlefield. Then we headed off towards Syracuse to have lunch at the Cracker Barrel at Cicero. Nice lunch. After a stop at the duty free we crossed the boarder and headed towards Williamstown on the 401. We arrived back at Williamstown about 5:15, unloaded and then headed home in our car. Arrived back in Ottawa about 6:45 p.m. Walked 7.2 km.

Thursday
Rain today, abt 16 C. Lots of catching up to do today. Walked 4.3 km.

Friday
Cloudy today. Did some garden and lawn cleanup today. The cold weather is coming. Walked 7.8 km.