A walk through Historical Lewiston

 "There is no town in the county richer in picturesque scenery and historical interest than Lewiston" so says  the 1878 Sanford's History of Niagara County, and we in Lewiston take pride in our history.  

Red Brick School 1901-1904 now houses the Village offices

The Historical Association of Lewiston produced a walking guide of 50 plus historic sites in the Village of Lewiston some years ago.  As of this year you can take the tour using a hand held audio wand.  The devices look similar to an old mobile phone with a wrist strap for easy carrying and the information contained within is more in depth than the paper brochure. 

By using the wand and the codes provided in the brochure, you can learn about places, people and events.  Best of all, these devices are free to borrow and come with a map so you can easily locate the buildings and the codes you are most interested in.

The old St Peters RC Church 1901 built of local stone

 As soon as I have a quiet day here at the B&B I plan to take the walk again myself and see what new information I can pick up.  

Is there a Rooster in the house?

Grandma's Roosters

My guests always assume I have been collecting roosters for years and are surprised to learn that the collection is only 12 years old and is really all a fluke.  I had no intention of calling my breakfast Sunny's Roost when I started out.  I planned a fantasy theme (in order to get Bob behind my idea) and had thought to call it "Matthews Keep,"  partially because we had moved so meany times over the course of our married life and I wanted to "keep" this final location until we went out in wheel chairs and partially because a keep is also a castle and we all know a man's home is his castle.  That first business plan was pretty good for not having attended any college classes for nearly 25 years, it earned me a B in my business class. Several months later I took another class that required a business plan and I decided upon Pegasus Aerie (Bob had a small collection of Pegasus figurines and was partial to books with fantasy creatures) and an Aerie is a nest and a home and ...well, you get the idea.  Hey, I was catching on to what I needed to include in a business plan, this one garnered a B+.  I was riding high and real excited, ready to scout my location, and took one final business class and you guessed it...I had to write one more business plan. I was out of names!  Sitting in the kitchen, staring at the wall and worrying about coming up with another name I finally focused on the two cast iron roosters from my Grandmother's house.  OK, they come home to roost, all birds come home to roost, there was my catch phrase.  But The Roost was a name already copyrighted by someone else for another business...Well, I had the nick name of Sunny since I was 13, so how about Sunny's Roost Bed and Breakfast.  I could have bird houses all over the yard in the trees and feeders and I was on a roll.  It didn't get Bob's interest but I didn't expect to really use that name anyway.  I received an A on that plan.  Not just an A, an A+.  SO Sunny's Roost Bed and Breakfast became the name.

Oh, The collection?  Well, I started looking for places for this bed and breakfast of my dreams and while doing so visited my sister in Massachusetts where she took me to a little country store.  There, behind other baskets and boxes I found a stained glass of a rooster that I fell in love with.  When my sister asked why I wanted this item I told her it was for the B&B, Sunny's Roost.....and the rest, as they say, is history.  She bought me rooster things, guest bought  me rooster things, friends and neighbors finally found a place to unload those rooster items from their parents and grandparents houses and now, they are everywhere!  The place is a virtual "Wheres Waldo" of rooster gifts and people have fun trying to find the one they left here (I rearrange every time I deep clean, change out decor for a holiday or change of season.)  Want to join the fun?  Add a rooster to my collection!