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Masks are encouraged for all visitors to the Yates County History Center.
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The Yates Freedom Journey is a virtual learning event inspired by John Thomas, who escaped slavery in Virginia in 1835, eventually settling in Penn Yan. You will learn facts about slavery, abolitionists, the Underground Railroad, and much more along the way.
Freedom Seekers traveled by any means they could. This included walking, running, swimming, by wagon, on horses, in trains and by boat. As Freedom Seekers used whatever was available to them, we are asking you to do the same thing. Your challenge is to complete 300 miles by walking, running, biking, driving, etc.
While we are not using the exact path he took, we are using his starting and ending points. You are going to use a more direct route: a 300-mile journey which follows along today’s Route 15 corridor. For this event we are asking you to keep track of your miles no matter what mode you use.
This virtual event will go from February 1 to June 19, 2022, the cost is $50.00. Registration will end May 15, 2022 and the event will close June 19, 2022. For complete details and registration information visit Yates Freedom Journey: 300 Miles of History. If you have any questions, please contact us at YatesFreedomJourney@gmail.com. |
Children's Room
The youngest visitors to the Yates County History Center now have a fun filled room just for them. The children’s room at the Oliver House Museum is now open for everyone’s enjoyment.
Executive Director Tricia Noel noted that past visitors to the History Center had asked about child friendly activities in Yates County. “We are very pleased to offer a fun learning experience for our youngest guests. The agricultural theme is a salute to our farming friends and neighbors.”
The dedicated room on the second floor of the Oliver House Museum is painted a colorful blue and decorated with images of young farm animals. Children are invited to come and meet Betsy the cow and harvest apples off a tree. Betsy, a holstein dairy cow, stands four feet tall. A raised bed veggie patch is filled with carrots for kids to harvest and apple tree for picking apples. Puzzles, books, a chicken coop and barn are all available for visitors to play with.
Betsy the Cow was handcrafted and donated by Oak Grove Woodworking and students from Penn Yan Academy constructed and donated this vibrant apple tree.
Digital Resources
The Spencer Research Center located on the first floor of the L. Caroline Underwood Museum now has a computer dedicated to making available our digital resources which include all of the Yates County newspapers available to us and over 6,000 photographs. All are indexed and easily searched.
Visit our changing selection of photographs.
Included in a Yates County History Center membership is the on-site use of the Spencer Research Center. |
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Yates County Historic Newspapers
NYS Historic Newspapers provides free, searchable online access to Yates County newspapers and more than 9 million other NYS newspaper pages. Since 2015, we have imaged and digitized our entire collection, approximately 190,000 pages, of which 160,000 are now available for searching at NYS Historic Newspapers.
The guide General Comments and Search Examples will help you get started searching these valuable resources, including a workaround to handle minor problems searching. A list of the various newspaper titles included can be viewed here. |
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 Becoming a Member
Becoming of member of Yates County History Center makes it possible to continue our mission to collect, preserve, interpret and share the history of Yates County's people, places and events.
Our work and present level of programming is supported largely by financial support through membership and contributing donors.
We appreciate the business members who care about local history and are helping us in our mission to collect, preserve and promote Yates County's rich heritage. Please patronize these friends of YCHC. |
| Check us out Amazon shoppers! AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support Yates history! Every time you shop at smile.amazon.com, with Yates County Genealogical & Historical Society as your charitable organization, Amazon will donate a small percentage of your purchase amount to the Yates County History Center. |
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