So what do you think of when you hear the name Canastota? If your spelling and pronunciation is as bad as mine, wagons might come to mind. Now, lest you might think me too off base, Canastota did manufacture wagons, it's just that they were of the "dumping wagon" variety and not the conestoga wagons that went west.
These days Canastota is probably best known for the Boxing Hall of Fame. Is that where we went? No way - not even for the sake of this blog. Instead we went to our friend Don's 70th birthday party. (In spite of the fact that I couldn't get him to smile for the camera, he really is a happy fellow). His mother on the right said 70 years ago was "the worst day of her life" (she'd been in labor for 3 days). She, too, is a happy person who doesn't smile much for the camera. (She must be a bit older than 39...).
So what else is there to do in the area? Well, a couple miles south is Oxbow Falls County Park. Supposedly there are 3 waterfalls but exactly where they are is a little questionable - we didn't find them - perhaps spring is a better time to go. According to the sign, "the park is the northern (we thought they must have meant western) edge of the Helderberg Escarpment" formed 400 - 350 million years ago. Although the cliffs are overgrown in most places there are a couple of places you can look over Oneida Lake and the "plain" around it. (But.... can you believe everything you read? I did a search on Helderberg Escarpment and the only reference I could find had the entirety of it located in Albany County. Oxbow Falls seems instead to be part of the Appalachian Plateaus which extend from south of Rochester TO the Helderberg Escarpment south of Albany. These plateaus continue to rise to the south eventually forming the Catskill Mountains. But can you believe everything you read on the internet either?)
Continuing on a bit further south toward Fenner you come to the site of the 1615 Champlain Battle. It was here that Samuel de Champlain attacked the Oneidas, one of the six Iroquois Nations. He was unsuccessful. According to the sign... the attack turned the Iroquois Nation against the French. Over the next 100 years the Iroquois always sided with the English in battles against the French. Thus, it was "the most decisive battle in American history for it was here that the question of whether America north of the Rio Grande was to become an English or French territory was thus decided". (If you want to read other opinions, go searching.) All I know for sure is, this blog is written in English, not French, s'il vous plait... 
