Question: Take a good look at this house. Do you know anything about its past and where it is located?
Last week’s answer: The building in the photo from last week was of a hotel that stood at Jack’s Reef. This settlement sits on the western end of Van Buren on the Seneca River where it joins with the Plainville Road leading into Lysander.
The origin of its name is uncertain. One account alleges that an old man known only as “Jack” lived in a cabin at the “rifts” in the very early days of settlement. He made his living by catching and selling fish to the settlers in the area. Another tale tells the story of the Native Americans who inhabited the area. They used a burning pitch-pine knot on the bow of their boats to assist in spearing fish. This was called a “jacklight,” thus the name Jack’s Reef.
No matter how the name came about, it was a logical place for a tavern as two roads intersected and it was very close to the fording place in the river. Many settlers passed through the site on their way west. Since then the State Ditch was cut though in 1856 making travel easier and several bridges have been built.
It is no surprise that an inn, or tavern, was built at a very early time. The first was possibly built by Sheribia Evans, as early as 1820. There have been a succession of establishments over the years and one still exists today. The photo in the History Mystery shows the hotel that was there in 1895. Also of note are the two means of transportation — a “bus” pulled by horses, and off to the right, an early horseless carriage. The covered bridge that was located there from 1838 or 1839 to 1923, also appears in the photo.
Email your guess to [email protected] or leave a message at 315-434-8889 ext. 310 with your guess by noon Friday. If you are the first person to correctly identify an element in the photo before the deadline, your name and guess will appear in next week’s newspaper, along with another History Mystery feature. History Mystery is a joint project of the Museum at the Shacksboro Schoolhouse and the Baldwinsville Public Library.
