Steria reunion, and the Croghan Depot Museum

Where are we today ?

Croghan New York

clic a picture to enlarge it

      Not so cold last night and no frost but we had rain, and the day is starting with overcast and drizzles. Hoping for the rain to let up for the Steria reunion which is outside early this afternoon.
      Got a short walkabout when the drizzles let up around through the cemetery across the road, no traffic and peaceful here.
       Laurie and Dave headed to their church at 8:15 this morning. Then at 10:15 I dropped  Suzie and her Dad down the road at a Mennonite church in Lowville. And I whipped into town for a few supplies that we can only get here in the states. Picked them up at 11:30 back to Laurie and Dave's and got a ride with them to the Steria Reunion for 1:00pm.
        They have it in a town park near  here every year outside in a pavilion. Next to no rain but it was quite cold, damp and windy. With a tarp on the one side to block the wind sure helped.
        We arrived and wandered about meeting some new people, distant relatives of Suzie's on the Steria (Stere). All related back to Joseph Stere who can to New York then Canada in the late 1800's.

Kieth Steria talking to Suzie's Dad Levi

food is starting to arrive

grilling hot dogs and burgers

Suzie chatting with another relative
who has been to Ontario a few years ago
to the Canadian Reunion,
I chatted with him for a while as well

tarp for wind protection

more great food

         Soon time to sample some of the goodies, and as usual tried to sample it all, not possible, but we prepared for this with no breakfast, and no supper planned for tonight.

it was all so tasty

I left no room for desert though
only a crumble sample
it all looked good though

     Then Suzie got into her genealogy and met lots more relatives checking out her information. She met more people. I did chat with a few people that knew of us and had some wonderful conversations. They had lots of door prizes and silent auction items, nothing for us to take home though.   EXCEPT. These 2 gifts below presented to us Canadian Relatives. Thanks you for such wonderful gifts, they will be enjoyed.

Maple Syrup Kisses

Chocolates from Croghan Candy Kitchen

     Suzie in her glory with the family tree information, gathering more info and passing some on.

Suzie with the white hat

        Then as things were winding down Keith wanted to get a group shot of everyone here today, at a rough count I came up with about 75 guests.

getting ready for the photo shoot

Keith ready with his camera.
and I will get the final shot from him in good time

This a photograph of the original Stere farm in Ontario
I got for Suzie

        From here back to Croghan and a quick stop Croghan Depot Museum. Of course not open today but  Laurie happens to be the executive director of  "Railway Historical Society of Northen New York" (RHSNNY) for a link to their wonderful website click HERE  just down the road from their house in Croghan. And if you are to make a donation to help this cause or you just love trains,  click on their website.

      And she just happens to have her keys with her so gave me a quick tour. What a wonder museum to check out if you are in the area when they are open and say Hi to Laurie for us if you do.

1918 Shay Steam Engine
one of only about a dozen still in existence.

photo of the Shay in operation
last run in 2001
in needs some maintenance to run again

1927 snow plow, pushed by the engine

Rutland Railroad combine car 1898
picture take from their website

the old train station

      Lots of inside info that we just skimmed through through for lack of time.

old railway records dating back to the 1800's

original bench from the train station

that's Laurie

        Then she took us back to the turnstile where they place the engines to turn them around.  This can be done with one man pushing the long steel bar when the Engine in balanced perfectly here. Amazing !

pushing that long bar on the left and you can turn the Engine around

winter storage shed

       From here back to Laurie and Dave's house. We hooked up our car to the coach between the rain getting ready for an early morning departure back to New Hamburg.

       Visited with them for a while and Laurie's Mom and Dad dropped over around 6 pm with some popcorn and sandwiches if we cared, for us to nibble on and they could browse through more genealogy books with Suzie. While Suzie nibbled the popcorn she had to give Rex a few nibbles as well, he loves popcorn.

yummy popcorn

Rex wants to say thanks for stopping by to visit us
here in Croghan New York.

            What a wonderful way to wrap up our weekend here in New York with the family reunion, too bad about the cool weather, but we all still had a wonderful time, meet more relatives especially for Suzie and her Dad.
         And a heartfelt thanks to Laurie, Dave as well as her Mom and Dad for the warm hospitality and amazing spreads of food we enjoyed while here. And all of the local sightseeing and history about this area as well as the Railway Museum.
         Now we can relax for the evening and will be up early to secure our coach and make our way north and east back home and with lotsa luck no major slow downs of traffic tie-ups.

We head south Oct 18, 2017Countdown

Where have we been this summer ?