OBSERVER Photos by Gregory Bacon Some of the stops of the Cassadaga walking tour include (top row): Lily Dale, the Cassadaga Country Club, a house that was a stop on the Underground Railroad and (above) the Red House.

CASSADAGA – With this crazy winter finally over, people have been looking for fun things to do that include two keywords: warm, and free. Look no further: a Cassadaga Walking Tour has been made available by Citizens for a Better Cassadaga, with the hopes that people can get out, exercise, enjoy the nice weather and learn a little bit about their local history.

The tour goes on a three mile circular route, with 24 stops. The starting point is the village Four Corners at the intersection of Maple Avenue and Route 60 (Main Street), before proceeding north on North Main Street to Dale Drive. You then turn left and follow Dale Drive to the end, then turn left onto Frisbee Road. From Frisbee, turn left onto Alden/Burnham and continue to Maple Avenue. Take a left onto Maple Avenue, and return to the Four Corners.

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The stops include: Four Corners, Brick House, 55 North Main Street, 18 Dale Drive- Fisher House, Dale Drive Snack Bar, Holtz Marina, The Road to Lily Dale, Camp Joshua, 150 Dale Drive – Hall House, 209 Dale Drive – Fern Island House, Madam Vignet’s Home and Dance Hall, The Leolyn Inn/Lily Dale gate, Iroquois Hotel, 8021 Glasgow Road, Denny House/Red House, The Todd Farm, Cassadaga Country Club, Alden/Burnham Roads, Cassadaga Cemetery, Lake’s End Marina, 99 Maple Avenue, 93 Maple Avenue, First Fire Hall, and Cassadaga Post Office.

“It came out of planning for Citizens for a Better Cassadaga projects; we listed a whole bunch of them. One of the things we were trying to do is have people take pride in their history, and also get people out walking and enjoying and hopefully meeting their neighbors, and all that,” said Peter George, CBC vice president. “So one of the things that came up was a historic walking tour and I said, ‘alright, I’ll try to work with other people and see if I can make that happen.'”

George went on to hunt down three long-term Cassadaga residents, all of whom were local history buffs, to gather some stories and create a cohesive, orderly tour for residents to follow. While there were tons of stories to include, the group decided to limit it to ones that could be spread out along the three-mile route, so that they weren’t all clumped in one area, and the circular fashion could lead the traveler back to their starting point.

Over three to four months, the four wrote us their stories, and then together looked them all over to see if any other historian could contribute little tidbits about each location. Then, a graphic designer, recommended by the CCHN, put it all together in a multi-paged pamphlet, and John Sipos provided a number of photos from his historical records.

The group also wanted to kill two birds with one stone by matching the tour with the annual walk around the lake, a fundraiser held by the Cassadaga Free Library, so that people could potentially, during the fundraiser, also stop to take in some of the local history.

“Some of the things are gone, which is kind of sad — Like the Four Corners, Camp Joshua is gone, but some of it is still right here, so people walking around can take a look and see the actual house or the actual property,” said George.

“John Sipos, our village historian, has been very supportive of it, and he’s talked to a number of people at various meetings who’ve said they’ve already started it, and you can also drive,” George stated. “All the stops are visible form the road, so it doesn’t have to be a walking tour, but the idea was to get people out and walking and interacting.”

George does, however, caution people who drive the tour to be careful when reading the brochure and driving at the same time — maybe bring a buddy!

George and the CBC would like to give a shout-out to the Chautauqua County Health Network. A representative went to an early planning meeting and told them, ‘You’re got a good idea there, we’re willing to give you some money in a grant to pay for printing.”

“We never could have come up with something this put together, so thanks to the Health Network, we were able to make it much nicer than we would have been able to do on our own,” George said gratefully.

The brochures can be found at the Cassadaga and Stockton libraries, the village hall, the Stockton Town Office and, when opened, the Lily Dale Museum and Valley Historical Society. A PDF version of the brochure can also be found at cassadaganewyork.com.

“So far the feedback has been very positive. I didn’t realize how much history was around our lake, and I think it’s still early, but it seems like the people who have done it or tried it had a lot of fun doing it,” said George. “It’s not designed to be some sort of history textbook. The stories are light and we tried to pick stories that were interesting, to make it fun, and that’s the whole purpose.”