Medina, NY
Welcoming Committee
In her research of the area, Misty discovered several curious and interesting facts about the Village of Medina and its surrounding area. So, we decided to take a mini-road trip during our stay at Lakeside State Park to this small, but historical community. We were immediately greeted by the sight of several beautiful deer which never ceases to lift our hearts.
To Our Surprise
Our first destination upon arriving in Medina would be Medina Falls. Since we’ve both grown up in and around communities that are also on this famous canal, we are quite familiar with the waterway and the calm peacefulness found along its shores. What we were not expecting is to turn a corner and find the emergence of a waterfall to the right of the canal. We also discovered the uniqueness of this stretch of the canal system is due to the fact that Oak Orchard Creek actually runs under the Erie Canal, right before plunging over Medina Falls.
We learned from the canal system’s information marker, the builders of the canal found the geography of this location, and the creek flowing through here, to be quite a complicated challenge. To overcome this obstacle, they constructed a concrete aqueduct, made of high-strength concrete, to carry the waters of the canal above the waters of Oak Orchard Creek. The original canal was constructed during the 1820s with the current aqueduct having been completed during the widening of the canal in 1914.
It is a wild experience to stand on the concrete path next to the canal, while witnessing the fast-flowing waters of the creek passing below, right before flowing over Medina Falls.
Medina Sandstone
We discovered another interesting detail about the Medina area while we were viewing Medina Falls and the aqueduct. As the men constructing the canal were digging here, they discovered a reddish-brown stone that became a very desirable building material. This beautiful rock formation became known as “Medina Sandstone”, it was close to the surface and easy to mine. Many quarries were started along the canal and throughout the area, the first having opened in 1837. Not only was this material used to construct homes and structures such as churches locally, but it was also transported down the canal in both directions. Many buildings in Buffalo, NY are constructed of “Medina Sandstone”, as were the pillars of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City and the steps of the State Capitol in Albany. “Medina Sandstone” was even used in London at Buckingham Palace! This was fascinating to us and quite a feather in the cap for Medina, NY.
A Village Street
We had hoped to visit the Medina Railroad Museum but sadly it was not open on the day of the week we were in town. Therefore, the rest of our visit to the village was spent walking along Main Street Medina. There are many beautiful historical buildings here that either are restored or have been kept in great condition. These buildings contain many small businesses and we very much enjoyed walking along to see the shops this village has to offer.
We stopped into a small bookstore where I’m happy to say I purchased the classic book, Ivanhoe. We also discovered a chocolate shop across the street, and of course, were drawn to enter Della’s Chocolates. We met the wonderful owner Susan (not Della as we erroneously guessed). We learned so much about Medina, her family, and her hopes for the business and the future. This was a highlight of our visit not to mention the fact, we walked away with a bag full of chocolates. My favorite was the milk chocolate with cayenne!
We unknowingly timed our visit to Main Street a little too late in the day, meaning the majority of the shops were closing for the evening, but fortunately this was not the case for the restaurants. We were now quite hungry and had been looking forward to having dinner at Zambistro. It did not disappoint. Our server was awesome, the food was perfect (I even tried escargot for the first time) and we left Medina quite content. I highly recommend Zambistro to anyone who might visit Medina.
Ripley’s Believe It or Not
Our last two endeavors before returning to Lakeside SP, were points of interest we would not have known about had it not been for our conversation with Susan at Della’s Chocolates.
St. John’s Episcopal Church, built in 1832 of “Medina Sandstone”, splits Church Street down the middle meaning, this church is “in the middle of the street” at the intersection of Church Street with Route 31. We followed Susan’s directions and got to see this unique situation.
Lastly, we drove a few miles out of the village of Medina to Culvert Road where the road runs through a culvert constructed under the Erie Canal. This is the only place along the entire canal where you can travel under the canal. The culvert was constructed in 1823 because a bridge in this location would need to be very high and begin quite some distance from the canal. It was much more logical and practical to engineer a passageway underneath instead. We drove through the culvert, found a small “parking area” and climbed up the berm to the canal path. Once again, I’m amazed at the engineering that went into the canal system dating back about 200 years ago.
Both the church and the culvert were featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Again, quite a feather in the cap of Medina, NY.
