The Fantessy passed a tug boat named for Dewitt Clinton, the man who fathered the Erie Canal. Linda and Janice prepared a wonderful breakfast for the crew of the Fantessy docked in the Fairport marina. At 8:30 am the bridge over the Erie Canal lifted, and we cast off. An hour later, we arrived at Pittsford, a delightful village of about 1,500 people. It was only seven miles southeast of Rochester but, for all we knew, was centuries away from the urban- industrial city on Lake Ontario.

Legend has it that Pittsford's first settler built a log cabin there in 1789. Soon a school (1794), library (1803), church (1807), post office (1811), and newspaper (1815) followed. A stagecoach station was opened in 1816 that connected Pittsford with most of western New York. When the Erie Canal was opened in 1822, the little village boomed with commerce and construction. It was later connected to Rochester by a railroad then a trolley line.

We four adventurers set out to explore the village. Linda disappeared into a gift shop, Janice and John found an ice cream shop, but I was lured into Pittsford Farms. The sign at the gate said it was one of the original estates established by Jarvis Lord, a canal contractor, in the 1860s.

A resident of Pittsford used an old wheelborrow and a time- earned concept to decorate his yard. Another sign read: Pittsford Farms Dairy. Milk from the MOO to YOU! And they bragged about still selling milk in returnable glass bottles.

I walked for an hour over the dell and through the woods until a man on a tractor hailed me down. "What you doing here?" he asked.

I told him, "Just enjoying the sights, sir." He politely told me to get off his property…so I did.

Back in town I discovered Schoen Place, a commercial venture that dated back to 1863 when John Schoen immigrated to Pittsford from Germany. From this strange cylindrical structure, Schoen sold cabbage, potatoes, farm machinery, and coal from Pennsylvania. Now, it contains a classy crepe shop.

My compatriots soon appeared, each with a different story. We decided to reboard

Fantessy and head toward Rochester, our final destination.

Janice finally learned how to hold the boat in the lock and keep us from blocking other boats or knocking up against the side. After leaving Pittsford on the Erie Canal, we passed through a double lock. The structure on the left is Schoen Place, now a crepe shop. On the right is the Pittsford Flour Mill, which is being converted into apartments.