Welcome to Buffalo!

Buffalo is a gateway city whose fortunes have fallen just lately. In a world where steel mills and heavy industry are not the bread winning guarantee they once where.
Buffalo is gamely looking for a new shtick to bring her up to date.

Once called the Queen City, in her hay day she was a booming town filled with promise, brilliant architecture and thriving industry and a transportation hub for lakes, canals and rail.

Some of the enduring marvels in Buffalo are the amazing mansions, and even some of the upper middle class homes which seem so wonderfully preserved despite being well over a hundred years old. Fine wooden painted homes so bright and cheery with their intricate woodwork.





The city was laid out in a careful and delightful way. In the late 1800s, visionary citizens brought Frederick Law Olmsted to Buffalo. It was here that Olmsted, inspired by Joseph Ellicott's radial street layout, designed his first system of parks and parkways, and proclaimed Buffalo to be "the best designed city in the country, if not the world." During the 1901 Pan American Exposition, Buffalo was celebrated not only as the City of Light, but the City of Trees.





Buffalo is also famous for it's snowy winter weather, located at the north eastern corner of Lake Erie the area is frequently treated to "Lake Effect" snow.



I have included a picture of the Buffalo Main Lighthouse. This architecturally stunning tower sits at the entrance to the Erie Canal, and was built in 1833 when the original light was deemed inadequate for the increased ship traffic entering and exiting the Buffalo River. The 66 foot tower was only active until 1914, when another breakwater light took over. That breakwater light was rammed several times by ships, and nearly destroyed by a major blow in 1958. The Buffalo Main Light was restored in the 1980's.



Since I'm very keen on shipwrecks, I am happy to report there are plenty of them in the local underwater vicinity.

The history of Buffalo is fascinating and rich, and there are certainly no lack of websites, books, museums and archives with a wealth of information to mine on the subject.



Yesterday afternoon on a mild and sunny day we walked along the break wall between the Canal and the Niagara River going under the Peacebridge to where it opens out to the lake. Needless to say I was daydreaming of drift dives to come, but also fascinated by this new view and outlook on the city.



While this is only a tiny look at Buffalo, it is a start. A new beginning.