Lafayette’s 1825 Visit To Greater Western New York (Part I)
General Lafayette’s 1825 tour revealed a surprisingly desolate Western New York. Virgin forests dominated, with tiny settlements just emerging. What did this frontier region really look like?
Click the link below for this week’s episode of The State of Greater Western New York Report to explore Lafayette’s historic visit.
In the first half of the show, host Chris Carosa, author of the award-winning book History Unleashed: Lafayette’s Remarkable Tour of the Greater Western New York Region, paints a vivid picture of 1825, when Canandaigua and Geneva were the region’s largest towns, outshining Buffalo and Rochester. He debunks myths about Lafayette’s stops, revealing many “Lafayette ate here” claims as exaggerated, and shares how his visit celebrated America’s post-War of 1812 prosperity.
In the second half, Carosa uncovers the rugged roads and nascent Erie Canal that shaped Lafayette’s journey. Surprisingly, his route through Greater Western New York was a game-time decision, not always as originally planned. From geological escarpments to early settler paths, discover how this tour connected the region to the nation’s revolutionary spirit.
Our guest happily answered questions from the live audience. In fact, these are probably some of the same questions you had. Would you like to be a live audience member so you can ask our guests questions? Click here to join the growing number of members who share your feelings on StateOf.GreaterWesternNewYork.com because then we can automatically send you the link to watch our shows live.
Theme music by “mansardian” courtesy of FreeSound.org under Creative Commons License Attribution 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
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