It was a pretty quiet week for Dryden in the Journal. Harvestation, though, may be one of the best applications of technology to come out of Dryden in a while:
Harvestation.com, a local online bulk buying marketplace which went live in June...
The site is an outgrowth of the need for a connection point where local homesteaders, canners and big families can buy local and organic produce in bulk, said Katie Quinn-Jacobs, a local preserving expert and founder of the site, along with her husband David and friend Allison Fromme.
The Finger Lakes Land Trust will be celebrating a 39-acre addition to their 120 acre Ellis Hollow Nature Preserve, Pearman Woods, on September 16th at the Ellis Hollow Community Center. (The Town's posted a hiking map of the older preserve. There is a parking lot there now.)
Dryden Town Talk focused on an amazing sunflower, and noted a Lions Athletic Club meeting and Dryden Youth Opportunity Fair coming up.
Dryden also got a shout-out in a piece about Cornell's Cascadilla Hall:
In 1862, Dr. Samantha Nivison, the founder of a water cure in Dryden, approached Ezra Cornell and other prominent Ithacans about establishing a similar institution in Ithaca and combining it with a medical program for female students. With their logistical and financial support, she believed such an institution could thrive. Water cures, or hydrotherapy, were popular in mid-19th century America. They involved people bathing and soaking in water for extended periods, often with wet cloths on their heads, and drinking large quantities of pure or mineral water. Most of the water cures in the United States were in the Northeast, especially upstate New York, including Elmira, Oswego and Dansville.
Unfortunately, despite Cornell's support, Cascadilla Place (as it was then called) struggled. By 1868, after years of difficulties, including construction delays and insufficient funding, the Cascadilla Place Corporation came under the control of the newly opened Cornell University. Renamed Cascadilla Hall, it eventually became a dormitory for students and new professors.
Finally, the Journal mentions the Town of Dryden and the Villages of Freeville and Dryden in a piece about municipal employee pay. Unfortunately, all they do is average employee pay and rank those averages. In a really broad sense, those averages tell you something sort of, but they also fail to reflect what kind of distribution of jobs given municipalities have (lots of highway staff, or a few making overtime?) and what kinds of work they have to do. I'm not especially surprised, given the size and complexity of the towns, that Caroline's average is $26,972 while Dryden's is $34,150 and the Town of Ithaca is $47,674 - but what makes that happen? And why is the Town of Groton's average higher at $35,911 than the Town of Dryden's?
Maybe publishing the averages will get people to ask questions, but this list provides very few answers.
Posted by simon at August 28, 2010 10:01 PM in Ellis Hollow , Ithaca Journal , eating locally , history , public finance