Back then we called it The French Fort
Among my favorite childhood memories are my family's visits to a place most Central New Yorkers used to refer to as The French Fort.

My family's visits began in the mid-1930s. For all I know, the above photo of my parents, Helen and Buster Major, might have been taken during their very first visit to the fort, located on Onondaga Lake Parkway in Liverpool .

The French Fort would remain a favorite family place for about 50 years. It has since been redone as a living museum tended by men and women in colonial costumes who expect visitors to speak as though it were the 18th century, making the place much more informational, but not quite as entertaining as it used to be when visitors could wander as they pleased and let their imaginations run wild without facing a pop quiz from one of the guides. Admittedly I've never been fond of living museums, at least not those that want visitors to pretend they've been transported to another century.

(Admittedly, I've also been spoiled by a few visits to The Genesee Country Village and Museum in Mumford, NY, a much larger undertaking, but one that allows visitors to stroll through a wonderful village made up of old homes, churches and businesses that were painstakingly moved from places throughout the state and re-assembled on several acres outside a town about 20 miles southwest of Rochester. The folks there dress appropriately for the age of the building in which they are stationed and they go about their business pretty much the way people did back then, but when they converse with visitors they do it as residents of the 21st century.)

However, if you're in the Syracuse area and you'd like to go back in time, then you might appreciate what they've done to one of my favorite childhood haunts. But don't look for it to be listed as The French Fort. That's just what we called it back then. Now it's called Sainte Marie Among the Iroquois, a change from the original name, Fort Ste. Marie de Gannentaha, which was built by Jesuits in 1656 to protect a small French settlement.

The new facility has a musem that displays information and artifacts of the 17th century culture of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and the French. At the fort itself are those costumed interpreters who fill visitors in on life in the 1650's. There also are demonstrations in carpentry, blacksmithing, cooking and other activities.

If you do go, then be sure to visit the nearby Heid's Restaurant and try some of their snappys.

And if you're ever in the Rochester area, the Genesee Country Village and Museum would be well worth a visit.