Museum of Wayne County History

10/13/2026

Remember the Revolution? Remember the past, as it is reflected in today. So many soldiers and each one has a name.

Services will be held Tuesday at the Saratoga National Cemetery for Continental Army soldiers killed 250 years ago.

10/12/2026

Did you know we have a YouTube channel? Did you happen to miss Saturday's presentation? Well head on over to our YouTube channel and check out an uploaded recording of Linda Stevenson's "Ghosts of Newark" presentation. Click the link below to watch. And while you're there, why not subscribe? We greatly appreciate it!

Presented by Linda Stevenson of Newark, NY. Linda explores the haun...

10/10/2026

10/09/2026

Tomorrow is a New York State Path Through History Day! We will be hosting Linda Stevenson tomorrow at noon for her presentation, "Ghosts of Newark". We would love to see you there and don't for get to bring a friend!

10/06/2026

The New England Witch Trials, along with their devastating impact on local communities, represent a shameful chapter in American History. Join the museum as we host Ann Sewart of the local DAR Chapter and her presentation on Colonial Witches.

This presentation will take place on October 21 at 6pm. It is free to attend, but there is a $5 suggested donation. RSVPs are not required, but appreciated. More information can be found at waynehistory.org/events

10/06/2026

Join us for a NYS Path Through History day! Or rather, a Path Through Mystery day... We will be open from 10-4 on Saturday, October 10th for a NY Path Through History day - October special! There will be a presentation at noon on the "Ghosts of Newark" presented by Linda Stevenson. Come dressed in your spookiest clothes and costumes to enjoy this presentation. Afterwards, explore the site of the old Wayne County Jail. Light refreshments will be available.

Adults are $5. Students (k-12), seniors, and veterans are $3. Members and children 5 and under are free. RSVPS are not required but appreciated.

10/05/2026

Mark you calendar. RSVP below. And come to a business after hours event on this Wednesday 10/7 from 5pm - 7pm with the Lyons Main Street Program at the Museum!

Lyons Businesses, government agencies, non-profits and Lyons community members, please join us for Business After Hours this Wednesday evening, 10/7pm from 5pm-7pm at the Museum of Wayne County History! Great venue, fun evening. All are welcome--Please RSVP asap! https://www.lyonsny.org/event-details/lmsp-business-after-hours-4

10/04/2026

Great local take on our Apple Industry. Don't forget October is Apple Tasting Tour month sponsored by Wayne County Tourism and local farm markets. And the Apple is the NYS fruit thanks to Wayne County!

This unassuming green apple looks like the kind of thing that might give you a stomachache if you ate it.

But the Rhode Island Greening is actually one of the apples that helped build Wayne County’s fruit industry.

In 1851, R. G. Pardee of Palmyra wrote about the remarkable growth of Wayne County’s orchards in an article wonderfully titled “Wayne County — The Orchard of New-York.” In his account, he credited the early Foster and Reeve families of Palmyra with bringing grafts of Rhode Island Greening, Esopus Spitzenburg and Roxbury Russet back from Long Island to their young nursery.

From there, he wrote, those varieties “spread in every direction.”

And spread they did.

By the early 1900s, Rhode Island Greening and Baldwin dominated Wayne County orchards. Northern Spy, Twenty Ounce, Roxbury Russet and Tompkins King were grown here too, but Greening had become one of the apples that defined the local industry.

Meanwhile, up in Sodus, apples were becoming serious business. Orchards expanded, fruit drying became an important local industry, and apples became increasingly woven into the economy of the community.

And somehow, more than a century later, there are still Greenings hanging on trees here.

I’ve been paying much more attention lately to the older apple varieties that once filled Wayne County orchards, and I’m curious:

Do you remember Rhode Island Greenings, or simply “Greenings” growing in your family’s orchard? What other old varieties do you remember?