NANCY’S NOTES
Stockton, New York 14784
After last week’s crazy trip to not-a-real-town of Stockton, Indiana, I am hoping that we will find a delightful little place in Stockton in New York. I don’t know about you, but I find myself thinking that the City of New York IS New York, but there’s quite a lot more to the State of New York than just the Big Apple. While the state population is 20.1 million, the most populated city in the U.S., New York City has 8.5 million of those folks. And the town we are headed to had 2,250 people the last time they were all counted, which was 10 years ago.
The first leg of this trip is on I-70, so even though it’s new territory, there’s just a comfortable, down-home feeling to see those familiar Interstate-70 signs—just enough so to make me kind of homesick. We’re seeing a lot of signs and references to Ohio State University and the Buckeyes, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying my KU Jayhawk sweatshirt.
Just west of Columbus, Ohio, we take off on I-270N onto “The Outerbelt” around Columbus. This highway is also known as the Jack Nicklaus Freeway, named after that famous Buckeye. The city planners and engineers did a great job of keeping traffic moving easily around the perimeter of the city on this Outerbelt. The only thing we had to watch for was Exit 26 where we merged onto I-71N toward Cleveland.
Everything past Indianapolis has been new territory for us, so this has been a great drive. A rule for us when traveling is that we don’t stop at a franchise restaurant—no McDonald’s or Wendy’s allowed. We try to find quaint “mom-and-pop” places instead. But suddenly I spot a Cracker Barrel, and I’m done in; it is way past time for lunch. Cracker Barrel has got to be one of my all-time favorite places to shop and eat and then shop some more, and this one calls my name. Inside the store I see reference to Roy and Wilma Yoder, folks from my brother’s town of Goshen, Indiana, who have traveled an estimated 5 million miles over the past four decades, on a quest to visit all 645 Cracker Barrel / Old Country Stores. Hey, that gives me an idea for another series of stories!
For the most part, all day we traveled through beautiful farm country, and late in the afternoon, as we got close to Cleveland, we hit major highway congestion. We had been looking for a place to stay overnight when we suddenly began seeing signs for the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. This looked too good to pass up, so we got a room at American House in Macedonia, Ohio, unloaded, grabbed some sub sandwiches, and then headed out to the national park for a quick visit. We were a little late in the day to fully enjoy the place, but had enough light left to enjoy the impressive Brandywine Falls. Many miles of hiking trails looked very appealing, and it’s one of those places we would like to visit again when we have time to explore.
As we started fresh the following day, we had only about 150 miles to go to reach Stockton, New York. Traveling on I-90, our drive was mostly parallel with shoreline of Lake Erie—such a very beautiful area and obviously very affluent along the lakeshore properties and businesses—one gated community after another, all with very fancy names. I’m certain we could not afford the cost of living here, but driving through doesn’t cost us anything, so we enjoyed ourselves. Glad they don’t charge a “gawker tax,” because we wouldn’t be able to keep going on the trip. After about an hour on the road, we bump over the Ohio/Pennsylvania state line, and less than an hour later, we crossed the Pennsylvania/New York state line.
We had exited I-90 and followed Highway 430 for quite a few miles through farming country when our audio instructions told us to turn left onto County Touring Route 54, and less than two miles later, another instruction said turn left onto County Tour Route 58/Stockton-Hartfield Road. This was really exciting, because now we knew we were getting close to our destination.
At that intersection, we stopped for a sandwich at the Olde Corner Deli. While the lady behind the deli counter made our sandwiches, I said we have been traveling the country to visit all the towns named “Stockton,” as is our home town. She laughed and said we were almost there, less than 10 miles away, but don’t expect too much, she said! She was very interesting to visit with and couldn’t believe we had already driven over 2,000 miles and visited six other Stocktons with six more to go. She said when we get to Stockton, New York, we should stay the night at the Stockton Hotel, located at the 4-way stop just as we get into town. Can’t miss it, she said. Just passed the big white church.
After enjoying delicious chicken salad croissant sandwiches, which she said were “on the house,” just for telling her our story, we headed east on the Stockton-Hartfield Road. We couldn’t miss the church—the Stockton Community Church—a large building, just as the lady at the Deli had described, and just a stone’s throw from the church was the 4-way stop, with the beautiful Stockton Hotel on the right. We went in to reserve a onenight stay, and we were met by a group of people sitting around a table for afternoon coffee break. They immediately pulled up two more chairs and invited us to join their circle. Having just had lunch at the Old Corner Deli, we weren’t really hungry, but when they brought out several fresh pies to choose from, we settled in with a cup of coffee and slice of peach pie topped with homemade vanilla ice cream. Of course, the big question was where we are from and where we are headed, and they were very entertained by the fact that we were visiting all the Stocktons in America. None of them had any idea there were 14 states with Stocktons, nor had they ever even wondered if there were others. They were interested in hearing about our own Stockton as well as the others we had already visited.
From these folks we learned about their Stockton and why they love living here. This town was named in honor of Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Stockton is in beautiful Chautauqua County, and was established on February 9, 1821. Here, people can go sailing, tour wineries, and explore Amish country. This picturesque region has something for everyone, they all agreed. In summer, Chautauqua County lures visitors with its five lakes including the Lake Erie shoreline, as well as dynamic arts and cultural programming at the Chautauqua Institution. They said we would not be able to just walk in and get a room here at the Stockton Hotel in the summer. In winter, abundant snows make it perfect for alpine and cross-country skiers.
We visited for about an hour with the group and then walked around town before dark, tossing some postcards to the grandkids in the outdoor mailbox at the Post Office (you know we are pretty far east when the zip code is 14784!), and locating the Mary E. Seymor Memorial Free Library. We never figured out where all those 2,200+ people are—perhaps they counted all the dogs, cats, chickens and those donkeys at the place just east of the Post Office.
It’s time to start thinking about our next route, from here to Stockton, New Jersey. Google says it’s 394 miles and that we can get there in a little over 6 hours. I’m betting more like 10 hours for us, and it’s likely an overnight stay somewhere along the way will be necessary.
Come on back next week and learn of our travels to New JOY-sey!
