Carriage House restored Thanks to a generous bequest left in the will of Brockport resident Madlyn Nelson in 1998, restoration of the carriage house at the Morgan Manning house and museum is underway and nearing completion. Eunice Chesnut, historian of the Western New York Historical Society and director of the museum, says, "It was one of my dreams to restore so it would be safe for children to go in there. Madlyn met with me one day and asked what I thought should be done if money were available. I told her I would do work on the carriage house. But we were floored when she left us $10,000 so the carriage house could be restored and made part of the educational tours given here." The two story carriage house was built around 1854 when the main house was being built by John Ostrom. The estate was purchased by the Morgan family in 1864 and was continuously occupied by the family until a fatal fire ripped through the house killing its last resident, Sara Morgan Manning, in 1964. The ground floor of the carriage house stabled the horses, stored carriages and other items, had a tack room and feed and storage area. Fine woodworking with wainscoting and stable doors ornament the lower level. The loft above had sleeping rooms for the stable men who took care of the horses and equipment and sometimes drove the carriages for the family. Until this restoration began, the carriage house remained unused except for an addition built on the north side in 1930 when the Morgan family acquired their first automobile. These days the garage is used for storage, including an old sailboat built in the carriage house in 1910. For generations, the boat has been sailed on Lake Ontario off Morgan Point. The first stage of the restoration plan included replacing the floor on the lower level, and repair of the loft above so visitors could tour the entire building. While the restoration is not complete, the carriage house is now open to visitors whenever the museum is open or by appointment. For a schedule of events at the museum, or to arrange a tour, call 585-637-3645. Volunteer labor and expertise made the restoration work affordable for the historical society. Leading the volunteer team of carpenters and other craftsmen was Don Grentzinger who is also a member of the board of the Western New York Historical Society. Sailboat According to Charlie Garlock, son of the late Fletcher Garlock and a descendent of the Morgan Manning family, the sailboat stored in the Morgan Manning museum was hand built by his grand uncle, Arnold Morgan Manning and local craftsman George Guelph in 1910. The boat has been sailed ever since on Lake Ontario, moored off Morgan Point, east of Sandy Creek opposite Brockport Yacht Club. Morgan Point is lake front property owned by the Morgan Mannings for generations. A historical vessel survey of the boat was done some years ago by the Rochester Marine Historical Society in which the boat was described as having "very lovely traditional classic lines of a Down East cat boat." It is fourteen feet, nine inches long with a seven foot beam, a cedar plank hull, white oak frame, rigged with Egyptian cotton sails. Fletcher Garlock had the boat restored in the 1980s when it was last judged seaworthy. Since his death, this beautiful sailboat has been stored in the Morgan Manning carriage house in Brockport and is displayed, fully rigged, during the museum's July 4th festivities. |
