Genoa Historical Association and Rural Life Museum

Introduction

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Genoa Historical Association and Rural Life Museum (hereafter known as GHA) is based at the Rural Life Museum located in King Ferry, a small village in the Town of Genoa, Southern Cayuga County, New York State. The Genoa Historical Association was formed in 1987 with the purpose of preserving the history of the Town of Genoa (which had been initially formed as the Town of Milton in 1789). The RLM currently houses a meeting room and a records & research room. The meeting room is filled with the museum display of historic artifacts that are associated with town history and rural life of days gone by. it hosts three display cases with many items of historical significance, and the walls are lined with photos depicting area residents and area landmarks. The records & research room holds an abundance of local records, such as school year books, church and cemetery records, a historic newspaper collection (The Genoa Tribune), diaries and family memorabilia from local families, and an extensive collection of genealogy resources used by past historians. The GHA is currently working on digitizing historic documents in order to make the information in them more broadly available to those interested in or researching town history. Two other buildings here include a one-room school house and a historic threshing barn.

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Rural Life Museum

Backstory and Context

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Since its inception, the museum has provided opportunities for elementary, middle school and high school student tours and research. Group tours, genealogy research, historical presenters, speakers on topics of local interests, authors, musicians and artists are regular activities. Memory chats of local areas and businesses are popular programs for the older residents as are boat tours on Cayuga Lake that focus on the past, present and future preservation of the lake.

The Genoa Historical Association also maintains contact with other Cayuga County Historians through the History Coalition of Cayuga County (H3C) and works to cooperatively join forces to bring history to the area on a county level.

The Records Room stores historical documents and family histories from the Town of Milton (Genoa, Northville, King Ferry…) from its earliest settlers in 1789 to the present. The history of early schools (over 50 one room schoolhouses) through the consolidation of Genoa, King Ferry and Sherwood Schools, plus yearbook copies for these three schools, into the Southern Cayuga Central School district can be found. Information on neighboring towns, rural life and agricultural progress is available. Copies of the community newspaper, the Genoa Tribune, for over 100 years are on file. A library of local and NYS history books, railroads, the Civil War and more, in addition to several books by local authors, welcome researchers and interested community members. Research is available to the public during regular hours or by appointment.

The meeting room is available to the community upon request. The tables and chairs can accommodate up to 30 people.

Make sure that you sign our Visitor’s Book when stopping in to browse through our collection!

Sources

Genoa Historical Association. About Us, Accessed May 13th 2021. http://www.genoahistorical.org/about-the-gha.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

GHA website

Additional Information

Genoa Historical Association Website