Welcome to the History Corner!
Celebrating the rich history of Port Byron, New York, an old Erie Canal village in the Town of Mentz. This site is dedicated to the legacy and heritage of our community as well as a variety of regional historical tidbits. I hope you enjoy your visit and will stop by again.

Saturday, September 12, 2009





















HILDENE OPENS NEW LINCOLN EXHIBIT

The Amos S King Bible from Port Byron, NY is now a featured item in a new Lincoln Exhibit.

Paula Maynard Press Release:
"Hildene, The Lincoln Family Home announces the opening of its new Abraham Lincoln exhibit, “The American Ideal: Abraham Lincoln and the Second Inaugural” on Saturday, September 5.

Set within the context of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural, which harkens back to the then radical beliefs first enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, visitors will learn how the Civil War and President Lincoln helped bring life and meaning to the promise of the American Ideal of equality, justice and opportunity for all.

The exhibit thoughtfully uses text from the speech, considered to be the president’s greatest, and artifacts from the collections of Hildene and Brown University’s John Hay Library, one of the five great Lincoln collections. The two institutions recently formalized their partnership with a Memorandum of Understanding and the formation of the Hildene-Brown Collaborative.

Among the artifacts included in the exhibit are; one of only three of Lincoln’s iconic stovepipe hats in existence, one of his bibles, a cast of the president’s hands, a life mask and a scrapbook that belonged to a supporting actress who appeared in the production of “Our American Cousin,” the play the President was watching on the evening of the assassination. The scrapbook contains a swatch of wallpaper from his Fords Theater box. Also in the exhibit is a playbill from this final performance. A bust of Thomas Jefferson, principal author of the Declaration of Independence, is on loan from the Jefferson Legacy Foundation.

The Lincoln Family Home at Hildene is open daily from 9:30 to 4:30. Admission, which includes the exhibit, is $12.50 for adults, $5 for youth 6-14, children under 6, Hildene members and volunteers are free. For more information on Hildene, visit www.hildene.org, call 802.362.1788 or email info@hildene.org."