Top Four Endangered Landmarks Massena New York 2007

[cuteredhead2110]

unfortunately most if not all of the family members of all these families are gone or moved away and don't know about any of their distant relatives and cannot take care of the stones. It is too bad.

[cuteredhead2110]

I remember I used to have mow those cemetaries when i worked for the town and the massena center was bad....

[johnswackyworld]

it hasnt changed and will continue to turn to dust

[ericcecilie]

@johnswackyworld They Should blow up that Crappy ass mall of ours. Its a shit hole. Its' goood for 2 things. Good for nothing and no good. I mean it doesn't even have a pet store or a toy store what the H.E. double HELL MAN!!!

[johnswackyworld]

@ericcecilie people would rather demolish a 150 year old landmark in downtown massena that was there when our pioneers started massena in its first 60 years and replace it with a quickie mart..

[macpduff]

You need to protect these places by declaring them National Historic Sites - then they get the protection of law and grant money. Tell your town officials to get on the ball! I live in the South now and entire downtown districts have been protected this way. Otherwise, your heritage will be lost to the pressures of economics. I grew up in NY and am still saddened by the loss of 18th C buildings removed for parking lots -- ugh. We need the old to tell us who we are today. Get cracking Massena!

[gordtara18]

omgosh im only 16 and i remember going to church at the first baptist church when i was 5. its sad how massena has gone down hill since ive moved. wow.

[johnswackyworld]

well, when i was 16 massena was alot different..i guess that is what happens with age! your still very young. massena has always survived. but changes fast with different new people and new places. the old buildings go down and the cemeteries get neglected. our past gets forgotten too quickly. in time massena will hoepfully reviveitself. just have to have the right people who love for their hometown and the influence. thanks --john

[defrisselle]

@johnswackyworld

You should try to secure access to the baptist church and do a video documentary on it's history. It would be nice to see the inside. There should be some kind of archival record made before it is torn down. Maybe the cornerstone could be saved.

[careylowell]

The Burr Oak must be in excess of 225 years old. Oaks in general are very slow growing. It certainly wasn't planted in 1850 like this video states. The Springs Hotel looks the same way it did 50 years ago: crap. Since its opening day has had no more claim to architecture fame than a quonset hut.

[johnswackyworld]

well, I guess the massena museum and all historical records archived in stories and other sources have the age of the tree wrong? they say what they say for an age! the springs hotel had that additon placed onto it long before 1958. if you look at the original section..the brick..that is were the beauty rest and the age of what was once the smith house - the only standing hotel left from the miniral springs era.

[careylowell]

The late Mrs Ringwall, former Town Historian, that foresters from the Wanakena had studied the oak with interest and believed it was 20 decades old(this was in the mid-70's)and was the largest example of its type the school was aware of. In my wasted youth, I haunted the old museum under the Town Hall. I was shown photos of the tree from the post-civil war era showing an already old tree. 90% of the Springs Hotel life has been spent as a wateringhole for people who start drinking at10am.

[careylowell]

Oops. My cts should read "..former Town Historian, informed me that foresters..."

[johnswackyworld]

well that information is new to me..dont recall that being in the files at the museum..but since the museum was moved from the town hall lots of files, photos and artifacts have mysterious vanished..john

[sergie26]

this stuff most take a long time like your old photo albums video where do you find all these pics.

[johnswackyworld]

over the years I have been collecting these photos of massena. I have salvaged them from dumpsters, village spring and fall clean ups, old homes being torn down, or they have been given to me by people. I have also snapped these photos with my cameras over the years since i was nine years old starting in the early 1980's. john

[adventure91285]

i walk by that burr oak tree everynight and i never realized it was that old... i will say hello to the old oak tree next time lol thank you for this....i am leaving for the navy soon and will miss my small town of massena

[johnswackyworld]

good luck..i wish i could go on a trip for awhile away from massena to see people from here moved away! if i win the lotto or get rich i will fixup and buy all these landmarks to preserve them..well..the tree is different. time will only tell..john

[1TaySwift16]

i agree with you on this video....massena could do a lot better and if i had money i would love to help.

[johnswackyworld]

thank you. i'm glad you made that comment. i would do the same if i had the money. buy the oldest homes that remain and restore some of the cemeteries myself..john

[mcwdesign]

Thank you for caring about architectural character still remaining in Massena...and especially about FBC Massena. I grew up in this church and despite having moved away years ago, this church (like Massena itself) is still "home" for me. I hope that someone can save it from demolition.

[johnswackyworld]

thank you and i hope somebody will acquire the church soon and keep it there. its a prime sight downtown that any store chain could buy...but lets hope that will never happen..maybe it will become another church. we will see in future.john

[wimpie25]

Typical for the us

[NahaniDeer]

It's, for me, sad to see the lack of community interest in preservation in the north country.

Thank you for getting the world out and trying to get this on the map =)

[johnswackyworld]

thank you..i'm hoping in some way the word will get from the north country here and somebody out there will save the church here. please..no chain store where the church his now! john