''November 2019''
Hey, glad you found this place okay! Sorry the weather isn't nicer, but what can you do... And I know the drive to get here wasn't the most scenic—Transit Road has been entirely overtaken with strip malls and plazas, ugh. All this used to be farmland... But we'll get a little taste of the area's past today, in this little, tucked-away community: welcome to [[Blossom, NY|Barn]]!
//(Psst, it's me, the author—not the narrator, who's giving you this tour, but the one who wrote all this. ''Red'' links are asides that'll give you more info on subjects the narrator mentions—feel free to explore or ignore them as you please (there'll also be a chance to go back to any you missed at the end). ''Blue'' links move you on to a new location. You'll be able to see a full list of those at the end, too, if you missed or wanted to revisit any.//''The Ebenezer Society''
This was a group of German Christians who came to the U.S. fleeing persecution. They believed in communal living and isolation from society, with the aim of avoiding so-called "corrupting influences". In 1843 they bought a 5,000-acre tract of land in Erie County, where they established four settlements—one of which would become Blossom. Their name for it was Upper Ebenezer.
Within less than 10 years, though, the group felt threatened by the growing city of Buffalo, fearing it held too many wordly temptations for their youth—especially given that it had a large German population who lived much less strictly than the Ebenezers did. They sold their land and left to form a new community in Iowa, and were all moved out by 1861. (They later renamed themselves the Amana Society, and their large Iowa settlement is now a tourist attraction!)
$back''The Seneca Nation''
Originally, this whole area was home to the Seneca Nation. They called this spot *Dyo-nah-da-eeh*, which means “hemlock elevation," and established a village here in 1780. The 1797 Treaty of Big Tree shunted all the area's Indigenous people onto 11 reservations, one of which was the Buffalo Creek Reservation—which included this site.
In 1838, though, one of the area's big land companies used coercion and bribery to push through a purchase of all the Seneca reservations, paying them in part with a tract of land in Kansas. At first the Seneca refused to leave, but after the terms were changed to let them keep two reservations, they slowly departed their village here, and had all left by 1847.
$back{<style>
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}''Blossom's Roads''
Blossom is entirely on two roads: Main Street runs roughly east-west, intersecting Blossom Road (originally called Dr. Jake Road, after one of the area's $color[[[Seneca|Seneca Nation]] ] residents), which runs roughly north-south. On the map, Transit Road is the one with all the strips malls. It's also the $color[[[town|Municipal divisions of New York State]] ] line.
$back''Post-Ebenezer Residents''
So the Ebenezers packed up and left, leaving all their buildings and cleared farmland up for sale. The county's population was booming at the time, so there were plenty of people ready to move in. In particular, the Buffalo area was seeing a large number of German immigrants, and it was mostly Germans who settled here after the Ebenezers were gone, creating an ethnic continuity with them even if not a religious one.
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}Here we are with a view of the more impressive side of the mill. There's the dam that supplied the waterpower; the deeds for the property specifically say that the right to maintain a dam here comes with it. It makes a nice little series of waterfalls, right? In the 1940s and 50s, somewhere around here was a popular swimming hole.
Well, we've reached the far edge of Blossom—it really is a tiny place! [[Anywhere you want to see (again) before we go?|list]]{<style>
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}This house and the one next to it were built by the $color[ [[Ebenezer Society]]], the group that founded Blossom. All their houses were simple like these—long, low, 1.5 stories, no ornamentation. Originally they didn't even have porches. Two families lived in each, with either a shared kitchen and dining room or none at all—some sources say that everyone ate communally in a central building.
Anyway, these are two of the several Ebenezer houses that remain in the hamlet today. Most have been significantly altered, but these two really haven't much.
(if: not (visited: "list"))[Continuing east, on the north side of the street is what used to be the [[German Evangelical Church]], now a gift shop, and on the south side is [[St. Paul's Lutheran Church]]. Or we could [[skip the churches for now...|Ebenezer Houses 2]] ](else:)[ [[What now?|list]] ]{<style>
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}While it's awesome that this building still exists, since it was built as a store by the $color[ [[Ebenezer Society]]] in the 1850s, it's basically lost all of its original features. The windows have been altered, it's got at least three different kinds of replacement siding, and the porch is a complete rebuild...
But anyway, the $color[ [[Ebenezers' successors|new residents]]] continued to use it as a store, and later it also became a hotel. Automobile parties from Buffalo would stop here—because back when cars were still a novelty, rich people loved to escape the big city and take a drive though the idyllic countryside.
Eventually it fell out of use, or maybe just wasn't well-maintained, and by the 1990s it was pretty deteriorated. A couple bought it and did a significant rehab—not sure how much of its current look dates to then, or if it was already this altered—and it's housed various businesses since.
{
(if: (visited: "list"))[ [[What now?|list]]
](else:)[
(if: not (visited: "Blossom historical marker") and not (visited: "Grist mill"))[Next, we can check out the [[Blossom historical marker]] or the [[mill|Grist mill]]!
](else-if: not (visited: "Grist mill"))[All right, on to the [[mill|Grist mill]]!
](else-if: not (visited: "Blossom historical marker") and not (visited: "Bridge"))[Where to now—the [[historical marker|Blossom historical marker]], or [[the bridge over the creek|Bridge]]?
](else:)[All right, now let's head [[onto the bridge|Bridge]].
]]
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}//(Hi. It's me from the future, with sad news... In May 2023, this church burned down, and the site is now just an empty lot. But since our tour takes place before that, you still get to see it!)//
(if: not (visited: "German Evangelical Church"))[Both congregations here were founded the same year, 1862, by the $color[ [[new residents]]] who moved in after the $color[ [[Ebenezers|Ebenezer Society]]] left. I don't know what the difference between the two denominations was, but it was apparently enough that they each needed their own church! This building, the Lutheran Church,](else:)[This is the Lutheran Church, which] replaced the congregation's first building after it burned down in 1872. (if: not (visited: "German Evangelical Church"))[
]They started out with German-only services, but added English ones around 1910, and gave up the German after World War I. By 1950 the church had about 200 members, and it remains an active church today //(both 2019 and 2024 "today", albeit in a different building since the fire)//.
{
(if: not (visited: "list"))[
(if: not (visited: "German Evangelical Church") and not (visited: "Ebenezer Houses 2"))[The former [[German Evangelical Church]] is across the street, or we can continue east to [[more houses|Ebenezer Houses 2]].
](else-if: not (visited: "German Evangelical Church"))[ [[German Evangelical Church]] next, or [[continue east|School No. 8]]?
](else:)[(if: not (visited: "Ebenezer Houses 2"))[All right, [[continuing east|Ebenezer Houses 2]]...
](else:)[All right, [[continuing east|School No. 8]]...
]]](else:)[ [[What now?|list]] ]
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}(if: not (visited: "St. Paul's Lutheran Church"))[Both congregations here were founded the same year, 1862, by the $color[ [[new residents]]] who moved in after the $color[ [[Ebenezers|Ebenezer Society]]] left. I don't know what the difference between the two denominations was, but it was apparently enough that they each needed their own church! This group, the German Evangelical Society,](else:)[This was the German Evangelical Society's church. The congregation] initially used the (if: (visited: "St. Paul's Lutheran Church"))[$color[ [[Ebenezers'|Ebenezer Society]]]](else:)[Ebenezers'] old church building, but in 1880 they replaced it with this one. They had services only in German until 1902, when they switched to English-only.
That congregation dissolved in 1950, and a different denomination bought the building. But sadly it was struck by lightning in 1977, and the steeple was completely destroyed. The congregation moved out, and a heating/cooling business moved in. By 2005, the building was unused and pretty sad-looking—but a woman who happened to drive by one day fell in love and bought it and fixed it up, including rebuilding the steeple! She still owns it and runs the Olde Steeple country gift shop here.
{
(if: not (visited: "list"))[
(if: not (visited: "St. Paul's Lutheran Church") and not (visited: "Ebenezer Houses 2"))[ [[St. Paul's Lutheran Church]] is across the street, or we can continue east to [[more houses|Ebenezer Houses 2]].
](else-if: not (visited: "St. Paul's Lutheran Church"))[ [[St. Paul's Lutheran Church]] next, or [[continue east|School No. 8]]?
](else:)[
(if: not (visited: "Ebenezer Houses 2"))[All right, [[continuing east|Ebenezer Houses 2]]...
](else:)[All right, [[continuing east|School No. 8]]...
]]](else:)[ [[What now?|list]] ]
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}When I visited Blossom for the first time, the mill was the main thing I noticed. It's not the most striking to look at, especially this side, but it was very cool to stumble on an intact mill at all when so many are gone now.
The earliest mill on this site was operated by a $color[ [[Seneca|Seneca Nation]]] man called Dr. Jake; sadly I haven't been able to find out anything else about him. The $color[ [[Ebenezer Society|Ebenezer Society]]] ran a sawmill and a gristmill side by side here, which the $color[ [[new residents]]] took over when they moved in. After both buildings burned down in the 1880s, this building was constructed in 1896 as a combined grist mill and cider mill. Some portions are later additions.
Starting in the 1910s, the mill's owners operated the Blossom Garage from the building, and later also a radio and television sales/repair business. It became a gathering place for the community too, and the milling continued into the 1950s.
{
(if: (visited: "list"))[ [[What now?|list]]
](else:)[
Now let's walk [[out onto the bridge|Bridge]]...
(if: not (visited: "Ebenezer Store/Blossom Hotel") and not (visited: "Blossom historical marker"))[Or did you want to see the old [[store/hotel|Ebenezer Store/Blossom Hotel]] or the [[Blossom historical marker]] first?
](else-if: not (visited: "Ebenezer Store/Blossom Hotel"))[Or did you want to see the old [[store/hotel|Ebenezer Store/Blossom Hotel]] first?
](else-if: not (visited: "Blossom historical marker"))[Or did you want to see the [[historical marker|Blossom historical marker]] first?
]]
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}This one also makes me sad, although you can at least immediately tell it's not a normal house, right? It was Blossom's school building, built in 1900. It looks kind of depressing now with that siding and no windows on the front, but originally it had an arched window above the front door and plaques reading "Blossom" and "School No. 8" (schools in each $color[ [[town|Municipal divisions of New York State]]] were designated with numbers in the order of their establishment). It also used to have a little bell tower on top of the roof.
Oh, but why is the school now a house? By the 1950s, with the area's suburban population soaring, these little school buildings had become too small, so several towns formed a big central school district and built new schools, then auctioned off the old ones. Somebody bought this one in 1957 and converted it to a house.
Moving on, next door is the former [[Ebenezer Store/Blossom Hotel]], across the street from that is the [[Blossom historical marker]], and up ahead at the street junction is the [[Grist mill]]!{<style>
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}This barn marks the entrance to Blossom, and it's the reason I first explored down this $color[ [[street|Blossom's roads]]]. "Oh hey," I said to myself, "that looks old"—and I was right! Blossom is a tiny little $color[ [[hamlet|Municipal divisions of New York State]]] that was established in the 1840s and has managed to remain fairly intact depite the change all around it.
Originally, the barn was associated with the [[house across the street|Ebenezer Houses 1]]...{<style>
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}Here are some more $color[ [[Ebenezer|Ebenezer Society]]] houses, these two across the street from each other. You can see how they've been more altered than the other pair—the north one with that added front gable in the middle, and the porch, not to mention the vinyl siding. Last time I saw it was before they put that on, and it had these beautiful wood fishscale shingles in the gable, but now they're covered up... The porch is nice though; it's clearly old even if not original—it must've been added by one of the $color[ [[new residents]]](if: not (visited: "German Evangelical Church") and not (visited: "St. Paul's Lutheran Church"))[ who moved into this place after the Ebenezers left].
Oof, but don't get me started on the one across the street—vinyl siding *and* that hideous faux-stone? *shudder*
{
(if: not (visited: "School No. 8"))[
Let's [[continue east|School No. 8]]
(if: not (visited: "German Evangelical Church") and not (visited: "St. Paul's Lutheran Church"))[—or did you want to see [[German Evangelical Church]] or [[St. Paul's Lutheran Church]] first?
](else-if: not (visited: "German Evangelical Church"))[—or did you want to see [[German Evangelical Church]] first?
](else-if: not (visited: "St. Paul's Lutheran Church"))[—or did you want to see [[St. Paul's Lutheran Church]] first?
](else:)[...
]](else:)[ [[What now?|list]] ]
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}//(Hi, it's me the meta voice again. I unfortunately didn't take a photo of this sign in November 2019, so I had to use this one from March 2018, taken on a much nicer day. Just pretend it matches the others, okay?)//
I have a love/hate relationship with these things—since they can only fit like, two sentences, they tell you so little about a place beyond the barest facts, and sometimes (the old ones at least) aren't even accurate! On the other hand, I noticed this sign the first time I visited Blossom, and it helped spark my interest and gave me something to Google to get started on my research. The note about the name change also helped spur my $color[ [[name origin quest|Name]]]...
{
(if: (visited: "list"))[ [[What now?|list]]
](else:)[
Anyway, (if: not (visited: "Ebenezer Store/Blossom Hotel") and not (visited: "Grist mill"))[what's next—[[the old store/hotel|Ebenezer Store/Blossom Hotel]] or [[the mill|Grist mill]]?
](else-if: not (visited: "Grist mill"))[on to the [[mill|Grist mill]]?
](else-if: not (visited: "Ebenezer Store/Blossom Hotel") and not (visited: "Bridge"))[on to the [[hotel|Ebenezer Store/Blossom Hotel]], or [[the bridge over the creek|Bridge]]?
](else:)[let's head [[onto the bridge|Bridge]].
]]
}Where to?
* [[Ebenezer houses (less altered)|Ebenezer Houses 1]]
* [[German Evangelical Church]]
* [[St. Paul's Lutheran Church]]
* [[Ebenezer houses (more altered)|Ebenezer Houses 2]]
* [[Former school|School No. 8]]
* [[Ebenezer Store/Blossom Hotel]]
* [[Blossom historical marker]]
* [[Mill|Grist mill]]
Or was there anything you wanted to hear more about?
* [[Blossom's roads (map)|Blossom's roads]]
* [[Municipal divisions of New York State]]
* [[The Seneca Nation|Seneca Nation]]
* [[The Ebenezer Society|Ebenezer Society]]
* [[Post-Ebenezer residents|new residents]]
* [[Origin of the name "Blossom"|Name]]
[[Time to go?|end]]Thanks for listening to me ramble—I hope you enjoyed our little tour! I'll let you go now, but if you want to know more about Blossom, or see some old photos, I'll share a copy of the report I wrote about it in grad school. Bye!
[[About]]
(link: "Restart")[(restart:)]''Municipal Divisions of New York State''
So in New York State, a hamlet is a distinct community that has no official designation—in contrast to a village or city, which is legally registered and has its own government. Towns in New York State are like what are called townships in other states; the entire state is divided into towns, and then within them are villages, cities, and hamlets. But again, "hamlet" isn't an official legal term, unlike "city" or "village"; it just refers to a small population center.
$back''The Name''
Various secondary sources say the origin of the name "Blossom" is unknown, which piqued my interest; I love trying to solve a good research mystery. For the most part, the name seems to just show up in the 1860s, although maps still labeled the place $color[[["Upper Ebenezer"|Ebenezer Society]] ] as late as 1938.
Eventually, I discovered a hand-written note scrawled in the margin of the 1870 federal census—something like "Village of Blossom's Mills begins here". With that search term in hand, I found a few other places calling it "Blossom's Mills" during the period from about 1865-1870.
Inititally, I thought I'd cracked the case—someone with the last name "Blossom" (which was entirely plausible, as there was a prominent citizen with that last name in Buffalo in the early nineteenth century) must have owned or run the mill. Buuuut, I haven't actually found any record of anyone named Blossom ever living in the hamlet or owning the mill. (And I've traced the mill deeds all the way back from the present to the Ebenezers' ownership). So while at least I know now that "Blossom" was a shortening of the earlier "Blossom's Mills", who this Blossom was remains a mystery...
$back{(set: $back to "(link-goto: \"Back\", $lastPass)")
(set: $color to (link-style: (text-color: #E53A3A)))
}Giving a virtual tour of Blossom via IF is an idea I've had for a bit, so it's nice to finally realize it! As noted before, me-the-narrator and me-the-author are distinct people; the narrator is a fictionalized version of me who is a bit more peppy and speaks more eloquently than I do, haha. But all the opinions expressed are ones I share, and the facts are true!
Blossom is a real place in Western New York (Erie County, specifically, about 15 miles east of Buffalo). The report I wrote in grad school, which provided the basis for this work, is included as a download on the itch.io page (fair warning that it's much drier than this!). The best thing about it is that it includes old maps, historical photos, larger versions of the photos you saw here (as well as additional photos of houses that weren't interesting enough to mention), and a full bibliography.
This was a fun excerise in writing about history in a more casual, accessible way than I usually get to. I hope to do a project like this again sometime, making full use of the ability to share old maps, photos, newspaper clippings, etc., which was outside the scope of this project. Thanks again for reading!
[[Location/topic list|list]]
(link: "Restart")[(restart:)]{(unless: (passage:)'s tags contains "guide")[ (set: $lastPass to (passage:)'s name) ]}