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News Article

A Driving Tour Around Hemlock Lake

From the Democrat and Chronicle, 22 September 1922. Rediscovered by Lore Disalvo.

1

A Cadillac Touring Car.

Two widely diverse kinds of country are seen on a trip from Rochester through the Bristol Hills. Leaving Rochester, until one arrives at Springwater, the motorist passes through a section devoted entirely to the greatest of all industries - farming - and from Springwater on, he discovers beautiful scenic vistas that invite the photographer to make shots. The Bristol Hills are the foothills of the Alleghanies, and while not majestic in height, they are quite picturesque.

The above pictures were snapped last week by a Democrat and Chronicle staff photographer while on a trip through the Springwater section in a Cadillac “61” touring car furnished by Mabbett Motors and driven by Joe Agram.

Along the model roads from Rochester, south through East Avon, Lakeville, Livonia and Conesus, the motorist passes through pretty countrysides, slightly rolling farm lands scattered over with clumps of trees. The fields are particularly pleasant to view at this season for some of them have been plowed under with winter crops, and the brown earth-colored fields, scattered among fields that are still green, makes the entire surface of the land like a crazy-quilt of many colored squares when the motorist surveys the land from a hill-top. And there are many hill-tops giving pleasant views over the countryside. Such a view is to be had just south of Lakeville, with beautiful Lake Conesus in the distance.

2

Conesus Lake in 1922.

Coming down the steep hill on the road between Livonia and Springwater, and it is one of the steepest in this part of the country, the motorist comes into a little valley between the two high walls of the Bristol Hills. It is in the valley formed by these two rows of hills that Hemlock Lake is found - the lake from which the Rochester water supply is derived. The lake is particularly beautiful in its setting between the two rows of hills, and it can be seen advantageously from the road that winds along the eastern hills. This is a dirt road, and leads to the left of the motorist as he comes into Springwater, but it has a hard foundation and the going is as good in these dry days as an improved asphalt road. For about three miles this road leads along the valley floor and then begins to climb the hillside at an angle. As an elevation is reached, the end of Hemlock Lake is seen and looking back one can see the valley in which Springwater lies. The valley is about two miles wide, and the two great hills rise up from it, making a splendid scenic effect from the height achieved above Hemlock Lake.

The lake is several miles long and about 200 yards wide, the valley having narrowed to that distance. The hills, where their slopes are gentle, have yielded to the farmer’s plow, and their field markings can be seen straggling up the slope. But near the lake the hills are quite steep and thick forests cover their sides, with the result that the dark-blue, cool lake has a suitable setting. On the eastern hill, where the road runs, there are orchards and little farms, closed in with the usual wire fences. Thus the motorist can get a full-view of the opposite hills with their thick trees lowering to the water’s edge.

The dirt road brings the motorist around the northern edge of the lake to the asphalt road near Livonia, and he can return to Rochester by the route on which he came.

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