June 8 - Lyons, NY

Lyons Town Dock

“Better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times.” ― Asian Proverb

We had a slow relaxing morning, enjoying our coffee on the flybridge. We're into a slow pace now...stopping at each little town to explore. Our destination today was only nine miles west...the little town of Lyons.

Lyons is nestled alongside the historic Erie Canal, midway between Lake Ontario and the Finger Lakes. It was once known as “The Peppermint Capital of the World” due to extensive essential oil production and is regarded as the Peppermint Village. The Erie Canal has run through Lyons since its beginning as Clinton's Ditch, but through the years the canal's location has changed as it evolved and enlarged. The original canal has been covered up and is now part of Canal Street.

We had lunch in town and wandered around enjoying the weather and poking our heads into little antique shops...no new treasures were found. We spent the afternoon taking care of a few maintenance issues that popped up.

Wayne County Courthouse

The streets of historic downtown Lyons

There are dozens of murals in the towns along the Erie Canal that depict the history of the canal and the importance of each community. Here are three we found in Lyons, this one is called Generations. It's located in the Dobbins Drugs building and depicts the three generations of family pharmacists that have run the store. 

I couldn't find the name of this one but the following picture was on the bottom corner and includes a little history.

This one is called Street of Dreams and depict downtown Lyons in 1915

We had several canal boats as neighbors when we first arrived...but by evening they had pulled out for other destinations.