Cultural, political, corona impressions from upstate New York

Becky and I spent most of August on a boat in upstate New York, checking out that state’s extensive canal system, discovering the busy St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, taking the political, cultural and coronavirus pulse of a different part of the country.

People asked us on several occasions where we were from. When we answered Delaware, Becky was struck by the fact that not a single person mentioned Joe Biden. Her observation rang true and made me reflect on my own political impressions.

I remember the many-flagged remnants of a mid-August boat parade for President Trump in Brewerton on the Erie Canal at the west end of Lake Oneida. It was reminiscent of the impromptu boat parade for Trump in Lewes on July 4. The man at the gas dock where we stopped to fill our boat’s tank said the weekend parade was a big affair. “Two or three hundred boats flying their flags,” he said.

Other than that, whether in our travels back and forth to upstate New York by truck on rural roads and big highways, or during the couple hundred miles of waterway travel we logged, I saw far fewer political signs than I expected to see with only a couple of months left before the election. There were many more signs for Trump than the total of four or five I saw for Biden. Overall, though, the sign activity struck me as uncharacteristically light.

From a coronavirus perspective, we saw overwhelming compliance with mask, social distancing and hand-washing directives. Signs were everywhere, hand sanitizer was widely available, and people did not go into stores or restaurants without masks on.

Those who forgot, as happened to me on a couple of occasions, were quickly reminded. In restaurants, as it is here, people were allowed to and did take their masks off after being seated. It was not a big deal.

But at the Methodist camp meeting town of Thousand Island Park, at the west end of Wellesley Island, there was evidence of resistance. Signs plastered the walk-up, outdoor window area of an ice cream shop, telling people to wear masks while ordering. NO MASK NO SERVICE. Beneath a sign detailing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive orders about masks, the shop’s owner had posted an additional, professionally printed sign in capital yellow letters against a black background,  PLEASE DO NOT BERATE OUR EMPLOYEES FOR THIS POLICY THAT WE MUST ENFORCE.

The economic ravages of the coronavirus were clearly evidenced by the many shuttered businesses we saw and a level of mid-August activity on the highways and waterways about half of what we thought would be normal in pre-corona times.

Culturally, upstate New York – primarily rural – places great emphasis on local history, especially battles near the Great Lakes prior to the Revolutionary War involving French, Indian and British forces fighting over territory. History of the important role played by the state’s canal system in development of this nation’s economy – including the Erie, Oswego, Champlain, Cayuga and Seneca canals – is also heavily chronicled, as are activist movements focused on women’s rights and abolition of slavery.

The hundreds of wineries around the Finger Lakes also added a nice cultural dimension.

We found upstate New York to be clean, friendly, picturesque with its many rivers and rolling and mountainous countryside, and sprinkled with state parks, villages, towns and small cities where community pride was in great evidence.