Several weekend warriors braved the 90 degree weather Sunday as they traveled southern Cayuga County during a two-day long event that explored the region's historical destinations. The 11-stop event gave people a chance to see what life was like in the county more than 100 years ago.

Marylin Mann, a tour organizer who works with the Rural Life Museum, in King Ferry, said the public seemed eager to learn about the area's rich history.

“The people have been genuinely interested and they are surprised at what is available for research and family history,” Mann said.

Peter Signor, owner of Smith's General Store Museum, in Genoa, spent most of the weekend discussing various artifacts that had been found in his family-owned store.

Artifacts featured at the museum include a post office stand made out of chicken wire and wooden planks, an old ice cream counter, a cash register, tins, cans, bottles, candy racks and one of the first telephones ever installed in Genoa.

“The phone is from the early 1900s,” Signor said. “The phone was outlawed by the government because of its exposed wires. Lightning could come down and the electricity would arc off the exposed wires and set places on fire.”

Rich Harrison, a tour director at the Rural Life Museum, said children were often curious about the tools used back in the 1800s.

“It's interesting for (the kids) to pick up the old tools and use them for what they were used for back then,” Harrison said. “The kids are just very interested and are always asking how the tools work.”

Because people could pick up the tools or sit down in an actual one-room school house and open up an 1800s lunch box, the rural museum was different than most, Mann said.

“We are a hands-on museum,” Mann said. “We let the kids touch and use the stuff. Not every place does that and some places discourage it.”

But one of the most interesting places to visit was the home of Jethro Wood, who invented a cast iron plow with replaceable parts in Poplar Ridge in which is now a privately-owned home.

“The Jethro Wood home is a highlight because its normally closed to the public,” Mann said. “People are surprised at what the Charleses did to the home. They tried to renovate the home without modernizing it a lot.”

Mary Lou Charles said she and her family were still doing work on the house as funds allowed for the past 26 years. Some of the renovations Charles were proud of were her handmade bed and window hangings.

“For the master bedroom, I learned how to make early-American bed and window hangings from (the Jethro) era during a weekend class in Massachusetts,” Charles said.

Bill and Christine Long, of Auburn, said they appreciated the chance to enter the Woods home and the other stops on the tour.

“It's been very interesting and very informative,” Bill said. “I appreciate the history we got to see today. Some of it creates a nostalgic reminder of the things we had in our homes growing up.”

Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net