Seniors Discover Two Awesome Villages

Aurora, New York, one of the awesome villages, is a college town, Wells College, north of Ithaca. The village has a population of 800+ of which more than 400 are college students. The Village of Aurora, settled in 1799, is in the town of Ledyard on the east shore of Cayuga Lake.

Aurora is known as “The Charming Village in the Finger Lakes.”  To the north, it is home to the renowned home accessories company, MacKenzie-Childs and to the south is Wells College that was established in 1868 by Henry Wells. Places like the Aurora Inn, Dories, Jane Morgan’s Little House, E.B. Morgan House and The Fargo are great places to shop, dine and spend the night, as featured in Country Living’s June ’06 issue.

East Aurora, the other awesome village, founded in 1804, has a population of just over 6,500 and lies in the eastern half of the village of Aurora. Aurora is surrounded by rolling farmland and dramatic gorges. Senior visitors enjoy scenic beauty, wineries, dining, and a rich history.

Seniors Visit Historic Places

The intimately-sized Morgan Opera House is a restored Victorian gem featuring an original raked stage with pressed tin proscenium (the part of a theater stage in front of the curtain…had to look that one up) , leaded glass windows, original seating, splendidly crafted woodwork and superb acoustics.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places are the Aurora Steam Grist Mill and Mosther Farmstead. The mill was one of the first mills built west of the Hudson River to be powered by steam. The farm was established  in 1887 by E.W. Mosher, and remains in the Mosher family today. It is significant as a largely intact example of a late eighteenth, early nineteenth century farm.

 Deep Lakes And Wineries Attract Senior Visitors

The eleven finger-shaped, glacial lakes in Central New York are some of the deepest lakes in the United States. They abound with small mouth bass, smelt, and huge lake trout. Senior travelers will find chaming villages with 19th-century buildings, little inns and vineyards, geese flying north overhead, and they say that a lakefront Adirondack chair has your name on it.

And then there is the Long Point Winery and the Cayuga Wine Trail. Long Point Winery is located on the east side of Cayuga Lake on scenic Route 90 in Aurora. The winery sits on 72 acres of land overlooking beautiful Cayuga Lake.

The Cayuga Wine Trail was the first wine trail to be established in New York. Many events take place along the trail throughout the year. The Finger Lakes Region is approximately a six hour drive (seven, including lunch) from the Lincoln Tunnel in Manhattan, making it a highly desirable, unique, and relaxing getaway.

Cayuga County is also known for outstanding events: comedy and live music at Auburn Public Theater and the Sterling Renaissance Festival. Senior visitors are in for some spectacular scenery in Cayuga County.   jeb