Review of the book OTISCO LAKE COMMUNITY
Review of the book
While in the bookstore, recently, I came across Otisco Lake Community by
Roger N. Trendowski. It's 128 pages, quality softcover, more than
worth the price of $16.99 from Arcadia Publishing, Dover, NH, although
I got it at Waldenbooks so I don't think it's a very limited edition.
It's apparently one of a series called Images of America. It is a
truly wonderful "visual trip around the lakefront in the early 1900s...
one of my top priorities in writing this book was to create an awareness
of history for the residents and summer visitors to Otisco Lake," writes
the author. He's included MANY photos from local families' collections
and historical societies -- in fact, the volume is mainly photos and maps,
some back into the 19th C. He concentrates on the towns
of Otisco/Amber, and covers some of Marcellus and Spafford. For anyone
researching their family in that area in that time period, it would be
a fascinating book, and might even unlock a family tree mystery for someone:
the author includes such observations as noting in a caption the successive
owners of a pictured home... helps identify pictured people in ways a neighbor
or relative might, noting maiden names or relationships when possible.
He mentions some old area roads which have been done away with, and helps
readers identify what stands today where an old building once was.
And to top it all off, I've found about 70 people now buried at Amber or
Pine Ridge Cemeteries mentioned in the book and/or shown in the photos
!!
Submitted 14 January 1999