Doesn’t look quite the same
Imagine how my great-great-grandfather would feel, if he were to suddenly ‘rise up from the dead and start dancing around. In passing, my uncle has told us far too many times how just such a thing had happened, but we all put it down to tall tales and spirits. Anyhow, imagine if John, new in town from Tipperary, were to come into downtown Elmira in the next few days. I suspect he’d have to say that it doesn’t look quite the same.
He was around when East Point Lighthouse was built, and moved, and moved yet again. A structure so large you could see it from the east side windows of the houses in the village. I’ve seen it, and I didn’t arrive until after he’d gone to rest up at St. Columba’s graveyard.
Imagine if his son, Tom, were to pull a similar “visit”. All ghosts aside, he’d remember when the railroad came into town. That also must have been a shock for the view, what with a station, and noisy trains, and people coming and going all hours of the day.
Jump forward one more generation to my grandfather, Elijah. The lighthouse was old and grey, before the government discovered painting as a just cause. He knew the trains all too well; one tried to park beside his forge on a certain occasion. But the newest view on the horizon would leave him shaking his head, too.
This image is copyrighted by Waldron Leard, so I will give credit before proceeding. I’ve cropped things a little bit, so as to fit into the column, but you can see that things in downtown Elmira don’t look quite the way they used to. I’ve seen other pictures, that show the view from the top of the road at Campbell’s Cove is similar, so my grandmother can also come back and virtually enjoy the changes.
These things are HUGE. I have the winter to prepare myself mentally. I wonder, are they as quiet as the promoters had promised?
