In 1805, the same year Lewis & Clark set out on their expedition to explore the west, Caleb Fulkerson journeyed north from a settlement in New Jersey in search of fertile farmland. He staked out a piece of land on the western slopes of Seneca Lake. To mark his claim, he stuck his walking stick, a black willow branch, into a spring on the land.
The branch took root and over the years grew into a great tree. He used the wood from that tree to make coffins for himself and his wife Deborah, and they’re buried in the small family plot on the hill behind this location.