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Walking Tour with Bill Poray
2025 Historian’s Walking Tour - Bill Poray, Perinton Town Historian
As we celebrate the Bicentennial of the Erie canal, our 2025 walking tours will have a special focus on the canal’s impact on our community. The village of Fairport did not exist when surveyors first determined the route of the Erie Canal. Much of the area’s low, swampy land was drained as the canal was excavated through what soon became known as a “fair port” and within a few years, the village population began to grow. Our walk will include the Thomas Creek Wetlands area, the north and south banks of the canal, and the Parker Street and Main Street bridges.
Our walk will begin and end at the gazebo at Kennelley Park, just outside the Fairport Public Library. The total distance is approximately one mile. Library staff will provide each participant with a listening earpiece for this event. Each of the five Monday walks in June will follow the same route. Sign up for one of these walks by accessing the Fairport Public Library’s interactive calendar at www.fairportlibrary.org, or call (585) 223-9091.
Note: One of the walks may be filmed so that a wider at-home audience can virtually enjoy the tour.
*Please note that this walk is the same each week. Please limit yourself to signing up for one walk to allow for all those who would like to participate. Also, one of the walks may be filmed so that a wider at-home audience can virtually enjoy the tour.
Bill Poray has been the historian for Perinton and the village of Fairport since 2013. He has had a lifelong interest in history, especially local history, sparked by school social studies teachers and his own family’s involvement in the Civil War. A retiree of General Motors, Rochester Operations, Bill helped to secure and preserve the site’s historic artifacts. He has also been a Trustee of the Perinton Historical Society for many years, and was a commissioner of the Fairport Historic Preservation Commission since its inception in 2007 to 2012. As municipal historian, he researches local history, leads tours, provides presentations on numerous topics, and meets with hundreds of school children each year on field trips and school assemblies.
Event Links
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/3052528-0
