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The Cayuga
Lake Wine Trail includes three vineyards between
Ithaca and Aurora.
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AURORA, N.Y. — The sun is
setting over the silvery waters of Lake Cayuga in upstate
New York, and from the rocking chair on my private balcony
at the Aurora Inn, I sip a glass of wine from the vineyard
I visited just a few hours ago. Geese gathering at the
lakeside honk every now and then, breaking the quiet.
Life, I think, is very, very good.
Aurora is not a small town.
It is oh-so-much tinier than that. It's a village, really,
or a sleepy hamlet, surrounded by acre upon acre of
rolling hills of rich farmland. The population is shy of
900 residents (at last count) and gets a boost each school
year from the 550 or so students who attend its liberal
arts school, Wells College (established in 1868 by Henry
Wells, of Wells Fargo and American Express fame). Aurora
is one of those places that you could completely miss if
you drove through its center with your head bent over the
radio looking for the local station.
And yet, and yet. After
just one late-October day exploring its charms, I am
head-over-L.L. Bean shoes captivated by this place,
already wondering when I can come back again. For those of
us who spend so much of our time in cities and suburbs,
Aurora at first glance seems terribly devoid of
attractions and entertainment. But a place like this, as
Robert Frost might say, asks a little of us here. It does
ask us to stop writing those endless to-do lists, to
forget about killer apps and who's about to get kicked off
Dancing With the Stars, and instead contemplate nature and
its beauty. One thing this Finger Lake has in spades is
beauty.
If you should be lucky
enough to have upstate New York in your spring-to-fall
vacation plans, consider a weekend in Aurora. Here's how I
spent my day.
The Finger Lakes Wine
Country includes more than 100 vineyards and wineries,
most of them on the two largest lakes of the region,
Seneca and Cayuga. Seneca has more than Cayuga, and the
western shore of the 40-mile-long (and 3 1/2-mile-wide)
Lake Cayuga has more vineyards than the east.
I decide to explore this
slower east side of the lake, traveling from Ithaca, where
I was visiting my son at school, to Aurora and stopping at
three spots: Six Mile Creek Vineyard in Ithaca, King Ferry
Winery in King Ferry and Long Point Winery in Aurora.
Without stops, the trip would take about 40 minutes.
These are not fancy
vineyards like you'll find in Sonoma and Napa Valley. They
are small places, farms really, owned by families that are
often in the tasting room doing the pouring. Most places
charge $2 for six samples.
On the day I visit, no one
is in a rush and I find myself in fun conversations with
the pourers, who seem genuinely interested in discovering
which of their wines will most appeal to my palate. I
learn that white wines are generally better than reds in
this part of the country, but that one plot of land might
have completely different soil than the plot next door, so
you really need to know what each vineyard does well.
At Six Mile Creek, I love
the chardonnay. At King Ferry, I taste the first riesling
that I've ever liked, so surprised by its lack of cloying
sweetness that I send a bottle home to Texas so my husband
can try it, too. I also like their cabernet franc, a red
grape that does well in that region. (I send a bottle of
that home, too.) At Long Point, dry reds are the thing.
The syrah is a spicy, robust treat. This is what comes
with me to the inn.
The people of upstate New
York are hearty folk and these vineyards are open
year-round. Despite the snow that blankets this region
each long winter, there's an annual Holiday Shopping Spree
Thanksgiving week and the first week of December and Mardi
Gras events in February.
I think perhaps I'd prefer
to come back in spring for the Wine and Herb Festival. I
make a mental note to think about returning some year in
late April or early May.
If you love whimsical,
one-of-kind home decor, then you probably are familiar
with the MacKenzie-Childs company, makers of pottery,
furniture, lighting, rugs and more. The headquarters is on
a 65-acre former farm just a mile north of
"downtown" Aurora and may very well be the most
enchanting workplace in America. Artisans daily produce
one-of-kind handmade ceramicware that will end up first in
upscale retail stores, such as Neiman Marcus and Harrods,
and then in the homes of those who go gaga over its whimsy
and charm
The company has had a bit
of a rocky recent history. Founded in 1983 by Victoria and
Richard MacKenzie-Childs, it was $15.3 million in debt by
2001, according to local newspaper accounts. Pleasant T.
Rowland (the entrepreneur who created the American Girl
Dolls empire) bought MacKenzie-Childs that year, ousting
the titular heads but keeping the name and the brand in
tact. She revamped and revitalized the business. In the
spring of 2008, she sold the company, this time to a
private equity firm. (More about Rowland in a moment.)
While the workshop is not
open to the public, the grounds, including a Victorian
farmhouse and a duck pond, are. And what a wonderful place
they are to visit.
The farmhouse has been
completely restored and is decked out in MacKenzie-Childs
furniture and home decor. The pieces all have a kind of
Alice in Wonderland quality. They feature bright colors
and a hodgepodge of patterns that work together to
creative a delightful, whimsical whole. There are oversize
platters, chairs with fish on the ladder backs, tables
with turtles peeking out at the base and ceramic goose
tables.
The company's creative
director, Rebecca Proctor, describes MacKenzie-Childs
products as "things that make a real statement —
they're happy and colorful."
They are, indeed. And no
trip to Lake Cayuga would be complete without a tour of
this magical place — and, of course, its gift shop, sure
to make any shopaholic happy.
It's impossible to talk
about Aurora today without also talking again about
Pleasant Rowland, a 1962 graduate of Wells College. After
returning to the school for her 25th reunion, she embarked
on a partnership with her alma mater to restore several of
the crying-out-for-a-facelift buildings (many owned by the
college) that made up the center of the town.
The Aurora Foundation, a
partnership between the college and the Pleasant T.
Rowland Foundation, took on several major projects. It
redid the historic Aurora Inn, which had closed. It redid
the historic E.B. Morgan House (now a year-round
seven-room guest house). It revamped the Village Market
and Fargo Bar & Grill. Rowland bought the local
sandwich shop, Dorie's, and redid that, too. Basically, in
those years that she was getting MacKenzie-Childs back on
track, Rowland also sunk a lot of money into pretty much
every lodging and dining establishment in the village.
When she was done, she turned all the property and
management back over to the college in hopes that they
would become new sources for revenue.
In a speech she gave in
Aurora in May 2003 as she completed her work, she called
it her "gift of restoration" and talked about
how she "came here seeking an education of the mind.
I left with an education of the heart." She described
her initial attraction to the place: "Something in my
soul craved its quiet beauty, the golden dappled shade of
the ancient elms that arched over Main Street, the
somnolent air of warm afternoons as shadows fell across
broad lawns."
Six years after she left
this place restored and revitalized, I have come to it for
the first time and am one of the many happy recipients of
her gift. Aurora is tiny but charming. I wander through
the Village Market, enjoying the smell of simmering soups.
I visit Jane Morgan's Little House, browsing through
Vineyard Vines belts and Vera Bradley bags. I have dinner
across the street from the inn at the Fargo Bar &
Grill, where I have a fresh Greek salad.
Then it's back to the inn
with its roaring fires and creature comforts.
For me, "historic
inn" usually translates into "don't expect to
sleep well." Walls are thin, beds are saggy and often
there are problems with the heating system. What these old
places lack in amenities, they usually make up for in
oddities. In one such place in Salem, our shower was in
what must have once been a small closet and the rest of
the bathroom was across the room behind another small
door.
But not so at the Aurora
Inn, which may be the most comfortable hotel room I have
ever slept in. When I return to my meticulously decorated
room with its luxury linens and antiques, I find someone
has flipped the switch to start the gas fireplace, turned
down the bed, turned down the lights and left me
chocolate.
There are only 10 rooms in
the inn, including two suites. I love the combination of
traditional (wood shutters and brass keys for the doors)
and modern (flat-screen TVs, wireless Internet and
rainforest showerheads in the marble bathroom). While
gazing periodically at the moonlight over the lake, I read
the inn's guest book, which lets me know that had I been
there in season, I could have enjoyed swimming in the lake
or kayaking and canoeing in the inn's boats. If I had
wanted, I could have borrowed a bike to ride around town
and perhaps explore the state park just down the road.
I think to myself,
"There is too much to do and not enough time."
Guests of the inn can also borrow croquet or bocce games
for the broad back lawn. They can work out in the Wells
College Fitness Center for a $5 fee. They can play golf on
the college's course, designed in part by Robert Trent
Jones.
I am up too early for the
hot breakfast served in the dining room the next morning
at 7, but when my wakeup call comes at 6:15, the young
woman asks when I'd like my muffin basket delivered.
"As soon as possible," I say, and 15 minutes
later she rings me to tell me that the hot tea and muffins
are just outside my door.
How reluctant I am to leave
this little slice of upstate heaven.
On my drive back to the
airport and the daily strife of life, my four perfect
muffins are a delicious, physical reminder of Aurora's
brief but bracing tonic for my soul.
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IF YOU GO:
AURORA INN
391 Main St., Aurora
315-364-8888; 866-364-8808
www.aurora-inn.com
Open for single-room
reservations May through the end of October.
CAYUGA WINE TRAIL
800-684-5217
www.cayugawinetrail.com
MACKENZIE-CHILDS
3260 New York 90, Aurora
The grounds, garden and
shop are open daily 9:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
Tours of the restored
15-room farmhouse, which features MacKenzie-Childs decor
and interior design, are given daily (tours of the
workshop are not available to the public).
www.mackenzie-childs.com
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