The blue and gold historical markers inform travelers but only enough to pique their curiosity. In Howard Ford's Sure Signs: Stories Behind the Historical Markers of Central New York, he
relates the exploration of the French, Dutch, English, and the rebels and their battle for control of New York. He continues with the establishment of homes and shops on the frontier; the
development of roads, canals, steamboats, and railroads; the origin of the Mormons, the Oneida Community, the Code of Handsome Lake, and the Chautauqua experiment; the long plight for women's
suffrage; and the abolition of slavery, amoung other stories of interest.If you would like to know more about Champlain, LaSalle, Frontenac, Denonville, the Rensselaers, the Jesuits, Father
Simon Le Moyne, John Bartram, Pierre Radisson, Conrad Weiser, Hendrick, Phillip Schuyler, Sir William Johnson, Joseph Brant, Red Jacket, Cornplanter, John Butler, Frederick Douglass, and many
others, Sure Signs is a must-read.
