"More than 30 years ago, Fair Haven native Erwin Fineout and others decided it was time to get serious about the Fair Haven area's history. Fineout, 83, helped organize and was the first president of the Sterling Historical Society, which met upstairs in the old school house that served as the town hall." (from The Herald Co., Syracuse, NY © 1999 The Post Standard.  Sept. 25th, 1999, article by Dave Tobin.)

The Little Red School House Museum is housed in what was originally a school house, built in 1825, that has been placed on the New York State and National Registers of Historic Sites. It contains exhibits including early industry (working model of a grist mill, fishing, farming and railroad artifacts), barber shop, early farm kitchen, Civil War exhibit in the rotunda, general store, model of the old Fair Haven High School, signature quilts, portable pump organ, ice harvest diorama, blacksmith shop and photograph exhibits of house moving, the Civilian Conservation Corps work in Fair Haven Beach State Park and many more historic artifacts.

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Fair Haven Beach State Park and entrance to Little Sodus Bay from Lake Ontario

Photos by Jack Benson

Fair Haven, a popular summer resort, is located on Little Sodus Bay, one of but three deep water bays on Lake Ontario. Fair Haven's timeless appeal as a vacation destination, features 220 shore side properties, six marinas, including some 350 boat slips; a summer home tradition that began with the Greek Revival Cottage Farm built in 1835 by a wealthy New York city family. Fair Haven is also home to popular Fair Haven Beach State Park, whose beaches and camp sites attract some 300,00 visitors annually.

Fair Haven Folks and Folklore (140 pages) by Raymond T. Sant; published in 1940, reprinted in 1983 and 2002. This is a popular history of Fair Haven and the Town of Sterling: from pioneers through harbor development, the railroad boom, schools, churches, businesses and a broad range of topics such as the Liars and Loafers Club, the Imperial Grounds, medicine and home remedies, music, farming, cottagers on Little Sodus Bay and a chapter titled " Political Sagacity or Shenanigans?"

Back to Before, Anecdotes from the Twentieth Century in Cayuga County, New York, (192 pages) by the Cayuga County Bicentennial Publications Committee, Charles Itzin, Editor
The twentieth century has seen the most rapid changes in the history of mankind. At the beginning of the century, outside of Auburn, roads were unpaved, communication by telephone was in its infancy, and the industrial workshops declined. In Cayuga County, the automobile and improved roads caused a consolidation of place. Small rural churches and clubs declined in favor of large, more centrally located institutions.

Of special interests to Sterling/Fair Haven is an account of the reorganization of hundreds of small rural school districts into modern centralized systems. A career profile of Raymond T. Sant, Cayuga County's first district superintendent and renown Fair Haven historian, tells the story. Also, the Great Depression Era New Deal program of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, one time New York Governor, is epitomized through the stories of Cayuga County Civilian Conservation Corps camps. A CCC camp at Fair Haven Beach State Park is described; it was also a German POW camp during World War II.

This exquisite pictorial of the vast and ever-changing history of Cayuga is an opportunity to experience and relive the past of this historic county. The text coupled with the almost three hundred photograph make this a treasured keepsake for generations to come.

Martville by Dorothy Hudson. The author draws on a long tradition of her own family and carefully researched history of families and occupations of a vibrant early community.

Artwork by Leora Scott VanPatten & Hallie Sweeting

Pioneers of Sterling (150 pages) By Hallie Sweeting
Depicts the daily life and struggles of early settlers of the Town of Sterling in the early 1800's. With horses for transportation and to plow the fields and without modern conveniences, early settlers surmounted many hardships and trials in their new land. Included is a 9 page index, alphabetically-listing 3,000 names of area pioneers.

Stub of Pencil and Back of Envelope to Computer Seventy-Five Years of Changing in Farming. A Personal Story Illustrated by Bernard Craine. 36 pages. The story of four generations of the Craine family, originally from Holland, was serialized in the Post-Herald. Popular interest prompted its publication. The author, a leading farmer, and former School Board President and Chair of the Cayuga County Legislature, tells about the dramatic changes in farm life and reminisces about animals with personality quirks and much more. A good story.

"A Muskrat Ramble on Sterling Creek Marsh" By Susan P. Gateley
This 75-page booklet details the maritime and natural history of Sterling Creek Marsh. Once the haunt of bootleggers, fur trappers, and a houseboat hermit, today this 500 acre wetland is a canoeist's delight located on the south shore of Lake Ontario. Included is the first published account of Fair Haven Beach State Park History.

Museum Notes Five note papers and envelopes depicting the Little Red School House

Golden Age of Flight, Fair Haven's Role Original photos from the 1920s are depicted on a set of note papers and envelopes including first time publication of a picture including Charles A. Lindbergh and Fair Haven's Rev. "The Flying Pastor" Clark.

A Walking Tour of the Cottage Farm Heritage District of Fair Haven, New York 15 pages illustrated, by Oakley Coleman, Don Richardson, Robert Kolsters. 2002 Centered on a 93 acre Revolutionary War Military Land Grant, The Cottage Farm is a distinctive Greek Revival home, still standing, that was built in 1835 by a wealthy New York City family. The Phoenix family came by way of the Hudson River and the new Erie and Oswego canals to claim a property with a beautiful view of Ontario Bay (now Little Sodus Bay) located in the center of present day Fair Haven village.

We invite you to stroll or drive through the Cottage Farm Heritage District and savor its nearly one and three quarter centuries of history - hotels, churches, distinctive 19th century homes and modern day tourist attractions. We also sample the lives of our forebears who lived here.

Documentary Video
"Fair Haven- A Renaissance Resort"

This video depicts vacation qualities of interest to visitors as well as local residents. Our goal is to inform in an entertaining way and to demonstrate what makes this place so special. Colorful historical material is interwoven with current scenes. Scenes were videotaped in the summer of 1999 and shooting was concluded on September 4th of a busy Labor Day weekend. We feel our videographer Dave Bullard did a great job for us on this and on the narration; script by Susan Gateley. Scenes range across the Town of Sterling including Renaissance Festival, Fair Haven Beach State Park, Sterling Nature Center, the Little Red School House Museum, Sweet Acres Stables, Spring Brook Golf Course and country inns. Fair Haven scenes include the Saturday night band concert, Main St. businesses, restaurants and other services. Action scenes taken on the water show sailboats, jet skis, charter boats, an historic tall ship and a hydroplane.

Sterling Station Its Trains, People and More 65 pgs. by Laura Decker recalls rural family life made dramatic by the railroad junction she passed on her way to a country school. Sterling Station was the intersection of the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the "Hojack" and saw many trains each way controlled by a Signal Tower whose operator used 24 levers to control switches and signals during the 65 year boom of the Golden Age of Rail.

Motor Coach Day Tours A tour of Sterling and Fair Haven high points for senior citizens, the program enters its fifth season and features the Little Red School House Museum (with coffee and warm donuts), a visit to the Sterling Mill Complex that dates back to 1813, an animal farm that features home spun weaving, antiques and gardens, a visit to the Civilian Conservation Corps cabin museum in the Fair Haven State Park, chicken BBQ, a tour around Little Sodus Bay and accounts of its colorful history and characters. The tour concludes with a shopping stop and a treat at Ontario Farm Market, the most complete farm market in the region.

"Elizabeth E. Boat Tour"
This is an hour plus boat tour of the bay at Fair Haven aboard a comfortable handicapped accessible, canopied cruise boat. The guide regales guests with stories from the first summer residents who built  a "cottage farm" on 93 acres in 1835, the story of the wreck of the coal schooner Jeska and the fascinating account of how the surviving life boat became a floating home for a local character, a prohibition battle, sailing regattas, "Petey", the alligator and much more. Narration is illustrated by laminated enlarged photographs from the extensive collection of the Sterling Historical Society which sponsors the cruise.

The Sterling Historical Society offers this hour and a quarter tour around the bay on a canopied 28 ft. pontoon boat, newly refurbished to Coast Guard standards. Narration shares the colorful history and stories of this deep water port.

Fair Haven and its bay have have been famous as a resort since the first summer home, still standing, of the Cottage Farm built in 1835 by a wealthy NYC family on a military tract awarded to Captain Henry Dubois, an officer in the Revolutionary War. Antique photographs, shown on the tour, depict the railroad boom when for a time Fair Haven shipped more anthracite coal than Rochester or Big Sodus Bay. During that 65 year boom, Fair Haven was part of the milkshed for Philadelphia. The trains that brought the coal shipped Sterling area milk back kept cool by ice harvested from the bay.

Remarkable, too, was Ontario Amusement Park on the bay which is recorded to have welcomed 3,000 visitors who came by excursion trains and 1500 who came by horse and buggy to enjoy the waterside park, its large hotel, picnic grounds and more.

"The Fair Haven Renaissance Resort video was well done, interesting, informative, and pleasing to watch. Congratulations on a fine production!" - Alice Ohstrom,
Historic Sites Secretary, NY State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

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Other Resources Available from Sterling Historical Society

Red School House Notes

Special notecards featuring a picture of our "Little Red School House Museum".

5 for $4 (incl. envelope & postage)

Local Links
Black Creek Farm Bed & Breakfast
Fair Haven Village
Fair Haven Library
Browns Village Inn
Fair Haven Chamber of Commerce