Thank you for stopping by the Lima Historical Society's website. We hope you enjoy your visit here. You might also enjoy a live visit to our Tennie Burton Museum. The Museum is located in the village of Lima at 1850 Rochester Street. The museum is open on Sundays, June thru September, from 2:00pm to 4:00pm or by special appointment. To contact us click the link below. Our upcoming events are also listed on this page. Scroll though them and attend any or all that appeal to you. These events will be limited until this Pandemic is under control. We are a non-profit organization, so most of these events are free to the public. We do, however, welcome donations and we also hold some fund raising events during the year when we can. We try to keep our site up to date so check back often to see our newest events and updates at the museum.
The Honeoye Falls/Mendon Historical Society is sponsoring a richly illustrated Zoom talk on the history of Lima’s GWS by Doug Morgan . To get access through zoom link go to: hfmhistorical.org on or after January 1st.
We have an exciting, illustrated program on a topic that we in Lima have often mused about— possible involvement of 19th century Lima residents in the Underground Railroad. On May 16th, Tim McDonnell, a very popular speaker on the RIT Osher Speakers’ Bureau, and an adjunct associate professor at Monroe Community College, will be speaking about the Real Underground Railroad in our region.
He will talk about how this loosely-organized “conspiracy” against slavery operated before the Civil War. Since New York has a long border with Canada, our state was the important last “station” on the way to freedom. Tim will discuss the routes used by the “conductors,” including routes that led through Livingston County. He will talk about the men and women of the Underground Railroad (UGRR), some famous and most not. Since they were breaking federal laws, this was not an enterprise without danger, both to the runaways (or “Freedom Seekers”) and to the people who assisted them. Tim will conclude his talk with a discussion of why the Underground Railroad is important in the 21st century. The illustration above shows the Freedom Statue in Lewiston, NY on the Niagara River, with Canada in the background. This was the last stop on the UGRR for many formerly-enslaved people.