The Lake Ontario plain has the unique distinction of being known as the 'land of cobblestone houses'. This plain once formed the bed of old Lake Iroquois, whose southern shore extended to the ridge that Route 104 now follows. For thousands of years as the water receded to the present shoreline, the waves produced great quantities of smooth, rounded cobblestones in the areas where early settlers would later build their homes.The cobblestones were a nuisance to farmers who cleared them from their fields, but it was the Masons who had lost their jobs when the Erie Canal was finished 1825, that saw the possibilities of the cobbles and prepared to build permanent homes for the settlers.The typical cobblestone wall was usually at least18 inches thick. It was made of large stones in a variety of sizes. Generally, only the outer facing or front wall was constructed from smaller stones of uniform size. These were obtained by carefully grading the cobbles to the size wanted by passing them through iron rings or holes cut in the boards. The corners of a building were formed by using large, smooth, square-cornered stones called quoins with the thickness of the cobblestone spacing determined by the thickness of the quoin. Lentils were the horizontal cross pieces over the doors and windows that carried the weight of the structure above them. Download the Cobblestone Homes Tour Guide here.

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