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The
Tackle-Yates house
Veterans
of the Revolutionary War campaign of General John Sullivan
gaped in wonder as they marched through the fertile Genesee
Valley. Unlike their homes in stony New England, there was
rich, black soil unmarked by anyone other than the Seneca.
Many of those veterans were first in line when the land
opened up in the 1780s and 90s. Some of them named a their
new settlement after their old home in Middlebury, Vermont.
In that town, a village called Wyoming began. And south
of it, veteran Alexander Tackles built what at first was
a nice, unassuming farm house in the lee of a tall hill.
Later generations made the home into something far more,
an U-shaped wonder with a floating staircase, expensive
imported wallpaper, breathtaking entryway and 84 windows.
When the home finally passed out of the hands of the Tackles
family, it was to a couple who had no intention of buying
anything that was old, north, and constantly demanding of
money. Brock and Pamela Yates had it made in the late 70s
and early 80s. Brock’s career as a writer now included
a Hollywood credit to his name. The story of his cross country,
no rules race had been made into Cannonball Run. California
beckoned. But California was also expensive. The Yates decided
that they had indeed fallen in love with the abandoned house
south of Wyoming. 2 decades and much remodeling and restoring
later, it is a showcase still in progress.
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