Thomas Cole painting and the Seward House Museum

[Linda Anderson]

Herb, Letchworth State Park is known as "the Grand Canyon of the East!"

"Construction of the Genesee Valley Canal threatened to change an unspoiled landscape; Ruggles wanted to commemorate that fragile beauty, and he also wanted a grand gift for Seward, then governor of New York.

The visit prompted Cole to do a small oil sketch, now displayed at Rochester's Memorial Art Gallery. At Cole's Catskills studio, he completed the two paintings: "Portage Falls," the gift for Seward, and "Genesee Scenery," now on display in Rhode Island. As for the vista that captured Cole's imagination, it became part of the tract that philanthropist William Letchworth feared would be consumed by mills and factories.

He donated the land to the state. Much of what inspired Cole still exists as part of Letchworth State Park, or 'The Grand Canyon of the East.'"