Who Are the Park People of Mexico Point Park?

Who Are the Park People of Mexico Point Park?. . , A set of wooden carvings of people representing different time periods at Mexico Point Park , A project developed by Sandra Scott to illustrate the multifaceted history of the Park , Joseph Brant (Theyendanegea) , Joseph Brant was a Mohawk Indian who served the British as a guide, interpreter, fighter, officer, and diplomat during the French and Indian Wars as well as during and after the American Revolution. It was he who counselled British officer Barry St. Ledger to go first to Oswego to join forces with 200 Mohawk braves who were waiting there before heading east to attack Fort Stanwix., Brant had hoped that the British would deed his people the Haudenosaunee ancestral lands in return for his service, but the British lost the war and could only offer them lands in Canada. , Carved by Kenvyn Richards and painted by Rebecca Woods, William Casey , William Casey, a college professor of Sociology at Columbia College, spent summers at the Mexico point Club in the 1920s and '30s. When the Club switched from horse drawn carriages to automobiles, Casey asked to transform the carriage house Into a Medieval Manor House, circa 1100s England. With the help of his artist friend, Severin Bishof, he designed a whole new interior for the building, with four small bedrooms upstairs where his students could come and create amazing artwork, carving the walls, floors, and ceilings with images of knights, kings, ladies, armor, and coats of arms of the period, while enjoying friends, com-panionship, and good conversation., This carving of William Casey sitting on a bench reading was created by Jon Vincent Antonuk (of From the Forest Chainsaw Carving) and Adam Mulholland. The carving currently resides inside the Cottage he transformed, where you can have your picture taken sitting next to him. A video of the carving of the statue can be viewed on our website, mexicopoint-park.com, under "Epic Chainsaw Carving", Grace or The Swimmer , Grace, represents all the people who have enjoyed swimming in Lake Ontario off Mexico Point. Her swimming costume suggests the late 19th century., Her features are based on photos of Grace Roop who petitioned the State of New York in the 1990s to turn the property into a State Park and negotiated the arrangement between the State and the Town of Mexico to manage the Park. She then founded the Friends of Mexico Point Park to restore Casey's Cottage and look after the park. Grace has a pink Ladies Slipper carved on her swimming costume. , Carved by Kenvyn Richards and painted by Rebecca Woods, Carmen Basilio (Boxer) , Carmen Basilio, was a professional boxer who won the world championship in both the welterweight and middleweight divisions. Basilio was born in Canastota, NY in 1927, and began his boxing career in 1948., During the early 1950s he stayed at Mexico Point Club and practiced for his fights on the lawn by the lakeshore along with Joey De John. Basilio won the welterweight world championship in 1955, and the middleweight world championship in 1957. His most famous fight was against Sugar Ray Robinson, whom he beat in an exciting 15-round fight in September 1957. , Carved by Kenvyn Richards and painted by Rebecca Woods, Bessie Maude , Bessie Maude represents the waitresses who served the people who came to Mexico point Inn, the upscale hotel and restaurant that occupied Mexico Point from the late 1800s through 1953. The hotel and restaurant made Mexico Point a go-to destination on the shores of Lake Ontario for fine dining (with a full-page drinks menu) and dancing, even during Prohibition., The drawing for Bessie Maude was inspired by a photo taken in the late 1800s of three serving ladies and incorporates features of all of them. , Carved by Kenvyn Richards and painted by Rebecca Woods, Kenny and Hoover , Kenny and Hoover, a barefoot boy out fishing with his dog, represents the many children and adults who have enjoyed fishing at Mexico Point Park, in all the years since the river has flowed past its shores and into Lake Ontario. Kenny's overalls could as easily suggest a boy of the 1800s, the 1900s or the 21st century. , Carved by Peggy Hoover and painted by Rebecca Woods