Helen and Buster Major at the old French Fort on Onondaga Lake Parkway in Liverpool in the mid-1930s.

The French Fort would remain a favorite family spot for the next 50 years. It has since been redone as a living museum tended by men and women in colonial costumes who expect visitors to speak as though it were the 18th century, making the place much more informational, but not quite as entertaining as it used to be when visitors could wander as they pleased and let their imaginations run wild without facing a pop quiz from one of the guides.