The Love Letters...
Memories were made in Silver Creek in 1873... when 16 year old Willie Elliott and 18 year old Leonora Harting wrote love letters to each other on the boards of the attic walls at 133 Central.

The letters were written in pencil on wide pine planks, and are difficult to see let alone read- Click here to see infrared photographs...

There are four letters- Leonora had been visiting the Holcombs, and was about to leave Silver Creek for her hometown of Livonia- a day's trip at the time- She wrote telling Willie that she cared about him- and then he proposed to her- in prose- in writing on the wall... Here's what they said...

Leonora to Willie:
Think of me, that is, Leonora, your Friend- your loving Nora- Goodbye-

Willie to Leonora:
Leonora, my dear, may you appear as you progress in life- loving and kind, and well inclined to make me a gentle wife-

Leonora to Willie:
Think of me Ever, and I will be your Valentine...

Willie (?):
MANY KNOW (or-) MARRY NOW

We can only guess how they were written- were they both in the attic at the time? Did they take turns writing? Were they hiding behind luggage or boxes in the corner? Did one go up and write, then the other go up and see what they wrote? Your guess is as good as mine...

The handwriting they used was excellent cursive, amazingly well done, considering they were writing on roughcut planks- they used small wrist movements, making well formed paragraphs- until they got excited-! Then, What seems to be the last writing- was large, wild writing- 'many know!' -

Ten years after finding the letters, looking again, I can't really tell whether those last words are 'many know'- or 'marry now'-! Either way, the handwriting was excited- fast, not controlled as in the other letters- and then, in HUGE, MASSIVE writing, Leonora's name is written above all the other boards. It seems to me that Willie wrote it- excited after proposing marriage to Leonora. Actually, when seeing the letters for the first time, it's her name I was able to see- a ray of sunlight had bounced off a white door that was off its hinges during restoration- and lit the wall maybe for the first time in a hundred thirty years...

Leonora's trip home...
In those days before cars and planes, the fastest way to go was the train- if it went where you were going! The Stagecoach definitely had a route between Silver Creek and Livonia- that seems to be a good guess as to Leonora's ride back home. She was definitely thinking of Willie she left behind. The route could have been through Buffalo, on what is now Route 20- or maybe a straighter path on what are now back roads...

Your Memories...
Now, you can come make memories of your own, at "Think of me Ever... Bed and Breakfast. In the quiet village of Silver Creek on Lake Erie's Shore, in Western New York on the Seaway Trail. Silver Creek is where Routes 5 and 20 come together- just 3 miles to Interstate 90- we're on your way to wherever you're going...