Program

Legends & Lore®

Subject

Folklore, Legend, People

Location

6055 E Main St, Olcott, NY 14126, USA

Lat/Long

43.338669203319, -78.709798785818

Grant Recipient

Town of Newfane

James Winchell, also known as Broad Axe Jim, was born in 1800. He purportedly studied for the ministry at a young age but was sent on a different path in life when he suffered a head injury. Winchell became a homeless wanderer who roamed Niagara County, New York. While he spent the winter months at the county poorhouse in Lockport, Winchell spent the rest of the year traveling between farms in Newfane, Olcott Beach, and Somerset. He frequently carried a broad axe, chopped wood, hewed troughs and beams, and performed other odd jobs in exchange for room and board. Winchell received his nickname from his keen ability to carve broad axes out of a single piece of wood, which he gifted to farmers for their hospitality. Broad Axe Jim also participated in the Niagara County Pioneer Association picnic held in Olcott Beach in the Pine Grove. It was here that he practiced his carving skills and entertained children and adults with stories. Winchell may have been deemed “eccentric” or “crazy” by the community, but he was also remembered as being kind and gentle. James Winchell lived to be 96 years old. Broad Axe Jim is memorialized at the Ye Olde Log Cabin Museum in Olcott, which features some of his carved wooden axes.