NEW HOPE NAMED

Inscription

NEW HOPE NAMED
TOWN OF SODOM WAS RENAMED
IN 1823 BY MAN WHO CLIMBED
RIDGEPOLE OF GRISTMILL,
CHRISTENED IT WITH WHISKEY,
SAID VILLAGE HAD NEW HOPE.
NEW YORK FOLKLORE
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2022

Sodom, often paired with Gomorrah, was the ancient Biblical town destroyed by fire sent from heaven as punishment for its inhabitants’ wickedness and depravity. It was also the unfortunate name of a small, struggling nineteenth-century hamlet located in Cayuga County in Central New York.

In 1823, Charles Kellogg built a gristmill in Sodom. This water-powered mill turned out fine flour that fed Central New Yorkers for generations, and locals to this day remain loyal to the mill’s popular pancake mix. The improved fortunes that the mill brought the town also inspired a place-name legend that lives on to this day.

The year the mill was built, a thankful Sodomite climbed to the top of the five-sided, hand-hewn ridgepole, precariously balancing a jug of whiskey on his ascent. While some of the jug’s contents may have been imbibed before the climb, enough remained when he reached the top for the man to douse the mill in a pseudo-christening ceremony. He loudly proclaimed that the mill had saved the town, which was born again and should be renamed accordingly. From that moment on, the wretched Town of Sodom became the cheerful Town of New Hope.