Editing Middlesex, New York (section)

== History ==
A legend of the [[Seneca tribe]] states that they originated in a village called Nundawao, near the south end of Canandaigua Lake, at South Hill. Right next to South Hill stands the 865-foot-high Bare Hill, known to the Senecas as Genundowa.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/travel/01explorer.html?_r=0 | title=Canandaigua Lake, N.Y.: Of Indian Legends and Sylvan Trails | work=The New York Times | date=October 2006 | last1=Barnard | first1=Beth Quinn }}</ref> Bare Hill is part of the Bare Hill Unique Area, which began to be acquired by the state in 1989.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/37438.html | title=Bare Hill Unique Area - NYSDEC }}</ref>  Bare Hill had been the site of a Seneca or pre-Seneca fort; first written reference to this fort was made in 1825 by David Cusick in his history of the Seneca Indians.<ref name="crookedlakereview.com">{{cite web | url=http://www.crookedlakereview.com/articles/101_135/103spring1997/103robinson.html | title=Who Built the "Old Fort" on Bare Hill and other Pre-Seneca Structures in Yates County, NY? By David D. Robinson }}</ref>

{{blockquote|text=The traces of an ancient fort, covering about an acre, and surrounded by a ditch, and formerly by a formidable wall, are still to be seen on top of Bare Hill. They indicate defenses raised by Indian hands, or more probably belong to the labors of a race that preceded the Indian occupation. The wall is now about tumbled down, the stones seem somewhat scattered, and the ground is overgrown with brush.|sign=S. C. Cleveland|source=History of Yates County, New York (1873)}}

In the early 1920s, the material that made up the Bare Hill fort was used by the Town of Middlesex highway department for road fill.<ref name="crookedlakereview.com"/>

The first settlers arrived around 1789.  The town was formed in 1796 while still part of [[Ontario County, New York|Ontario County]], [[New York (state)|New York]]. The town was known as "Augusta" until 1808, when the name was changed to "Middlesex" to avoid confusion with another location named Augusta.<ref>{{cite book |last= Vasiliev |first= Ren |title=From Abbotts to Zurich: New York State Placenames |location= Syracuse, New York |publisher= Syracuse University Press |date = 2004 |page=145 }}</ref> When Yates County was formed in 1823, Middlesex became part of the new county.

The [[Potter, New York|Town of Potter]] was formed from part of Middlesex in 1832, and more of Middlesex was added to Potter in 1856.

The [[Bates Cobblestone Farmhouse]], [[John Carr House]], [[Asahel Green Farm]], [[Middlesex Center Methodist Church]], [[Overackers Corners Schoolhouse]], and [[Vine Valley Methodist Church]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>