Maria Blair at No Illusions Tours

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Maria Blair at No Illusions Tours No Illusions Tours seeks to cast a light on the true story of the city of Buffalo, NY. Our purpose is to build this city up by breaking it down.
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This Small Business Saturday show two local small businesses some love and get a chance to win our giveaway!🌟Winner rece...
29/11/2024

This Small Business Saturday show two local small businesses some love and get a chance to win our giveaway!
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Winner receives a T-Shirt in one of three designs of your choice made by + a $50 gift card good for any No Illusions walking tour during the 2025 tour season.
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To win you just need to be following both & like this post and tag a friend here. Each friend tagged is an additional entry!
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Contest ends Saturday at midnight. Winner announced on Sunday.

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22/11/2024

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Ely Parker was born in 1828 in Indian Falls, which was at the time part of the Tonawanda Reservation (about 30 minutes e...
20/11/2024

Ely Parker was born in 1828 in Indian Falls, which was at the time part of the Tonawanda Reservation (about 30 minutes east of Buffalo). He was named Ha-sa-no-an-da and later baptized as Samuel Parker. His father had fought for the US in the War of 1812 and both his parents’ families were prominent Senecas. His family valued education and soon Ely began reading the law for the normal term of three years in Ellicottville. However, he could not take the bar examination in the 1840s, as no native people we’re considered citizens until the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act. He would later also study engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy. He worked as a civil engineer and, as a fluent speaker of both Seneca and English, worked as interpreter and diplomat for Seneca chiefs with the US government. In 1852, he was made sachem of the Seneca and given the name Donehogawa, “Keeper of the Western Door of the Long House of the Iroquois”. During the Civil War he tried to establish an Iroquois volunteer regiment but was refused by the NYS governor. He also tried to enlist as an engineer but as a non-citizen he was again denied. However, his friend Ulysses Grant who needed engineers for his forces brought Ely on. He was commissioned a captain. They raised through the ranks together during the war, and when Grant became a commander, Ely became his secretary with a rank of lieutenant colonel. He was present when Lee surrendered the Confederate army at Appomattox and helped draft the surrender papers, writing them up himself. After the war he was married and had one daughter. Ely became the first native person to act as the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1869 under then President Grant. During his time in this position the number of military actions against Indians were reduced, and there was an effort to support tribes in their transition to lives on reservations. Ely also served as chief of the 6 Seneca nations. He passed in Connecticut in 1895. He was buried there, but soon reinterred in Forest Lawn here in Buffalo next to his ancestor, Red Jacket.

Forest Lawn🖤🩶🤍
16/11/2024

Forest Lawn
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In 1881 Maria Love through the Charity Organization Society turned a donated former dry goods store from Benjamin Fitch ...
13/11/2024

In 1881 Maria Love through the Charity Organization Society turned a donated former dry goods store from Benjamin Fitch into want is often considered America’s very first child care center. Children of all races, religions, and creeds were welcome, but it was expected that they were born in wedlock. The children who attended were from birth to seven years old for boys and eight for girls. The younger children were given fresh clothes to wear at the Crèche and the older, aprons to wear over their clothes. All were given breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea. The toddlers were encouraged to learn through play, the four to five years olds attended the Crèche’s kindergarten and the oldest children were brought to and from school, including back to the Crèche for lunch. Soon a one year program was created to teach the nursemaids how to care for the children and similar, free classes were also offered in winter months for the mothers who brought their children. The Crèche was a mix of old fashioned and modern sensibilities, including daily doses of cod liver oil, but also a strong push to treat children as individuals who should be taught to build their confidences. Maria Love too seems to be a mix of the old and new worlds, and she can be an excellent case study in wealthy, charity- minded women of the turn of the last century.
To learn more you can book a Buffalo’s Favorite Daughters full or downtown tour next season. Tickets go on sale in March. Also keep an eye out for special events in the interim.

Even in the off season you can book a tour for your group of five or more! I’ve even had a tour in February! Whether you...
12/11/2024

Even in the off season you can book a tour for your group of five or more! I’ve even had a tour in February! Whether you’re from out of town (or even if you’re local ☺️) and it’s just not regular tour season or you have a larger group and you just want to do a tour on your own, reach out via email, dm or just call. We can figure something out! I can even tailor a tour to your interests with enough notice.

I always enjoy speaking in different venues for different groups because it allows me to bring Buffalo’s stories to thos...
11/11/2024

I always enjoy speaking in different venues for different groups because it allows me to bring Buffalo’s stories to those who may otherwise not be able to hear them on a walking tour or other event. I’ve spoken for historical societies, women’s groups, retirement communities, workplaces and more. I can engage your group with an in depth look into one of my tour stops, go through the topics of an entire tour, speak about my business in general, or with enough notice talk about a totally unique WNY history topic. Reach out via email, phone or DM for more information.

Many have fought for your right to vote over decades and centuries. They’ve dedicated all of their talents to it, even r...
05/11/2024

Many have fought for your right to vote over decades and centuries. They’ve dedicated all of their talents to it, even right here in Buffalo.
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Pictured here, the work of our tour star and quintessential Art Nouveau poster work artist, Evelyn Rumsey Cary’s “Give Her the Fruit”, 1905
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⚡️⭐️ Last tours of the season! Great way to end year six!! ⭐️⚡️
01/11/2024

⚡️⭐️ Last tours of the season! Great way to end year six!! ⭐️⚡️

Everybody loves this quick stop on our Buffalo Anomalies tours! This tree gets so many hugs! 🍂“The Oldest Tree” might te...
29/10/2024

Everybody loves this quick stop on our Buffalo Anomalies tours! This tree gets so many hugs!
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“The Oldest Tree” might technically be ten years younger than an oak in Delaware Park, but this Sycamore is incredibly anomalous. It’s growing in the oldest part of the city and has withstood so much change! Both trees are about 300 years old. That’s about a hundred years before Buffalo was incorporated!
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One weekend down… one to go for this year’s Buffalo Anomalies tours. This weekend’s tours are sold out aside from Saturd...
23/10/2024

One weekend down… one to go for this year’s Buffalo Anomalies tours. This weekend’s tours are sold out aside from Saturday’s 7pm tour. Link in the bio for last minute tickets!

If you haven’t gotten your tickets yet… now’s the time. The Buffalo Anomalies tours are filling up fast!Take a step back...
09/10/2024

If you haven’t gotten your tickets yet… now’s the time. The Buffalo Anomalies tours are filling up fast!
Take a step back in time to hear all the strange and unusual stories of Buffalo’s past.

What a great last couple of  collabs with  for the season. It’s always so rewarding to work with others who are so dedic...
29/09/2024

What a great last couple of collabs with for the season. It’s always so rewarding to work with others who are so dedicated to telling Buffalo’s stories. It was also wonderful to participate in a tour today with author of Against the Grain, Timothy Bohen. This book has been a great secondary source for some of my research. Thank you to all who came out! I’m had so much fun in the Old First Ward today, a part of Buffalo that I also have personal history in.

Today we had a book club and some visitors from California on a Buffalo Lit tour. Thanks for joining to hear the stories...
28/09/2024

Today we had a book club and some visitors from California on a Buffalo Lit tour. Thanks for joining to hear the stories of prominent authors that lived and worked in Buffalo. ☺️

One of the most fun elements of research is finding images to share on tours and oftentimes these aren’t just photograph...
26/09/2024

One of the most fun elements of research is finding images to share on tours and oftentimes these aren’t just photographs. Recently, I was very excited to find a full image version of the dying confession of the Thayer Brothers, who were the only men publicly executed by hanging in Erie county’s history. I’d only had pieces of it before. I also came across a new illustration used for Mark Twain’s story “The Curious Dream” published in the paper he was an owner of, the Buffalo Express. I’m excited to share both along with many other elements from the past, including photos, maps, and drawings on our Buffalo Anomalies tours this year. Come hear all the strange and unusual stories of our city next month. Spots are going quick so act fast! Link in the bio!
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Both drawings are by True Williams for the Buffalo Express later printed in Mark Twain’s Sketches New and Old in 1875. I found the cemetery one for the first time in The Illustrated Mark Twain and the Buffalo Express by Thomas J Reigstad.

Part of our tour group on our Buffalo’s Favorite Daughters at  today was a group of women celebrating one of the friend’...
21/09/2024

Part of our tour group on our Buffalo’s Favorite Daughters at today was a group of women celebrating one of the friend’s baby who is due next month! Thank you for celebrating with us and congratulations!

👻Celebrate Friday the 13th with No Illusions! Now through midnight Saturday save 13% on any tour… including our October ...
12/09/2024

👻Celebrate Friday the 13th with No Illusions! Now through midnight Saturday save 13% on any tour… including our October only Buffalo Anomalies Series, many which have very limited space left already.👻
✨Use Code: FridayThe13th✨
🖤Link for tickets in the bio.🖤

We have a few more tours this season featuring authors who lived and worked in Buffalo📕William Wells Brown📙F. Scott Fitz...
11/09/2024

We have a few more tours this season featuring authors who lived and worked in Buffalo
📕William Wells Brown
📙F. Scott Fitzgerald
📒Marian deForest
📗Anna Katherine Green
📘Mark Twain
Link in the bio for tickets?

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Our Story

Buffalo is my home. It is my passion. I've lived in and around Buffalo all my life and every day I learn something new about this city.

Since I was young I've valued stories and the way that people are connected through the craft of telling them. I believe that you can learn a great deal about a person or a place by the stories that they choose to tell. For a long time the stories people have told about Buffalo were of a dying rust belt city with nothing left to give the world.

But Buffalo is much more than snow, decay and loss. And in recent years more and more people are showcasing the old and creating new, strong and beautiful stories about Buffalo. Our goal, at No Illusions Tours is to add to those new stories by breaking down the history of Buffalo itself. We seek to tell our city’s story through different voices from the past, from the Burning of Buffalo more than 200 years ago to new art and innovation from the last decade.

Our very first stories at No Illusions will be told through the voices of remarkable women who have lived and worked here, who have helped Buffalo and in many cases the rest of the world to grow, as they grew. This series of tours, Buffalo's Favorite Daughters, will be our very first look at Buffalo's Story.