Auburn (pop. 28,574) is a proud industrial city with a solid, hilly downtown and a rich stock of historical homes, including that of William H. Seward, the anti-slavery Whig governor of New York, founder of the Republican Party, and secretary of state under presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, who single-handedly negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867. The Seward House (Tues.–Sat. 1–4 pm; $4), on Hwy-34 a block south of US-20 at 33 South Street, contains all the original furniture and many fascinating historic exhibits. Down the street from the Seward home, you can also tour the home of escaped slave and underground railroad heroine Harriet Tubman, who, between the end of the Civil War and her death in 1913, lived in the tidy white house at 180 South Street (Tues.–Fri. only; donations). Seward and Tubman are both buried in the town’s Fort Hill cemetery, west of South Street between the two homes.
Right downtown, the sparkling, streamlined Hunter’s Dinerant (315/255-2282), a 1950s O’Mahony at 18 Genesee Street, offers great greasy-spoon breakfasts (24 hours a day Thurs.–Sat.), slices of thick lemon meringue pie, and a panoramic view of the aging Genesee Beer sign that watches over the wide streets of the hill-hugging downtown.
