Tom Spaulding - State Farm Agent

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Tom Spaulding - State Farm Agent Located in downtown Lowville NY across from A-Plus Sunoco gas station. Open Monday - Friday from 9am - 4pm and by appointment on nights and weekends.

Providing insurance and financial services.

10/16/2026

📌 THE LEWIS COUNTY MAN WHO INVENTED SOMETHING WORTH MILLIONS — AND SOLD IT FOR $400! 😲

Here's an incredible true story about a man born right here in Martinsburg, Lewis County, NY, who changed the world but never became rich from his most famous invention!

His name was Walter Hunt, born July 29, 1796.

💰 IT ALL STARTED WITH A $15 DEBT!

In 1849, Walter owed someone $15. While trying to figure out how to pay it back, he began twisting a piece of brass wire.

Within just a few hours, he had created something almost every household in America would eventually use.

THE MODERN SAFETY PIN! 📌

On April 10, 1849, Hunt received U.S. Patent No. 6,281.

But here's where the story gets crazy!

💵 HE SOLD THE PATENT FOR JUST $400!

That's approximately $15,500 in today's money!

He paid his $15 debt (roughly $580 today), pocketed the remaining $385, and moved on to his next invention.

The businessmen who commercialized his invention went on to make fortunes.

🤯 WHAT WOULD HIS INVENTION BE WORTH TODAY?

There's no reliable way to calculate the exact modern value of his original patent. But considering the safety pin became a worldwide household necessity, its commercial success was enormous.

Had Hunt retained valuable manufacturing rights or royalties, his financial future might have been dramatically different!

🧵 BUT WAIT — HE ALSO INVENTED AN EARLY SEWING MACHINE!

In 1833, Hunt developed a working sewing machine, years before sewing machines became household necessities.

He never patented that original machine, and other inventors eventually made fortunes in the sewing machine industry.

He also worked on repeating fi****ms, fountain pens, and numerous mechanical improvements!

😢 SO WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO WALTER HUNT?

Despite his extraordinary inventions, Hunt never accumulated the kind of fortune you might expect.

He died on June 8, 1859, at age 62, just weeks before his 63rd birthday.

Nearly 150 years later, in 2006, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

THINK ABOUT THAT!

A boy born in Martinsburg, NY, went on to invent something used around the world for more than 175 years!

And he sold the rights for $400.

One of the greatest inventors Lewis County ever produced — and one of history's most remarkable missed financial opportunities!

Supporting our local community is something we are very proud of, here’s another event we hope you attend.
10/15/2026

Supporting our local community is something we are very proud of, here’s another event we hope you attend.

10/15/2026

🔥 THE NIGHT LEWIS COUNTY LOST PART OF ITS HISTORY FOREVER! 😳

Imagine waking up one morning and discovering that pieces of your county's history had simply vanished!

That's essentially what happened in November 1947, when a devastating fire swept through the Lewis County Courthouse in downtown Lowville!

But the greatest tragedy wasn't just the damage to the building.

📜 IT WAS WHAT WENT UP IN FLAMES!

Historical accounts confirm that the fire destroyed a large number of valuable county records and much of the courthouse's extensive law library.

Think about the kinds of history preserved in a courthouse: old legal proceedings, disputes between families, property matters, and decisions that helped shape Lewis County over generations.

Once original historical records are destroyed, some details may never be recovered.

😳 HERE'S ANOTHER FASCINATING DETAIL!

Back in 1902, a copper box containing newspapers and historical relics had been placed in the courthouse cornerstone!

Whether that time capsule survived the 1947 fire remains an intriguing question.

🏛️ THE AMAZING PART?

Rather than abandon the courthouse, Lewis County rebuilt it with fire-resistant materials, expanded the structure, and added a third floor.

By 1949, the courthouse reopened!

And nearly 80 years later, that same historic courthouse still stands on North State Street in Lowville.

One fire. Countless historical records lost. And a piece of Lewis County history that can never be completely reconstructed.

10/14/2026

🤖 THOUGHTS ABOUT AI? 😳

Just six months ago, artificial intelligence seemed impressive. Today, it's advancing so quickly that it's becoming difficult to tell what's real anymore!

Here are 5 things AI has become capable of doing in just the past six months — some amazing, others downright frightening!

🎬 FAKE VIDEOS THAT LOOK REAL! AI can create incredibly convincing videos of people saying and doing things that never happened. Imagine what that means for scams, politics, and social media!

🩺 HELPING DOCTORS SAVE LIVES! AI is becoming increasingly useful in detecting diseases, analyzing medical images, and helping researchers develop treatments.

📞 IMPERSONATING PEOPLE'S VOICES! With just a short recording, AI can imitate someone's voice. Imagine getting a phone call that sounds exactly like your child or grandchild asking for money!

💼 DOING WORK THAT ONCE REQUIRED PEOPLE! AI can now handle increasingly complicated tasks involving research, computer programming, customer service, and business operations. Exciting for productivity, but what happens to the jobs?

🧠 ACTING MORE AND MORE INDEPENDENTLY! Some AI systems can now operate software, navigate websites, and complete multiple steps of a project with limited human assistance. That's impressive — and raises some serious questions about control!

🤖 THIS AI STORY SOUNDS LIKE SCIENCE FICTION… BUT IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED! 😳

In 2024, a finance employee in Hong Kong joined a video conference call with what appeared to be his company's chief financial officer and several coworkers.

Everyone looked real. Everyone sounded real.

THERE WAS JUST ONE PROBLEM…

🚨 EVERYONE ELSE ON THE VIDEO CALL WAS FAKE!

Scammers had used artificial intelligence to impersonate the people on the call!

The employee was convinced he was speaking with his actual coworkers and authorized transfers totaling approximately $25 MILLION! 💰

This wasn't a Hollywood movie. It was a real crime investigated by Hong Kong police.

Now here's the frightening question…

If AI can fool someone during an actual video conference with multiple people, how will we know who or what to trust five years from now? 😳

10/13/2026

🔥 THE GREAT LEWIS COUNTY THERMOSTAT WAR OF 2026! 🥶😂

It's that time of year again when relationships are tested, families are divided, and the thermostat becomes the most controversial object in the house!

🥶 Team A: "It's 58 degrees in here! TURN THE HEAT ON!"

💪 Team B: "Put on a sweatshirt! We don't turn the heat on until November!"

🧦 Team A: Currently wearing three layers, wool socks, and sleeping under two comforters.

💰 Team B: Walking around bragging about how much money they're saving on fuel oil while secretly freezing to death.

😂 And somewhere in Lewis County, there's a man who just turned the thermostat up two degrees when his significant other wasn't looking... or she turns it back down!

TIME TO SETTLE THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL!

🔥 What temperature does your house have to hit before you FINALLY surrender and turn the heat on?

10/09/2026

🚗🚙 HOW MANY VEHICLES DRIVE THROUGH LOWVILLE EVERY DAY? THE ANSWER MIGHT SURPRISE YOU!

Believe it or not, according to New York State Department of Transportation figures, approximately 11,568 vehicles travel along the busiest stretch of State Street (Routes 12 & 26) in downtown Lowville on an average day! 😲

That's roughly:

🚗 482 vehicles every hour!

🚙 8 vehicles every minute!

🚗 Over 4.2 MILLION vehicle trips per year!

And that's just ONE stretch of roadway, not every street in the village!

📊 These figures come from a 2019 NYSDOT traffic estimate cited in Lowville's Comprehensive Plan, so today's numbers could be different. They also represent vehicle trips, not necessarily different vehicles. Since this report is from 2019, we actually believe that number has increased. Your thoughts?

10/08/2026

🥶❄️ COULD THE WINTER OF 2026–2027 REMIND US OF 1998? 🧊😳

If you lived in Lewis County during January 1998, there's a good chance you'll NEVER forget the Great Ice Storm!

But here's something interesting about this upcoming winter...

🌡️ THE EL NIÑO CONNECTION!

The winter of 1997–1998 featured one of the strongest El Niño events on record.

And now, nearly 29 years later, NOAA is forecasting another potentially VERY STRONG El Niño for the winter of 2026–2027!

Coincidence? Maybe. But it's certainly interesting!

🧊 REMEMBER JANUARY 1998?

That historic storm brought:

🌳 Trees snapping like toothpicks under tremendous amounts of ice.

⚡ Widespread power outages, some lasting for weeks or longer.

🚗 Roads blocked by fallen trees and power lines.

🥶 Families relying on woodstoves, generators, neighbors and whatever they could find to stay warm.

🤝 Communities coming together to help one another through an unforgettable disaster.

Some areas of northern New York experienced 1–3 inches of ice accumulation!

❄️ SO WHAT ABOUT THIS WINTER?

NOAA expects a strong El Niño pattern, which can influence temperatures, precipitation and storm tracks across the Northeast.

But here's the important part:

A strong El Niño does NOT mean we're headed for another 1998 ice storm.

Seasonal forecasts cannot predict a specific ice storm months in advance.

Still, for those of us who lived through 1998, hearing about another powerful El Niño certainly brings back memories!

10/07/2026

🍂 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF LEAF BLOWING 😂

There is absolutely NO logical reason to spend two hours blowing every leaf out of your yard when the wind is going to put 47,000 of them back 11 minutes later.

And yet…there's something deeply satisfying about standing there, leaf blower in hand, looking at a perfectly clean lawn and thinking:

“I WON.” 😎

You didn't.

The maple tree is just reloading. 🍁😂

Lewis County homeowners—how many rounds have you already fought this fall?

10/06/2026

🌲🌊 8 MYSTERIES & FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT LAKE BONAPARTE 👀

We all know Lake Bonaparte is beautiful…but once you start digging into its history, things get pretty interesting—and sometimes downright strange.

1️⃣ THE TWO SKELETONS IN THE CAVE 💀

One of the area's oldest legends tells of two young French lovers who mysteriously disappeared in the 1830s. Years later, hunters reportedly discovered two skeletons inside a cave near Green Pond, along with old coins and other objects.

Were they the missing lovers? And what actually happened to them?

2️⃣ WAS JOSEPH BONAPARTE HIDING FROM ASSASSINS? ⚔️

Joseph Bonaparte—the former King of Spain and Napoleon Bonaparte's older brother—owned thousands of acres in this area.

Local legend says rocky ledges and caves around his North Country property may have been used as hiding places because of fears of assassins pursuing the Bonaparte family.

Fact, exaggeration or a little of both after 200 years?

3️⃣ IS BONAPARTE'S TREASURE STILL OUT THERE? 💰

Joseph Bonaparte arrived in America with considerable wealth and possessions from his former royal life.

That has fueled stories for generations that gold, silver, coins or jewels may have been hidden somewhere on his enormous northern New York property.

Was everything eventually accounted for…or is something still buried out there? 👀

4️⃣ A KING LIVING IN THE NORTH COUNTRY 👑🌲

This part isn't legend: a former King of Spain really did have a wilderness retreat overlooking Lake Bonaparte.

Imagine this area roughly 200 years ago—almost entirely wilderness—with European royalty hunting, entertaining guests and escaping civilization right here in what is now Lewis County.

What stories disappeared when those old buildings disappeared?

5️⃣ HOW MUCH OF LAKE BONAPARTE'S HISTORY HAS BEEN LOST? 📜

Nearly two centuries of stories have been passed from one generation to another around the lake.

Some are documented history. Others became folklore. And after enough generations, figuring out where history ends and legend begins becomes pretty difficult.

There have to be stories that only a handful of local families still know.

6️⃣ HOW DEEP IS LAKE BONAPARTE? 🌊

It's deeper than many people probably realize.

The lake averages around 31 feet deep, while its deepest water reaches approximately...

😳 75 FEET!

Which naturally raises another question:

What's down there? 👀

7️⃣ HOW MUCH WATER DOES LAKE BONAPARTE HOLD? 💧

Here's a number that's almost impossible to picture.

Lewis County records list the Lake Bonaparte/Alpina Dam system's maximum storage at approximately 39,739 acre-feet.

That's roughly...

🌊 13 BILLION GALLONS OF WATER!

That's on the order of 20,000 world class sized swimming pools.

Think about THAT the next time you're sitting in a boat in the middle of the lake. 😂

8️⃣ AND FINALLY…HAS BIGFOOT EVER VISITED LAKE BONAPARTE? 👣🌲

Okay, we're ending with a weird one. 😂

I couldn't find a documented Bigfoot report specifically at Lake Bonaparte, but there have been reported Bigfoot encounters elsewhere in Lewis County, including accounts of unexplained sounds and knocking coming from the woods.

And when you consider the remote forests surrounding Lake Bonaparte…

Who knows? 👀

Lake Bonaparte folks—have you ever seen or HEARD something around the lake you couldn't explain?

Strange screams? Giant footprints? Knocking in the woods? Lights? An old family story nobody believes anymore?

10/05/2026

❄️ Ever wonder how they “plowed” the roads in Lewis County in the 1800s?

Here’s the crazy part…they often DIDN’T! 😳

Before trucks, V-plows and giant snowblowers, winter travel was completely different. Instead of trying to scrape roads down to dirt, teams of horses or oxen could pull huge snow rollers that packed the snow into a hard, smooth surface for sleighs and sleds.

In fact, packed snow was GOOD! 🐴🛷 Heavy loads that were difficult to haul over rough dirt roads could actually be easier to move by sleigh during winter.

And imagine this: early Lewis County settlers were traveling these roads by sled and ox team more than 220 years ago.

So the next time you're stuck behind a Lewis County snowplow doing 25 mph…remember:

At least you're not waiting for two horses and a giant wooden roller. 😂❄️

Address

7518 S State St, Ste 4
Lowville, NY
13367

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 4pm
Tuesday 9am - 4pm
Wednesday 9am - 4pm
Thursday 9am - 4pm
Friday 9am - 4pm

Telephone

(315) 874-4101

Website

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