Lily Dale Assembly

The world's largest Spiritualist community, established in 1879 on Lake Cassadaga's shores, is a year-round village of registered mediums where contact with the dead is considered a normal daily occurrence. The Inspiration Stump in Leolyn Woods, where outdoor readings have been held since the 1890s, is considered the most powerful medium location in the Western Hemisphere. Even hardened skeptics report involuntary emotional experiences at the Stump — tears, intense happiness, or the sudden smell of a deceased loved one's signature scent. The Fox Sisters' cottage, relocated here before it burned, was the community's most sacred building.