Lily Dale is a spiritualist community located in Chautauqua County, New York. It is in the Town of Pomfret at the north end of Cassadaga Lake, near the Village of Cassadaga.
The basis for the community is the collective belief in survival of life after death in a form that enables the living to continue communication with the departed.
The community provides a series of seminars and meetings throughout the year. There is a fee for admission to the grounds of the community.
The childhood home of the Fox sisters was moved from Hydesville, New York to Lily Dale. The sisters are considered the founders of modern spirtualism.
That is, the particulate matter resembled pollen, and would thus seem consistent with a pastel "painting" (i.e., a drawing done in pastel crayons, which consist of pigment mixed with gum).
In fact, at LilyDale, a spiritualist community in Western New York, where the sisters resided for many seasons, I was able to examine two of their "spirit" portraits that were framed and mounted under glass (as would be expected for certain media, like watercolors or pastels, but not others, e.g., oils).
I am most grateful to Joyce LaJudice of the LilyDale Museum, LilyDale, New York, for her generous assistance in providing information on the Campbell "brothers" (Part I) and the Bangs sisters (Part II).
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