The wood makes fine furniture and burns well in woodstoves and fireplaces. The rose, wild or cultivated, in all its variety and color, was made the State flower in 1955. Ever popular, it was at the top of a school children's poll of favorite flowers in 1891. State Muffin Apple Muffin, created for the Bear Road Elementary School children in North Syracuse, who were instrumental in getting the Governor to sign a bill making it the official State muffin. State Fish Found in hundreds of lakes and ponds in the Adirondack Mountains and scattered in cool, clear streams throughout the State, the native brook trout, called brookies or speckles, provide fine angling and the best of eating.
Many people provide special nesting boxes along fence rows for bluebirds.
They winter throughout the State. To provide beaver pelts to European markets, fur traders settled in the early 1600's near our present capital at Albany - to trade with Indians. Adult beavers are 3 to 4 feet long and weigh 40 to 50 pounds. The wine-red garnet which is an eye appealing gem as well as a prized industrial abrasive, is the State gem. History Five days after the Declaration of Independence, the people of New York met in convention in Kingston to vote their support and form their own state government.