Corning, NY to Chautauqua County, NY (I-86 to Bemus Point, Hwy 430 to Mayville, Hwy 394 to Chautauqua, Hwy 33 to Panama, Hwy 474 to Jamestown)
Chautauqua County is the westernmost county in New York, bridging the gap between the Finger Lakes country and Lake Erie. Jamestown is the largest village in the county and sits just beyond the southeastern tip of Chautauqua Lake where the Chadakoin River leaves the lake heading east. The center of the county is the lake, which is about 17 miles long and two miles wide, nestled between rolling hills just ten miles from Lake Erie. Chautauqua is an Erie Native American word, but the Erie were exterminated in the Beaver Wars during the 1600’s so no one really knows what it means. The campground is set high on a hill outside of Dewittville on the northeast shore, offering a spectacular view of the lake.
Following along the shore of the lake in a counter-clockwise manner the road takes me to the largest attraction on the lake, the Chautauqua Institution.
Chautauqua Institution
Chautauqua Lake has long been a summer retreat for people escaping the heat of the city and its shore is lined with summer cottages and church camps. The largest and most unique of these camps is the Chautauqua Institute. Founded in 1874 as a summer educational camp for Sunday-School teachers, the institute evolved into a summer institute dedicated to the arts, music, education and religion. The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, established in 1878, is the oldest book club in the United States. In the beginning the CLSC was basically a four year course of required reading. The philosophy of the circle were clearly stated by the founder, Methodist Bishop John Vincent, who wrote
“The original aims of the CLSC were twofold: To promote habits of reading and study in nature, art, science, and in secular and sacred literature; and To encourage individual study, to open the college world to persons unable to attend higher institution of learning.”
The late 1800’s saw an explosion of curiosity and education amongst the growing middle class. The industrial age enabled more people to learn both how to read and have more time for reading (though the masses still toiled in the wretched conditions of the factories of the day.) Over 8,400 people enrolled the first year in the CSLS course. Of those original enrollees, 1,718 successfully completed the reading course, the required examinations and received their diplomas. The concept of Chautauqua reading circles spread across the nation in a time when most adults did not have a broad education. Every year the CSLC publishes a recommended reading list, beginning with this one in 1878:
Green, J. R. ………………………………….A Short History of the English People
Brooke, Stopford …………………………English Literature
Hurst, John F. ………………………………Outline of Bible History
Larned, Augusta ………………………….Old Tales Retold from Grecian Mythology
Mahaffy, J. P. ………………………………..Old Greek Life
Peirce, Bradford K. ……………………….The Word of God Opened
Steele, J. Dorman ………………………..Fourteen Weeks in Human Physiology
Vail, A. D. …………………………………….Greek Literature
Vincent, John H. …………………………..English History
Vincent, John H. …………………………..Greek History
Warren, Henry W. …………………………Studies of the Stars
Warren, Henry White ……………………Recreations in Astronomy
And, most recently, in 2017:
Barry, Dan ……………………………………The Boys in the Bunkhouse
Beatty, Paul ………………………………….The Sellout
Bergner, Daniel ……………………………Sing for Your Life: A Story of Race, Music, and Family
Cisneros, Sandra ………………………….The House on Mango Street
Hamilton, Jane …………………………….The Excellent Lombards
Heyen, William …………………………….The Candle: Poems of Our 20th Century Holocausts
Hochschild, Arlie Russell ………………Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right
Patchett, Ann ………………………………Commonwealth
Russo, Richard ……………………………..Everybody’s Fool
Southard, Susan …………………………..Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War
Yong, Ed ……………………………………..I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life
The original tent camp gave way to a Victorian village complete with cottages, hotels and assembly buildings. The institute continues to the present, offering a variety of educational experiences during the summer season. Over the years, major figures from the history of the United States have participated in the summer institute, including presidents (Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, FDR, and Clinton); notables such as Booker T. Washington, Susan B. Anthony, Amelia Earhart, and Thurgood Marshall; and celebrities from the field of entertainment (John Phillip Sousa, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, LeeAnn Rimes, Toby Keith). The entire village is a National Historic District and entrance is controlled through gates. During the summer season one has to purchase a ticket to enter the village, which has been updated over the years to include modern utilities but retains the Victorian atmosphere. Since I am here long after the season has ended I do not have to purchase a ticket to enter, but the streets are way too narrow for the Lunch Box so I have to park in one of the large parking lots outside of the village and walk.
This is not a theme park, but a living village on the western shore of Chautauqua Lake. There is little commercial activity within the village, it consists primarily of housing and buildings devoted to the summer educational program. This map of the village demonstrates just how large it is. All of those little blocks are crammed with unique Victorian houses and a few small hotels.
I enter through the main gate and walk through block after block of cottages, most of which are closed up for the winter and many have large canvas panels shielding covered porches from the ravages of winter.
The center of the village is a plaza, a large green space surrounded on three sides by large buildings including the Colonnade, Post Office and Smith Library.
A fountain anchors the plaza, enshrining the purpose of the institute in stone as a monument to the arts, religion, education and music.
Just south of the plaza is the Amphitheatre, site of outdoor lectures and musical concerts.
Between the amphitheater and the lake sits the Athenaeum Hotel, built in 1881 and reputedly the largest wooden building in the eastern United States.
The lakeshore unfolds in front of the hotel with a bell tower piercing the sky to the north.
Larger homes line the shore on either side of the Athenaeum.
I turn back from the shore and head towards the Lunch Box, again walking through blocks of Victoriana.
There are few year-long residents in the village and so I was able to enjoy a very peaceful time in the village, something that I’m sure would not have been possible a couple of months earlier!
Just southwest of the lake are the Panama Rocks, a geological feature that were well-known to the Native American people and sometimes used to store meat as ice formed in winter lasts well into the summer deep within the recesses of the formation. Essentially the rocks are the eroding edge of a formation millions of years old. They stretch for about a mile above the narrow valley of Little Brokenstraw Creek, which was an early trading route between Lake Erie and the east coast. Water power from the creek lead to the development of the village of Panama, a thriving mill town long before Jamestown was founded about 20 miles to the east but quickly eclipsed by the growth of Jamestown and now a small collection of buildings. The weather has been horrible for the last couple of days, cool and pouring rain, so when the sun came out I indulged in one last orgy of fall color by hiking through the rocks. The trail roughly resembles an oval with the first half skirting the base of the cliffs and the second following back along the top. Here, with minimal commentary, is fall in the hills of New York…
After climbing up onto the top of the ridge, the trail now threads its way across the edge of the cliff where the rock is slowly eroding onto the hillside below.
Invigorated after my visit with Mother Nature I now head to visit Jamestown, a city of around 30,000 people and home to a unique attraction.
Next up: Lucy, I’m Home!
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