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Learn everything you need to know
about Chautauqua
Chautauqua, NY, is a small town located in Chautauqua County in Northwest NY. Chautauqua, which means “tied in the middle” is located near Chautauqua Lake. The word Chautauqua also stands for an adult education movement in the United States that was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
photo credit: grilled cheese
Chautauqua is most well known for Chautauqua Lake and the Chautauqua Institution, a learning and cultural center. As the area grew in population Chautauqua County was formed and named after the largest lake in the area.
History of Chautauqua
The first Chautauqua was called the New York Chautauqua Assembly. John Heyl Vincent, a Methodist minister and editor of the Sunday School Journal, organized it in 1874. His friend Lewis Miller, a businessman, also helped plan the concept of “Chautauqua” also know as adult learning centers. Their campsite was located at Chautauqua Lake in New York State. This location was chosen for its isolation, beauty and for the lake.
Two years earlier, Vincent had begun to train Sunday school teachers in an outdoor summer school format. He felt that the informal outdoor atmosphere would create harmony and be ideal for religion and learning. The organization founded by Vincent and Miller later became known as the Chautauqua Institution and is still active today.
Adult learning assemblies expanded rapidly in the late 1800’s and were popular throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The assemblies brought traveling entertainment, learning and culture for the whole community.
With the introduction of radio, competition for lining up the best performers and lecturers, movies, and the introduction of television and modern day information, Chautauqua’s began to close. Today there are only a few of the educational programs left, with the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua NY being the largest and offering the most diverse program format.
Chautauqua Institution
The Chautauqua Institution is a gated community that is open for a 9-week season offering a full program of lectures, religion and wide variety of activities. During the season automobiles are not permitted on grounds except for deliveries. Add to this, the small winding streets, small gardens and Victorian style homes and you have a unique village setting.
Off season the community is very small but the Smith Memorial library, lodging accommodations including the Athenaeum Hotel and several small shops stay open. And behind the scenes planning for the following Chautauqua season is in full gear.
Chautauqua County encompasses 1065 square, has 6 lakes and approximately 50 miles of Lake Erie shoreline. Jamestown and Dunkirk are the two major cities with another twenty-seven towns and fifteen villages nestled in woodlands and along lakes. Chautauqua Gorge, Lucy-Desi Museum and Roger Tory Peterson Nature Center are only a few places to visit while touring Chautauqua.
In the summer months the lakes, rivers and forests are a popular draw for people. In the winter months skiing and other outdoor activities bring visitors to the area.
There is always an activity or place to visit in Chautauqua, NY.
