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.

photo credit: sugarcoma

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.

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Maple Syrup weekend in Chautauqua County will be the weekend of March 20 and 21, 2010 and March 27 and 28.

photo credit: Putneypics

Maple syrup buckets hanging from trees have become a sign of spring in the Chautauqua County area and nearby counties. Collecting maple syrup has been a tradition passed down through generations and taught to the American settlers by the American Indians.

Growing up in this area my family would tap the male trees on out property. After school we would collect the sap from the buckets and store it in milk can until we had a free night from after school activities or the weekend.

The sap would be boiled outside until it was quite thick and brought in the house for the final cooking.

Unfortunately one year the canvas tent caught on fire that covered our boiling pan. That was a little inconvenient and added stories that would be told in later years. But the really big event was the night my brother and a few friends decided to boil sap all night long.

Of course they fell asleep and the boiling pan was ruined. Now, that was not a funny story as the pan was expensive to replace. Maple syrup was produced by the family for several more years until we grew up and moved onto other projects.

Fresh maple syrup is wonderful in the spring and once in a while we would make maple butter or maple candy. It became a symbol of spring and we would look forward to the season – even if it was a lot of work.

If you live in the Chautauqua County area and would like to check out Maple Weekend check out the site for more information. You will be able to watch sap being boiled and various other stages of maple syrup production.

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What automobile was manufactured in Jamestown NY? Actually there were three but the Birmingham has a tie to a well-known local mayor, Samuel A. Carlson.

The Birmingham was made from 1921-1923.  It was a 55 hp Continental-engined six on a 124-inch wheelbase with standard components used throughout.  But it had a most unusual flexible suspension system.

Three transverse springs and an independent rear axle were combined with two transverse springs in front that made for a four-wheel independent suspension and the “easiest riding car ever put on the market,” as advertising said. But as with many automobiles getting the Birmingham on the market and creating sales was the hard part.

The first Birmingham prototype sedan was completed and tested in Detroit in May of 1921. Jamestown N.Y. had already been selected as the factory site. The mayor of Jamestown, Samuel A. Carlson, agreed to serve as president of Birmingham Motors Corporation. He agreed to accept no salary for the position because he believed production of the Birmingham would benefit the town of Jamestown much like what the Franklin had done for Syracuse or what Ford had done for Detroit.

Five cars were assembled in nearby Falconer by early 1922. These joined the other two cars previously put together in Detroit. These cars then were displayed in as many as 50 cities. One city was New York City for the National Automobile Show, which was held in January 1922.

Stock was selling quickly for the new company but a defamatory article about the company had appeared in the stock market publication, known as the U.S. Investor.

Initially it was thought this malicious piece of journalism could be turned to Birmingham’s advantage. But in August 1922 the AP wire service buzzed with the news that a Federal grand jury in Washington had filed a presentment following a 10-month investigation by the U.S. Post Office. The charge was fraudulent use of the mails to sell more than $300,000 of worthless stock. 18 Birmingham men were named ion the named action including Mayor Samuel Carlson. Newspapers that were not friendly to Carlson had a field day with these charges.

Production continued and during the next two months Birmingham assembled 26 cars. But a stockholders meeting in October ended in bedlam, with one local stock salesman stabbed to death.

In June of 1923, the indictment against Birmingham officials was dismissed in court but the damage was done. To generate favorable publicity, a Duesenberg-engined Birmingham racecar was built to compete in the 1923 Indianapolis 500. But with all the controversy and slacking sales the money ran out before it could be completed. In December of 1923 the company was forced to close.

One final attempt was made in 1924 to revive the Birmingham as a new car to be called the Wright for the Canadian market. This plan fell apart quickly.

There were as many as 50 Birmingham vehicles built during the short life of the company. Records for the company are difficult to find so tracking cars has proven to be impossible. None of the cars are believed to exist today.

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The Jamestown Jammers are a popular local minor league baseball team in the Jamestown area. They play at the College stadium; also know as the Russell Diethrick Park.

photo credit: whizchickenonabun

The Jammer’s  are a local a minor league baseball team and classified as a is the Short-Season team. They are an affiliate of the Florida Marlins and play in the New York – Penn League.

The Jamestown Falcons, who were originally called the Jamestown Jaguars, preceded the Jamestown Expos. The Expos left in 1993 for a new location in Vermont. The current team is the Jamestown Jammers and they have played and entertained the crowds since 1994.

The new team was named the “Jammers” after a fan vote with the mascot character named J.J. Jammer.

The question of what is a jammer plagued the team year after year so in the offseason of 2005, the Jammers changed their logo to a cartoon grape theme.

The new logo represents the strong tradition of grape growing in Chautauqua County. On June 19,2006, the eve of opening day, the team announced the name of its new mascot: Bubba Grape, the Baseball Ape. This officially put an end to the jammer question.

The Jammers’ radio affiliates are WKSN, which carries all away games, and WRFA-LP, who carried four home games in 2007. In an effort to draw people to the ballpark, the team does not usually allow home games to be broadcast on the radio.

But unless it’s pouring why not head out to the ballpark and enjoy the music, hot dogs and atmosphere of a baseball game? There always seem to be one or two surprises at a live game.

Note: Jamestown has had a baseball franchise in the New York-Penn League since its inception as the PONY League in 1939. It just goes to show baseball is still one of America’s favorite past-times.

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Many do not know of or do not take advantage of the local baseball team that plays in Jamestown NY. Now known as the Jamestown Jammers they are the minor league team where players will later be sent to play with the Florida Marlins.

photo credit: Rob Poetsch

The team offers an opportunity to watch local games in a stadium close to the Jamestown Community College complex near Falconer N.Y. I have watched many of these games and the talent of the team members is exceptional.

This You Tube catches an event when Candid Camera played a trick on the pitcher at the beginning of the game. At this time the team was the Jamestown Expos. (they moved to Vermont in 1993 and were replaced by the Jamestown Jammmers)

I remember when Candid Camera was a popular TV program. Combining this stunt with a live game must have been an event for those present.

The atmosphere of a live game does not hold a candle to a game on TV. The crowd that gathers for the Jamestown Jammers is a variety of students, college attendees, local community families and die-hard baseball players.

When I attended Jamestown Community College one of my favorite spring and summer events would be to watch one of the games. It made a great break from photo classes, ceramics and computers.

Tickets are offered at many businesses and can be found by visiting the Jamestown Jammers official site. For a perfect summer evening take a trip to the college stadium for a game that you will remember.

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The Fenton Mansion and museum sits atop a hill that  overlooks the city of Jamestown.

Reuben E. Fenton was Governor of New York State from 1865 to 1869. He also served in the US Congress (1853-1864) and US Senate (1869-1875). As one of the founders of the Republican Party, he was a close political associate of Abraham Lincoln.

Governor Fenton made his fortune in the lumbering business. He later commissioned local architect Aaron Hall to design and build a mansion in 1863. The building is Italian Villa architecture and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

The Fenton Mansion has served as headquarters for the local history center since 1964. For those who have not stopped by to visit the exhibits you are missing a part of local history. The exhibits are well planned and change regularly. The grounds are also beautiful, particularly in the fall.

Fenton Mansion

The Fenton History Center is open to the community and has a large resources collection, which includes a library, archives and educational resources. The exhibits at the FHC are tied to community interests and local heritage.

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