This image was taken during the Studebaker Weekender at The Chautauqua Institution. The weekender has been a regular event for the last 11 years and takes place off season during the month of September. The event is sponsored by the Kinzua Region Studebaker Drivers Club.

At the time this photo was taken the Chautauqua Belle was being refurbished. It is now offering sight seeing tours of the lake and is often seen docked at the Chautauqua Institution.

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There are many sights and views in Chautauqua.

Photographs and copyright by Denise Grant. All rights reserved.

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Mayville New York is the Couty seat in Chautauqua County, which  located in NW New York State.

Mayville has a rich and long history and to this day still offers beautiful beaches and shore lines.

The photograph below is from a souvenir booklet published in the early 1900′s that featured Jamestown New York and the Chautauqua Lake area.

This image was of the train depot in Mayville which was located near the dock.  In the past Mayville was a popular area for the arrivals and departures of tourist visiting Lake Erie, Chautauqua Lake, Celeron and Chautauqua for the summer programming held on the Chautauqua grounds.

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Palestine Park is a scale model of the holy land, which includes cities, hills, rivers, and seas in their approximate correct geographical location. This park is located on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York.

Vintage postcard of Palestine Park

Towards the Miller Tower in Miller Park you will find a large plaque with information on the park. This will aid you in understanding the park if a tour is not in progress.

Palestine Park is laid out along the southwestern side of Chautauqua Lake, near Miller Tower. Chautauqua Lake portrays the Mediterranean Sea. This park creates a ‘mirror-image’ of the actual land, which is on the east coast of the Mediterranean.

A large mound of stones represents Mount Hermon and an artificial stream represents the Jordan River.

There are small hills that represent biblical landmarks such as Mount Tabor and the Mount of Olives. Markers have been placed that represent sites of biblical significance which include Bethsaida, Jerusalem, Jacob’s Well and Jericho to name a few.

The park was one of Chautauqua’s first landmarks.

In 1874, Chautauqua founder Rev. John Heyl Vincent gave his friend Dr. W. W. Wythe the task of laying out Palestine Park as a visual aid for teaching Biblical history and geography to Sunday school teachers, which were some of Chautauqua’s first visitors.

The present Palestine Park is 350 feet long with a scale of 1.75 feet to the mile. Over Chautauqua’s history the park has been redone numerous times but has stayed true to scale. The park has become a featured area of the lakefront.

Educational guided tours are offered through the park each Sunday and Monday at 7 p.m. during Chautauqua’s nine-week summer season. Tours can be canceled for weather so check ahead.

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This vintage postcard of Chautauqua lake is the North shore in the town of Chautauqua.

The postcard is an art color tone postcard and is a genuine Curteich-Chicago “CT Art-colortone. It was picked up at an estate sale.

Chautauqua Lake has a unique and history laden past. It is rich in American Indian history, played important parts in wars and exploration and is a geographic heaven for geography buffs with the glacier lakes and heavy fossil deposits left from the ice age.

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