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.

There are many sights and views in Chautauqua.

Photographs and copyright by Denise Grant. All rights reserved.

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.

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.

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.

photo credit: psd

At the beginning of the season, about two weeks ago, it looked like we would have one of the best seasons in quite some time. But the temperatures warmed up quickly and the snow started to melt.

In order to have the best sap for syrup you need warm days over 32 degree for the sap to rise but the night need to fall below freezing. If you have too many nights where the temperatures do not fall the sap turns yellow and the flavor of the syrup will change. And if the trend of warm days and night continue the season will be cut short.

I am afraid our syrup season is about done as our days have been unseasonably warm and in the 50’s and 60’s. And the nights have been warmer than 32 degrees.

This you tube will show you more about what trees are tapped and how the process is set up.

Making maple syrup was a project we did as children. Our property was full of sugar maple trees so you didn’t have to walk far to tap and collect sap to create maple syrup. Making syrup added fun, adventure, hard work and stories that we tell to family and friends.

I am not sure where the location is  but you have the scenic view of Chautauqua Lake and one of the boats that the lake became know for.

Steam boats and tour boats have been a popular site on the lake for years. Many years ago they were used for shipping along with providing transportation to various  towns on the lakeshore. They built the local businesses up with trade and tourism.

Today there are two passenger boats left; The Chautauqua Belle and the Summer Wind. Both passenger boats add to the atmosphere of the lake and make a wonderful activity for a day or evening.

A postcard is like capturing a moment in time that will never be exactly the same again. An added plus is if the postcard was mailed with a message and postmark. Unfortunately this card was just used as a memento.

This postcard is of the gate entrance and taken by C.S. Thomas from Warren, P.A. For those not familiar with the area Warren is about 40 minutes south of Chautauqua, N.Y.

This postcard is from the 1950’s. The vintage cars help pinpoint the time. There are gardens in the front of the building along with the traditional hanging baskets that are on almost every porch and balcony on the homes located on the Chautauqua grounds.

The stoplight, crossing lights, crosswalks and road signs are also missing.

There is also a postcard drawn by artist Jane Nelson of the gated entrance in the Vintage postcard post from Feb. 12, 2009.

The gated entrance sets a trademark for this gated community or learning, education and religion. Also during the season cars are not permitted on grounds and park across the street. The reason for this is the narrow streets lack of parking.

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.

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.