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Seneca Lake

The American Revolution in the Finger Lakes

September 10, 2023 by Guest Contributor 3 Comments

Early illustration of the Iroquois Confederacy, by a EuropeanInitially, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Iroquois) claimed neutrality during the conflict between Britain and the colonists, seeing the disagreement as a civil war and valuing loyalty to their families and to their lands above all else. When the political discontent erupted into the American Revolutionary War, the member nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy split their support between the British and newly formed American forces. [Read more…] about The American Revolution in the Finger Lakes

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: American Revolution, Battle of Newtown, Canandaigua Lake, Cayuga Nation, Chemung County, Finger Lakes, Haudenosaunee, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Lenape - Munsee - Delaware, Livingston County, Loyalism, Military History, Oneida Indian Nation, Onondaga Nation, Seneca Lake, Seneca Nation, Sullivan_Clinton Expedition, Tioga County, Tuscarora

Early Inhabitants of the Finger Lakes Region

August 14, 2023 by Guest Contributor 2 Comments

Lamoka Site diorama at the New York State MuseumAccording to archeological records, groups of nomadic Paleo-Indians traveled through the Finger Lakes region approximately 8,000 to 9,000 years ago. Small bands of these hunters and gatherers followed large game during the last stages of the Ice Age when the glaciers that formed the area’s notable lakes were receding.

Somewhat more recent early archaic archeological sites scattered across Western New York reflect a culture that was highly mobile and left little in terms of an archeological record. [Read more…] about Early Inhabitants of the Finger Lakes Region

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Algonquin, Archaeology, Broome County, Canadice lake, Canandaigua Lake, Cayuga County, Cayuga Lake, Cayuga Nation, Chemung County, Conesus Lake, Cortland County, Finger Lakes, French And Indian War, fur trade, Geology, Grass lake, Haudenosaunee, Hemlock Lake, Honeoye Lake, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Ithaca, Keuka Lake, Lamoka, Lenape, Lenape - Munsee - Delaware, Livingston County, Material Culture, Monroe County, New France, New Netherland, Oneida Indian Nation, Oneida Lake, Onondaga County, Onondaga Lake, Onondaga Nation, Ontario County, Otisco Lake, Owasco Lake, Paleontology, Pennsylvania, Rochester, Schuyler County, Seneca County, Seneca Falls, Seneca Lake, Seneca Nation, Seven Years War, Skaneateles Lake, Spencer, Steuben County, Susquehanna River, Syracuse, Tioga County, Tompkins County, Treaty of Fort Stanwix, Tuscarora, Valley Heads Moraine, Waneta-Lamoka WMA, Watkins Glen, Wayne County, William Johnson, Yates County

Geologic Formation of the Finger Lakes

July 26, 2023 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

A late fall snowstorm frosted the hills of the Finger Lakes region of central New York in early December 2004Approximately 600 million years ago, during the Neoproterozoic Era, the Earth’s supercontinent began to break apart, and an ocean formed between land masses that roughly correlate to Europe and North America today. For the next 100 million years, this ocean continued to widen until the continents changed course and began to move back towards each other.

The eventual collision of these land masses formed a tall mountain range now known as North America’s Appalachians. [Read more…] about Geologic Formation of the Finger Lakes

Filed Under: History, Nature, Western NY Tagged With: Appalachian Mountains, Canadice lake, Canandaigua Lake, Cayuga County, Cayuga Lake, Chemung County, Conesus Lake, Cortland County, Finger Lakes, Geology, Grass lake, Hemlock Lake, Honeoye Lake, Ithaca, Keuka Lake, Livingston County, Monroe County, Oneida Lake, Onondaga County, Onondaga Lake, Onondaga Nation, Ontario County, Otisco Lake, Owasco Lake, Paleontology, Rochester, Schuyler County, Seneca County, Seneca Falls, Seneca Lake, Skaneateles Lake, Spencer, Steuben County, Syracuse, Tioga County, Tompkins County, Valley Heads Moraine, Watkins Glen, Wayne County, Yates County

National Park Service Declares Finger Lakes Eligble For National Heritage Designation

July 19, 2023 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

National Park Service NPSOn Tuesday, July 18th, the National Park Service delivered the Finger Lakes National Heritage Area Feasibility Study to Congress. The feasibility study determined that the study area in the Finger Lakes region of New York state meets the criteria to be eligible for inclusion as part of the National Heritage Area System. [Read more…] about National Park Service Declares Finger Lakes Eligble For National Heritage Designation

Filed Under: History, Nature, Recreation, Western NY Tagged With: Canadice lake, Canandaigua Lake, Cayuga County, Cayuga Lake, Cayuga Nation, Chemung County, Conesus Lake, Cortland County, Erie Canalway Heritage Corridor, Finger Lakes, Finger Lakes National Heritage Area, Geology, Grass lake, Hemlock Lake, Honeoye Lake, Indigenous History, Ithaca, Keuka Lake, Livingston County, Monroe County, National Park Service, Oneida Lake, Onondaga County, Onondaga Lake, Onondaga Nation, Ontario County, Otisco Lake, Owasco Lake, Rochester, Schuyler County, Seneca County, Seneca Falls, Seneca Lake, Seneca Nation, Skaneateles Lake, Steuben County, Syracuse, Tioga County, Tompkins County, Valley Heads Moraine, Watkins Glen, Wayne County, Yates County

Historic Preservation: Landmark Society Names Five to Revive

January 30, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Hotel CadillacThe Landmark Society of Western New York has announced its 2022-23 Five to Revive – a list that identifies opportunities for targeted, strategic revitalization. The announcement was made at a news conference last week at the Landmark Society headquarters in the Warner Castle in Rochester. [Read more…] about Historic Preservation: Landmark Society Names Five to Revive

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Architecture, Department of Corrections, Finger Lakes, Finger Lakes Land Trust, Historic Preservation, Landmark Society of Western New York, Monroe County, Ontario County, Rochester, Seneca County, Seneca Lake

Catharine Creek Wildlife Area Meeting Planned

October 22, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Catharine Creek Wildlife Management AreaThe New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will host an open house to share details about a recently completed habitat management plan for Catharine Creek Wildlife Management Area, on Tuesday, November 1st.

The primary purposes of Catharine Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA) are wildlife management, wildlife habitat management, and wildlife-dependent recreation. At the southern end of Seneca Lake, between Watkins Glen and Montour Falls, an unusual natural area has evolved. [Read more…] about Catharine Creek Wildlife Area Meeting Planned

Filed Under: Nature, Recreation, Western NY Tagged With: Catherine Creek WMA, Chemung Barge Canal, DEC, Finger Lakes, Montour Falls, nature, Schuyler County, Seneca Lake, Watkins Glen, Wildlife

Under Threat: Willard State Hospital at Seneca Lake

June 20, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Willard State Hospitals Hadley Hall c 1887Willard State Hospital in Romulus, Seneca County, NY has defined the physical landscape and cultural environment of its rural corner of the Finger Lakes region for nearly 175 years. The hospital complex was the largest of its kind in the 1870s, with dozens of buildings, open space, and working farms.

Once comprising over 1,000 acres, its current size is about 400 acres including a mile of Seneca Lake shoreline and an institutional cemetery containing approximately 6,000 burials. Despite the loss of several architecturally important buildings, about 70 buildings still stand today. [Read more…] about Under Threat: Willard State Hospital at Seneca Lake

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Architecture, Crime and Justice, Department of Corrections, Empire State Development Corporation, Finger Lakes, Historic Preservation, Medical History, Preservation League of NYS, Public Health, Romulus, Seneca County, Seneca Lake, Willard State Hospital

Underwater Imaging of Seneca Lake Canal Shipwrecks Underway

August 19, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Seneca Lake underwater research project courtesy NYS Canal CorpThe Seneca Lake Archaeological and Bathymetric Survey Project is an underwater exploration occurring on Seneca Lake that aims to preserve the history of New York’s canals by using state-of-the-art equipment to capture never-before-seen images of intact canal shipwrecks from the early nineteenth century in the deepest waters of the lake. [Read more…] about Underwater Imaging of Seneca Lake Canal Shipwrecks Underway

Filed Under: History, Nature, Western NY Tagged With: Archaeology, Education, Erie Canal, Erie Canalway Heritage Corridor, Finger Lakes, Maritime History, New York State Museum, NYS Canal Corporation, Sampson State Park, Seneca Lake, Shipwrecks, Transportation History

Seneca Lake Shipwrecks Program Planned

September 20, 2019 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Seneca Lake from Watkins GlenArthur B. Cohn is set to present “What Lies Beneath: Stories from Seneca Lake” at Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site on Tuesday, September 24th at 6:30 pm.

The talk will focus on the first two seasons of the Seneca Lake survey and the significant shipwreck discoveries that will add to the understanding of the canal era when horses and mules walked the towpath.  Cohn will also outline the history of the Seneca Lake region and, based on his four decades of Lake Champlain experience, the logical expectation that shipwrecks would be present. [Read more…] about Seneca Lake Shipwrecks Program Planned

Filed Under: Events, History, Mohawk Valley Tagged With: Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Maritime History, Schoharie Crossing SHS, Seneca Lake, Shipwrecks

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