USA > New York > Wayne County > History of Central New York : embracing Cayuga, Seneca, Wayne, Ontario, Tompkins, Cortland, Schuyler, Yates, Chemung, Steuben, and Tioga Counties, Volume I > Part 14
USA > New York > Cayuga County > History of Central New York : embracing Cayuga, Seneca, Wayne, Ontario, Tompkins, Cortland, Schuyler, Yates, Chemung, Steuben, and Tioga Counties, Volume I > Part 14
USA > New York > Seneca County > History of Central New York : embracing Cayuga, Seneca, Wayne, Ontario, Tompkins, Cortland, Schuyler, Yates, Chemung, Steuben, and Tioga Counties, Volume I > Part 14
USA > New York > Ontario County > History of Central New York : embracing Cayuga, Seneca, Wayne, Ontario, Tompkins, Cortland, Schuyler, Yates, Chemung, Steuben, and Tioga Counties, Volume I > Part 14
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On the historic site where Sullivan's army engaged in its only battle in the great campaign of 1779 against the Iroquois, lies Newtown Battlefield Reservation, adjacent to the Liberty Highway and about five miles southeast of Elmira. Here on August 29, 1879, thousands gathered at a memorial centennial celebration of that conflict. From the obscurity of a century, the battle was then brought to light again when a monument was dedicated bearing this inscription :
"Near this spot, on Sunday, the 29th day of August, 1779, the forces of the Six Nations, under the leadership of Joseph Brant, assisted by British regulars and Tories, were met and defeated by the Americans under the command of Major-General John Sul-
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livan of New Hampshire, whose soldiers, led by Brigadier-Gen- eral James Clinton of New York, Brigadier-General Enoch Poor of New Hampshire, Brigadier-General Edward Hand of Penn- sylvania and Brigadier-General William Maxwell of New Jersey, completely routed the enemy and accelerated the advent of the day which assured the United States their existence as an independ- ent nation. 1779-1879."
The reservation contains 205 acres and is on a hill with an elevation of 1,400 feet. Here was constructed by the state in 1912 another monument commemorating the battle. Entrance roads have been improved, a water system installed and the usual sanitary, picnic and camping facilities of the other parks pro- vided.
STONY BROOK STATE PARK.
The most recently acquired preserve under the Finger Lakes State Parks Commission is Stony Brook State Park, embracing 442 acres and lying three miles south of Dansville in the north- west corner of Steuben County. The Dansville-Hornell state highway, Route 36, adjoins the northern and western boun- daries of the park. During 1928 the first 250 acres were ac- quired for this two-mile long park. During the first year little development work was possible, but now the recreation center has all the outing facilities. A water system has been installed and a new hard surface entrance road constructed, as well as a dam to form a swimming pool. All trails are being rapidly extended.
TAUGHANNOCK FALLS STATE PARK.
Taughannock Falls, 250 feet high or the highest straight falls east of the Rockies, is the majestic feature of Taughannock Falls State Park of 396 acres, ten miles north of Ithaca on the west shore of Cayuga Lake near Trumansburg. Taughannock Creek wrote its story in the language of riven rocks, of a deep gashed mountain, of huge boulders hurled through a gorge carved to a depth of 380 feet in the shale rock. Far up the canyon, over
1
SCHOOL BUILDING, CATO, N. Y.
UPPER DAM, OWASCO CREEK, PORT BYRON, N. Y.
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tortuous trails, adventuresome explorers have discovered grand- eur of nature comparable only with that of the Rockies.
Grading and graveling of a new road on the north side of the glen, connecting the upper entrance with the lower portion of the park, was practically complete in 1928. In addition, two large parking areas were graded and graveled near the main falls "outlook," children's playground devices were set up, a base- ball diamond established and camping and picnicking facilities increased. Since then other trails and improvements have been made, including the erection of a fine bath house near the bathing beach, installation of a water system and sewage disposal plant, building of an open side shelter pavilion on the middle point, dredging of a lagoon, etc. This year an asphalt tennis court opened. The park also has a boat livery. The new Taughan- nock Boulevard being constructed by the state connects the park with Ithaca. This year an old mill at Halseyville was opened as a park tea room. A new hard surfaced road along the creek, connecting the park with the Ithaca-Geneva highway at Halsey- ville, was also finished.
WATKINS GLEN STATE PARK.
Before Columbus discovered America, the Algonkins had an aboriginal fortification in the fastnesses of a great cleft into the side of a mountain at the head of Seneca Lake. Today that gorge is known on two continents as Watkins Glen, one of the natural wonders of America. Watkins Glen was first opened as a resort in 1863 by M. Ells, who charted the rude paths to make the place accessible to the public. Then it was regarded as almost worth- less property, but within six years after opening it was sold to E. B. Parsons for $25,000. Three years later it was sold for $100,000 to John J. Lytle. In 1906 the "Watkins Glen Reserva- tion" was acquired by the state and placed under jurisdiction of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. Then in 1911 the jurisdiction passed to a local commission which in turn was succeeded by the present authority.
Through Watkins Glen are nineteen waterfalls and many cascades, cool grottos and spacious amphitheaters. The icy
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stream, whose age-old labors chiseled out the glen from the solid rock, plunges and purls down a course of 10,000 feet to the point where it emerges from its rocky cavern to join the waters of the lake.
The entrance to the interior of the glen is through a great door in the side of the stone hill. Then up and up, over water- falls, beneath them and in the spray of them the visitor climbs through weird windings of the glen. One bridge is 165 feet above the swirling waters, and cliffs rise nearly 200 feet above the stream. The lower paths afford all the beauty of a close view, while those above, with lookout stations, afford a view showing the depth and long range of exquisite scenery. Paths and short flights of stairs at various sections of the glen make the ascent easy. The park covers 427 acres. Rest rooms, comfort stations, and observation points are conveniently located and camping and picnic areas are in the upper area. New bridges and trails con- nect every part of the preserve, oldest in Central New York.
MUNICIPAL OR PRIVATE PARKS.
No park, excepting the state parks, has a more colorful back- ground than Stewart Park, Ithaca's municipal playground at the head of Cayuga Lake. The recreational center found birth about 1894 when the Cayuga Lake Railway Company built an electric line from Ithaca to the lake and developed forty acres of ground under the name of Renwick Park, because the land had been secured from the old Renwick estate.
There were provided paths, a boat landing, small zoological garden, vaudeville theater and pavilion where "Patsy" Conquays band gave concerts in the summer months. In 1914 the amuse- ment park came into spectacular light when Theodore and Leo- pold Wharton established Wharton Studios, Inc., at Renwick and moving pictures were made there for five years. Francis X. Bushman and Beverly Bayne were the first stars there featured. Later International Film Service, Inc., the Metro Film Corpora- tion and the Norma Tallmadge Corporation all sub-leased the park, bringing there a long list of early film celebrities including Lionel Barrymore, Pearl White, Creighton Hale, Arnold Daly,
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Howard Estabrook, Jean Sothern, Olive Thomas, Grace Darling, Warner Oland, Harry Fox, Norma Tallmadge, King Baggot, Marquerite Snow, Lieut. Bert Hall, Elsie Esmond, Hamilton Reville, Doris Kenyon, Derwent Hall Cain.
Renwick Park was purchased by the City of Ithaca in 1921 during the mayoralty of Edwin C. Stewart. By the terms of the Mayor's will, he left nearly $150,000 for development of the park, which now bears his name.
With ten acres of playground and 1,500 feet of shore front- age, Roseland Park at the foot of Canandaigua Lake, on U. S. Route 20 and State Route 5, is one of the region's attractive amusement centers. The resort was purchased for $40,000 early in 1925 by William Muar of Rochester, who since has spent thou- sands of dollars in development. A large dance hall and eating pavilion have been erected, the beach graded, camp sites opened, the tract lighted with hundreds of electric bulbs, refreshment stands provided, with parking space, rest rooms and midway attractions. The land was purchased from the Marion I. Case estate, and adjoins the Canandaigua Country Club golf links.
In 1925 the village of Hammondsport, Steuben County, opened an attractive little park at the head of Lake Keuka, through efforts of the Better Hammonsport Club, cooperating with the Erie Railroad. The space south of the railroad station has been set with shrubs and flowers and crushed gravel paths bisect the spot which commands a fine view up Lake Keuka. Seats have been provided and a diving tower for bathers. North of the station is a picnic site, with tables, seats, fireplaces, rest rooms and bath houses. The tract is called Rest-a-while Park.
Every state in the Union is each summer represented in the motor caravans which make Lakeside Park at the head of Seneca Lake a camping headquarters. This motor camp grounds was established in 1922 by the village of Watkins Glen, which main- tains it.
The willows about the park stretch a shadowy hand across a century and a half to tell the motor wanderer a tale of the days when pioneers blazed the trail down which they speed today. The willows are said to have been grown from a willow sprout
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cut for a whip and brought to the district by a Mr. Gilbert in 1807. On his arrival by horseback, he stuck the whip in the ground. It lived and from it other cuttings resulted in the willow grove of today.
The park has its caretaker, fireplaces, running water and rest rooms. It commands an inspiring view northward up the length of Seneca Lake.
Dennison Park of thirty-eight acres is the feature of Cor- ning's parks and playgrounds. It contains a large natatorium, with clear water pumped for a daily change and purified con- stantly by chlorification after being heated by gas. Baseball, tennis, croquet, playgrounds for children and other attractions for young and old are provided in Dennison Park. Park pavilions are reserved sometimes two years ahead for gatherings. The park has a free tourist camp site, with use of gas for cooking.
ENNA JETTICK PARK.
The most beautiful and pretentious privately owned resort park in upstate New York is Enna Jettick Park at the foot of Owasco Lake in the town of Owasco. Upon thirty-eight green, breeze swept acres, the resort occupies the site of an ancient Algonkin village and upon it in 1779 a detachment of soldiers in Sullivan's army camped.
The pleasure center, now representing in its attractions and improvements a total of about a million dollars, found birth shortly before 1890. In February of that year the first trolley car was operated from Auburn, two miles distant, to Owasco Lake. The low land at the foot of the lake the trolley company purchased with the idea of creating a resort that would bring patronage that should swell trolley fares. There were no auto- mobiles in those days. So the Auburn & Syracuse Electric Rail- road Company bought the land and began development, including the building of a fine sea wall and filling in with hundreds of cubic feet of earth.
The place was called Lakeside Park and retained that name until 1930, when the trolley company passed out of existence and the park and all other property of the company was sold to Enna
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Jettick Shoes, Inc., headed by Fred L. Emerson, Auburn shoe manufacturer, for a quarter of a million dollars. Then the name was changed to Enna Jettick Park and the place was put under ten-year lease to the Cayuga Amusement Company, Inc., as operators.
Several years previously the citizens of Auburn voted on the question of purchasing the park as a municipal playground for $75,000, when the trolley company threatened to sell to private amusement groups. The public feared such sale to outsiders would eliminate the high tone and conduct of the pleasure center, but they voted down the proposition. When the trolley company went bankrupt, the park proved its chief tangible asset.
On April 15, 1915, the site of a prehistoric Algonkin village was uncovered west of the present park baseball diamond. Nu- merous fireplaces were unearthed showing the red burnt sand loam with layers of black and white wood ashes. From the re- fuse heaps remarkably fine and beautiful clay vessels (broken) were uncovered together with perfect pipes, bone and horn im- plements, stone axes, arrow points, flint knives, pestles and mor- tars, and thousands of fragments of pottery. Over 300 clay vessels were identified of as many different sizes and variations of rim decoration. Some of the most important relics are now in the State Museum at Albany, and the Cayuga County Histor- ical Society, Auburn. The remains are those of an Algonkin tribe, the predecessors of the Iroquois Indians and are probably not less than 700 years old.
ISLAND PARK.
Across the Owasco outlet, here an artificial waterway from the lake, is Island Park, even older as a resort than Enna Jettick Park. About 1887 or 1888 it was purchased by New York in- terests who perceived the possibility of making money by estab- lishing a resort. They erected a small hotel and other attractions. Roads were poor, there was no trolley and buggies formed the only means of transportation to the place from Auburn. The initial trial was not a success. Finally, the island passed to Thomas A. Quinn and Dennis McCarthy, Auburn cafe men, who
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were operating the Beach House, an inn standing on what is now the northeast corner of St. Joseph's cemetery, at the junction of the Lake Avenue and Sand Beach roads. They procured a license, built a bridge across the old outlet west of the island and for three years operated both resorts. The Beach House as it orig- inally stood was once Norwood Seminary. Quinn and McCarthy tore down the original building and erected a larger one, which burned in 1902. But in the meantime they had sold the island, which embraces some seven acres, to Michael J. Carmody of Auburn for less than $5,000.
Carmody operated the place for twenty years, spending $75,000 in improvements and building a fine seawall along the southern shore in 1905. Meantime in about 1896, McCarthy and Quinn had opened Norwood Park across the Lake Avenue road and opposite the old Beach House. Here the old New York State baseball league staged games. The locality was fast becoming a popular pleasure center. The hotel on the island was enlarged, concessions were going up and a bridge was swung across the new outlet, giving entrance to the island from what is now Enna Jettick Park.
In earlier days Quinn and McCarthy had erected a vaudeville theater on the island. Carmody had this torn down. Another concession group then built a larger theater and attempted to operate a summer stock opera company, with weekly change of bills. The late Thomas Mott Osborne, millionaire prison reform worker, at times directed these operas. The venture was not a financial success, however. Vaudeville was tried and this proved unprofitable. The theater was abandoned until recent years when, before the depression, boxing bouts were held in the building.
Carmody sold the island in 1920 to Fitch Bills of Auburn, present owner. Today the concessions and attractions eclipse all those of the past in number and variety.
YACHTING IN CENTRAL NEW YORK.
Over crested wave, sailing craft for more than a century have written yachting history in the blue of the Finger Lakes. Cen-
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tral New York was one of the original boating centers of the East. Since the days when the canvas of passenger and freight sloops whitened the azure waters, this sisterhood of lakes has been a playground for the sailor.
When stages rumbled over woodland roads, the sloop formed the sure means of transportation, principally on Seneca and Cayuga Lakes. But since these pioneer days, every manner of craft has disported upon the lakes. The motor boat has added its throbbing note to the lakes fleet. Open launches, cabin boats, runabouts, outboard kickers, etc., have all come into their own on these uncrowded waters.
The first Eastern Intercollegiate Outboard regatta was staged on Skaneateles Lake in June, 1930, and has since been held there annually, the entry list increasing yearly. In 1931 Miss Loretta Turnbull of California, world's champion outboard speed queen, dislocated her hip as her boat upset, but she was rescued and after weeks in Auburn City Hospital returned to racing in 1932, cap- turing further trophies abroad.
In sailing, too, Skaneateles has a background of history. From fifty to seventy five years ago, the lake boasted the finest skippers in Central New York and annual regattas were held there, with boats from Seneca, Cayuga and Owasco Lakes brought overland to compete. These included the Dart, Island Queen, Flying Cloud, Blue Bell, Ashland, Sea Gull, Jilt and the Julia. The first yacht on the lake was the Three Sisters, forty feet long, and launched in 1816.
Seneca Lake vies with Skaneateles in yachting history. Years ago the Geneva Yacht Club was organized and numerous races were held. But before the World War this organization dis- banded. After years of quiescence in boating activities, a few of the hardier "salts" of Geneva put out a feeler in February, 1927, to see what might be done to revive the sailing fleets. Twen- ty-two prospects turned out for the organization meeting of the new Seneca Yacht Club February 11, 1927, at which time Harry Marshall was elected commodore. The session was called largely through the initiative of Erle E. Snelgrove and Maxwell C. Wheat. Growth of the new club was amazing.
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During the first season, 1927, handicap races were held with Wheat's yawl Lotus, Lansing S. Hoskins' sloop Teressa, Harry D. Marshall's Bat and Erle E. Snelgrove's sloop Alice. Granger Wilson, a former member of the Buffalo Canoé Club, managed the purchase and delivery from Buffalo of seven seventeen-foot "Consolation" class centerboard sloops. Club membership leaped to seventy-five in short order.
In 1929 a new clubhouse was built at Boody's Point at the entrance of the Barge Canal into the lake. That year the club also added five Star Class racing yachts to its fleet. Today there are seven such craft.
It was in 1928 that the club sponsored the First Annual Finger Lakes Marathon, which under another name has grown to be the outboard motorboat racing classic of this section of the state. Five regattas have been held through 1932, three of them sanctioned by the American Power Boat Association. In most of the regattas official world's records for outboard speeds have been shattered.
Entries have been received from all over the East and as far south as Florida. The cruising fleet of the club has been enlarged each year with some ten fine motor yachts now flying its pennant.
The first race was held July 28, 1928, with thirty-six entries. Reese Wyant of Cortland, New York, was the winner. The second race was on June 22, 1929, with Leo F. Davids, of Geneva, winner. Both of these races were from Geneva to Watkins Glen and return, a distance of about sixty-five miles. In the second race there were about forty-five entries.
In 1930 the name of the regattas was changed to Geneva on Geneva Regatta, with two days of racing including the Finger Lakes Marathon on the second day. The marathon had to be postponed from Saturday, August 23, to Sunday, August 24, 1930, owing to rough water. Robert Grabou of Buffalo, New York, was winner in the professional class and Paul B. Sawyer of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the amateur class. The two days of racing were sanctioned by the A. P. B. A. and the Finger Lakes Marathon cut to fifty miles from the original proposal of 100
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miles, over a ten-mile course, due to rough water. In 1930 the entry list had grown to fifty.
In 1931 the regatta was July 10-11, with about sixty entries. Boating organizations sent many officials to the meet. The Fin- ger Lakes Marathon was won by James C. Nunneley of Detroit, Michigan. In 1932 the list increased again and instead of a marathon, contestants raced for the Finger Lakes championship.
In 1931 the club was host to the first annual sailing regatta of the Central New York Yacht Racing Association, with which was combined the first championship races in District 12, Inter- national Star Class Yacht Racing Association, bringing more than twenty-five sailing craft from New York State to Seneca Lake.
The Central New York Yacht Racing Association was the direct result of steps taken by the Finger Lakes Association, a regional civic body, to promote water sports on the lakes. On August 28, 1930, the Finger Lakes Association called together representatives of yacht clubs from throughout Central New York and its environs at Lakeside Inn on Owasco Lake. There the association offered to put up prizes for winners should the skippers form a Finger Lakes Yacht Racing Association.
As a result of that conference, another gathering of yachts- men was called and on October 6, 1930, meeting at the home of Lithgow Osborne in Auburn, the Central New York Yacht Racing Association was formed. Nine clubs were represented, includ- ing the Owasco Yacht Club, the Seneca Yacht Club, the Hender- son Harbor Yacht Club, the Oswego Yacht Club, the Syracuse Yacht Club, the Cazenovia Yacht Club, the Keuka Yacht Club, the Watkins Glen Yacht Club and the Cayuga Yacht Club. Mr. Osborne was elected as president; Dr. A. C. Abbott of Syracuse, vice president, and J. Bradford Tallman, Auburn, secretary- treasurer.
The romance of yacht racing is no better exemplified in the lake country than it is in the career of the Owasco Yacht Club. There were regular regattas on Owasco in the middle eighties, when sharpies were manned by George Underwood, Charles Thorn, Nelson Burr and Woolsey Hopkins and sloops were piloted
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by Fred Allen and Henry Lewis. Then Douglas Beardsley intro- duced the first fin keel boat. Still further advance came when Charles Thorn entered the Numajie, a catamaran, and Willard Case introduced his Elchico to compete with it.
An actual yachting organization, however, did not materialize until leading spirits in the old Dolphin club decided to place sail- ing competition on an organized scale. The Dolphin Club, formed in the seventies, was primarily a rowing club, with a big eight- oar barge as its chief tangible asset. But in 1890 the club incor- porated and purchased its own club house on the east shore of the lake. Here every convenience was provided and the club ac- quired its own steamer, the Dolphin, to transport members and guests to the clubhouse, where cuisine and service were of high order.
Shortly after the Dolphin club entered the lists as yachting enthusiasts there was formed the Owasco Lake Yacht Club, which staged two races a season, as against the Dolphins' weekly con- tests. The present Owasco Yacht Club was formed in 1921, with Thomas S. Richardson as first commodore, largely through the stimulus of the late Col. F. J. Peet, an old salt who presented a handsome silver cup which is still contested for each Labor Day. In 1927 the club secured its own clubhouse at the Four Mile House. In addition to the competition for the Peet trophy, there is a seasonal point race, in the winning of which contests are held frequently throughout the summer.
The present Ithaca Yacht Club is one of the developments of an organization started about twenty-five years ago and known as the Motor Club of Ithaca. This club, organized by boat and automobile owners when automobiling was in its infancy, had two divisions, the motor car and motor boat divisions respectively, each having its own group of officers but under the general club executives. It had club rooms in the McClune Building.
As the use of automobiles increased the interests of the two sections of the club diverged more and more, finally resulting in the disintegration of the motor club and the formation as inde- pendent organizations of the present Ithaca Automobile Club and the Motor Boat Club. The motor boat club had a fairly enthusi-
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astic membership and organization for several years but interest in automobiling killed interest in boating to such an extent that until last year the boat club was maintained practically in name only.
In 1928, however, boating of every kind on Cayuga Lake came back with a vigorous punch. The old motor boat club was reor- ganized as the Ithaca Yacht Club with about fifty members and a very successful season was enjoyed. Outboard races, clam bakes and dinners being held at the Glenwood Hotel at intervals during the summer.
The first meeting of the club for the second season was held at the Johnson Boat Yard on Thursday, April 18, 1929, at which the following officers were elected. Commodore Arthur N. Gibb, vice-commodore, Jerome Fried; secretary-treasurer, Arthur B. Brown; directors, John P. Egbert, Ernest A. Miller. At this meeting the directors were authorized to negotiate for a perma- nent club house on the lake shore.
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