Lake? What Lake?

"Here is the Spot"

"A Goodly Spin Down the Lake"

Pushing Off

Down to the Lake

A Certain Condition of Light

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The Coxe and May Tragedy

This famous drowning may have colored the Colleges’ attitudes toward Seneca.

During much of their history, the Colleges have been reputed to discourage student contact with Seneca Lake due to a fairly reasonable fear of drowning. In truth, the Colleges’ memory contains only one instance of it, but a notorious one it was.

In July 1895, sophomores Arthur Cleveland Coxe (grandson of the bishop whose name was given to Coxe Hall) and Henry May attached a sail to a small boat and began what was to be a week-long circumnavigation of the lake. Wind and high seas were reported in the days that ensued, and the young men were last seen by on-shore witnesses July 5. Searchers found their boat capsized on the east shore. Their bodies were never recovered.

The Colleges community, quite naturally, poured out its grief. The Class of 1897 place a plaque in the chapel memorializing the young men. The local newspapers carried melancholic (and somewhat sensational) accounts of the loss. In 1915, upon presentation of young Coxes’ books to the library, a memorial service took place on campus, with remarks prepared by Professor J.H. McDaniels.

Surprisingly, and happily, no one we found remembers another such tragedy in the life of the Colleges. Still, the memory of Coxe and May hung over the Colleges for a generation. — D.C.

The Seneca Lake series was researched and written by Dana Cooke and Peter Rolph '85 — writer/editors in the Office of College Relations. Portions of the series also appear in the Fall '97 issue of The Pulteney St. Survey. To request a copy, e-mail Susan Murad at murad@hws.edu.