Celebrating Seneca

Skimming the Surface

Essential facts, websites, and books about Seneca Lake

Length: 35 miles

Width: 3.2 miles, maximum; 1.9 miles, average

Depth: By most accountings, slightly more than 630 feet; drops to approximately 180 feet below sea level

Shoreline: 75.4 miles

Volume: 4.2 trillion gallons

Inlets: Main inlets are Catharine Creek (Watkins Glen) and the Keuka Lake Outlet (Dresden)

Outlet: Seneca River, also known as "the Canal," joining Seneca and Cayuga lakes at their northern ends

Name: Probably a European misinterpretation of a Native American term for stone

Age: Formed by glaciers during the Pleistocene epoch (more than 1 million years ago)

Wineries: 20 (more than any other Finger Lake)

Additional claim to fame: Home to some of the largest lake trout (20 pounds and above) in the world; National Lake Trout Derby held Memorial Day

The main source of statistical information about Seneca Lake is Persons, Places, and Things In the Finger Lakes Region by Emerson Klees (1993: Friends of the Finger Lakes Publishing)

Surf the Lake!

Or better yet, surf these lake-related websites.

Seneca Lake is, of course, a Finger Lake, and the Finger Lakes are, of course, tourism. So there is no dearth of World Wide Websites about them.

Commercial/Tourism Sites

These three sites offering tourist information. All are maintained by commercial services, but attempt to offer far-reaching listings of recreational, cultural, and educational opportunities. In no particular order:

Governments/Chambers

The Geneva Chamber of Commerce site is at www.genevany.com/, and will point you to many other good sites. Also, there are sites for the neighboring counties at www.ontariony.com, www.yatesny.com, and www.seneca.org.

Fishing?

See www.gorp.com/gorp/location/ny/finger/, containing fishmaster Fred Kane’s assessment of the individual Finger Lakes.

Incidentally, many of the above sites are accessible via the HWS Website at Campus: Local Culture.

Seneca Lake in Print

A few books about Seneca Lake and the Finger Lakes region

The following titles pertaining to the lakes are commonly available. All are stocked, in fact, at the College Store:

Richard Figiel, Culture in a Glass: Reflections on the Rich Heritage of Finger Lakes Wine (1995: Pioneer Printing)

Kathryn Grover, Geneva's Changing Waterfront, 1789-1989 (1989: Geneva Historical Society)

Charles Harrington (photographer), The Finger Lakes of New York (1996: Norfleet Press)

Emerson Klees, Legends and Stories of the Finger Lakes Region (1995: Friends of the Finger Lakes Publishing)

Emerson Klees, Persons, Places, and Things In the Finger Lakes Region (1993: Friends of the Finger Lakes Publishing)

Carol Sisler, Seneca Lake; Past, Present, and Future (1995: Enterprise Publishing)

Deborah Tall, From Where We Stand (1993: Alfred A. Knopf)

In addition, the collected writings of Arch Merrill are available in a series from Empire State Books, some of which are stocked at the College Store.

The Colleges’ archives hold Honors projects pertaining to Seneca Lake, as well as the book The History of the Wandering Jew: A Legend of Seneca Lake, Queen Katherene, Hector Falls, Romantic Watkins, and Geneva, Beautiful Geneva by Phoebe Dey Jackson, published in 1898. These do not circulate, but may be viewed.

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.