I started this Great Walks series awhile back, and stopped after three. Our trip to Chautauqua, which is a community from which cars are largely banned, gives me a good excuse to pick the series up again. It's about a three-mile walk around the perimeter of the Institution, which began as a tent-camp for a brief summer period in 1874. Eventually people built their tents, and later small cottages, on platforms on tiny parcels of land leased from the Institution. A bankruptcy scare after the Depression was solved in part by a decision to sell off the Institution owned lots to private owners.
My husband and I met as college employees of one of the hotels in the 1970s, a decade in which Chautauqua was clearly in decline. Something happened in the next decade, though: wealthy babyboomers looking for second homes in family-friendly resort environments materialized, followed by Victorian re-habs and reproductions and, more recently, massive four-season homes and expansive condos.
Although a much wealthier community than the one that originally attracted teachers and ministers for education and relaxation, the Institution retains much of its original architectural flavor.
Musicians play on the Plaza outside the Bookstore: 
The Summerhouse Inn, where we've stayed several times:
The ubiquitous Kids on Bikes:
The Octagon House overlooking Lake Chautauqua:
The Bell Tower and the Children's Beach:
I have too much for one day! I'll continue this walk later.
I didn't walk today -- every time I had a free hour, it was pouring.
1 comment:
It looks so charming and inviting.
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