Finger Lakes

The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow lakes in the Finger Lakes region of New York, in the United States. These lakes are special because they are long and thin, shaped by glaciers long ago. The area where they are found is between two natural regions: the Northern Allegheny Plateau and the Great Lakes Lowlands.

Two of the lakes, Cayuga and Seneca Lakes, are some of the deepest in the United States. Seneca Lake is very large, stretching over 38 miles long and covering about 67 square miles. Though the lakes are not very wide, often less than 3.5 miles across, they are very long and sit in valleys carved deep by glaciers thousands of years ago.

Name

The name "Finger Lakes" for these 11 lakes is not completely known. The oldest known time it was used in writing was in an 1883 paper by Thomas Chamberlin. Later, in 1893, R. S. Tarr used the name "Finger Lakes" in another paper. People are still checking if the name was used before these papers.

Lakes

The Finger Lakes are eleven long, narrow lakes in New York, United States. From west to east, they are:

Seneca, Cayuga, Skaneateles, Owasco, Keuka, and Canandaigua are the major lakes. Conesus, Hemlock, Canadice, Honeoye, and Otisco are the smaller ones.

All eleven lakes are part of the Lake Ontario drainage basin. Some nearby lakes, like Waneta and Lamoka, are sometimes called "fingernail" lakes but drain into a different river. Silver Lake is sometimes thought of as a twelfth Finger Lake but is usually left off the list because it is far away from the others. Onondaga Lake and Cazenovia Lake are also often excluded. Oneida Lake is sometimes included but is different from the rest.

Quaternary geology

The Finger Lakes were formed by ancient glaciers that moved slowly over the land. About two million years ago, large sheets of ice from what is now Hudson Bay pushed southward, shaping the land. These glaciers carved deep valleys and left behind debris that acted like dams, allowing lakes to fill these valleys.

After the glaciers melted about 14,400 years ago, the lakes began to fill with water. Some valleys, like the one holding Cayuga Lake, existed even before the last big glacier advance. This means the Finger Lakes have a very long history, shaped by many ice ages.

Ecological concerns

The Finger Lakes area has important natural gas reserves called Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale. New technology lets people get this gas from the ground. Some landowners want to allow this, but many local people worry it could pollute the water and bring too many factories and machines.

Trash from New York City goes to landfills in the Finger Lakes area. Since 2017, the lakes have often had harmful algae, which can be a problem for the environment.

History

The Finger Lakes region has been home to the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) tribes for a very long time. Tribes like the Seneca, Cayuga, Tuscarora, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk lived in this area. Many other tribes also moved here during colonial times for safety.

During colonial times, the Haudenosaunee were very powerful and helped keep the area safe for almost two hundred years. By the late 1700s, things changed. During the American Revolutionary War, some Haudenosaunee supported the British, while others supported the Americans. After the war, most of the land, including the Finger Lakes region, was opened for settlers to buy and live on.

Notable places

The Finger Lakes region, together with the Genesee Country of Western New York, has been called the burned-over district. In the 1800s, many people there met to talk about their faith, and some new religions began.

The area was a place where people worked for change and lived together with shared ideas. Many important stops on the Underground Railroad are there. For example, the Harriet Tubman Home at Auburn tells the story of this amazing woman who helped others find freedom.

At the north end of the Finger Lakes are Seneca Falls, where the movement for women's rights began; Waterloo, where Memorial Day started; and Palmyra, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began. Each year, many people visit to see an outdoor play called The Hill Cumorah Pageant, put on by the church.

Hammondsport was where Glenn Curtiss, a pioneer in flying machines, lived. The air there is good for gliding. Elmira, not far away, was where the famous writer Mark Twain spent his later years. Corning is well-known for Corning Glass Works and the Corning Museum of Glass. Hornell was an important place for trains, where many train cars are still made today.

Conesus is home to the oldest place in North America for making special wine for churches.

Some important old buildings in the area include the Granger Homestead (1816) in Canandaigua, New York. Another nice old house is the Prouty-Chew House (1829) in Geneva. Near the lakes are three big houses built in the 1800s: The Richard DeZeng House, Rose Hill, and Esperanza. Two of these are open for people to visit.

The Seward House in Auburn is a special old mansion from the time of the Civil War. Belhurst Castle in Geneva is a stone house that is now a hotel. Sonnenberg mansion in Canandaigua is a beautiful old home with gardens. Geneva on the Lake is a house built between 1910 and 1914 that looks like homes on lakes in Italy. It is now a hotel with gardens too. Many old buildings and areas in the Finger Lakes region are important and worth seeing.

Starting in 2010, the Hemlock-Canadice State Forest was created to protect the two western Finger Lakes, Hemlock and Canadice. These lakes give drinking water to the city of Rochester. To keep the water clean, the city bought land around the lakes. Over time, trees grew back, but some old stone walls and foundations are still there. Today, people can enjoy fishing, hunting, nature walks, boating, and hiking there. The Department of Environmental Conservation takes care of the forest and makes rules to protect the lakes and the people who visit.

The 584-mile (940 km) Finger Lakes Trail and its smaller paths go through the southern part of the Finger Lakes region. It is also part of the 4,600 mile North Country National Scenic Trail.

Hemlock Lake has the oldest place in New York where bald eagles make their home, starting in the early 1960s. Hemlock Lake, once called "O-Neh-Da" meaning "Lake of Hemlock Trees" in Seneca, is home to the oldest place in the United States for making special wine for churches, started in 1872. Today, O-Neh-Da Vineyard still makes high-quality wine for churches and for people who love good food and drink.

Wine

The Finger Lakes region makes more wine than any other place in New York. Over 400 wineries and vineyards are around Seneca, Cayuga, Canandaigua, Keuka, Conesus, and Hemlock Lakes. The deep lakes help keep the vineyards warm when it is cold, so the grapes grow well and are safe from frost. The lakes and the way they are positioned create different conditions on each side, making the wines special.

The main kinds of grapes grown are Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot noir, Cabernet Franc, Vidal blanc, Seyval blanc and many native American varieties.

Since the Farm Winery Act in 1976, many wineries welcome visitors. Wineries are an important part of the area, bringing in visitors and creating jobs. The Finger Lakes American Viticulture Area includes two of the oldest wineries in America, O-Neh-Da Vineyard (1872) on Hemlock Lake and The Pleasant Valley Wine Company (1860) on Keuka Lake.

Craft beer

The Finger Lakes region has become a good place for making craft beer. In 2018, it had the second-most breweries in New York after the Hudson Valley.

Educational institutions

The area has many schools and colleges. The biggest is the Ivy League school Cornell University in Ithaca. Other well-known schools include Ithaca College in Ithaca; Syracuse University, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Colgate University, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and Le Moyne College in Syracuse; SUNY Cortland in Cortland; Tompkins Cortland Community College in Dryden, Ithaca, and Cortland; Wells College in Aurora; Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva; Keuka College in Keuka Park; Finger Lakes Community College in Canandaigua and Geneva; New York Chiropractic College in Seneca Falls and Cayuga Community College in Auburn.

Nearby are Binghamton University (SUNY), the University of Rochester, Nazareth College, St. John Fisher University, Roberts Wesleyan University, Monroe Community College, and Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester; Elmira College in Elmira; Corning Community College in Corning; and the State University of New York at Geneseo.

Museums

The Finger Lakes region has many museums. These include the Corning Museum of Glass, the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, the Strong National Museum of Play, the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum, the Finger Lakes Boating Museum, the Wings of Eagles Discovery Center, the Sciencenter, the Museum of the Earth, the National Soaring Museum, the Rockwell Museum, the Seward House Museum, the William H. Seward and the Samuel Warren Homesteads of the New York Historical Society.

The Women's Rights National Historic Park is in Seneca Falls. The park includes the home of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Wesleyan Chapel, where she held the first meeting about women's rights in 1848.