Bemus Point, NY

Bemus Point sits on the eastern shore of Chautauqua Lake, a village in the town of Ellery whose name is tied to the Bemus family and to the water in front of it. William Bemus moved his family here on March 9, 1806, after purchasing land on both sides of the lake. His son Thomas started the ferry in 1811 with a raft that had to be poled across. That rough first crossing grew into the Bemus Point–Stow Ferry, a cable-drawn local institution that served as the only lake crossing until the highway bridge opened in 1982.

The ferry is still the story people remember, but Bemus Point also grew as a summer destination during the nineteenth century. The old Casino dance hall became a venue for big-band music and still stands as a restaurant, while the village's incorporation in 1911 gave the lakeside settlement its own municipal frame. Today Chautauqua Lake, the ferry landing, Lakeside Drive, and the Bemus Point Central School District shape everyday life, with the I-86 crossing just south of the village. Bemus Point is a small lake village with a pioneer cabin story, a ferry that outlived the road problem it solved, and a shoreline built for both local routines and summer visitors.