Chautauqua, NY

Chautauqua is a Chautauqua County town and lake community whose name is tied directly to the water beside it. The Chautauqua Lake Sunday School Assembly opened in 1874 as an experiment in vacation learning, then grew into the Chautauqua Institution, an educational and cultural campus that still defines the settlement's summer rhythm. The Chautauqua Institution Historic District was listed in 1974, and steamboats once connected Mayville and Jamestown with stops around the lake. Chautauqua is not just a place named for a lake; it is where a lakeside gathering became the name of a national movement.