Fair Haven, NY

Fair Haven is a Cayuga County village on Lake Ontario, wrapped around Little Sodus Bay in the Town of Sterling. The place began as the hamlet of Little Sodus; a post office took the Fair Haven name in 1852, and the village incorporated in 1880. Its harbor made the difference. The bay openings were widened and protected by jetties, and the Southern Central Railroad reached the waterfront in 1871, turning Fair Haven into a shipping port for coal, grain, lumber, salt, and fish.

You can still feel both versions of the village. Fair Haven Beach State Park puts beaches, Sterling Pond, Sterling Creek, boating, and fishing into the local mix, while Main Street and the old hardware store keep the railroad-era village visible. The Fair Haven Heritage Association's timeline also reaches back to Cayuga and Seneca use of Little Sodus Bay before the settlement period. Fair Haven is not just a lakefront stop; it is a former working port whose roads, bay, park, and older buildings all meet around the same small piece of Lake Ontario shore.