The owners of the Canandiagua Lady are wisely using this winter to restore and redecorate the Canandaigua Lady so that she will be all dressed up for another year of Finger Lakes summer fun. The Canandaigua Lady missed out on most of last year’s summer festivities due to needed repairs on her hydraulic system.
The Canandiagua Lady is special to Jeanette and me since our first taste of Canandaigua living was aboard the Lady for a lovely lunch on the boat. Last summer just didn’t seem the same without the Lady as she usually passes by Deep Run Park around 7:30 pm on a summer’s evening.
There’s a wonderful little book titled “The Canandiagua Lake Steamboat Era 1827 to 1935” published in 1978 by the Naples Historical Society, Box 115, Naples, NY, 14512. In the steamboat era, steamboats provided transportation, shipment of freight from the forests, dairy farms, and vineyards near the lake, and great fun to people of all ages who lived in the surrounding area. It was a time when Canandaigua Lake was open to the public and people came to picnic, swim, and dance at the various lakeside hotels. This little book brings back all of the memories and excitement of the steamboat era when excitement meant making the 16 mile trip from Woodville to Canandaigua (no stops) in two and a half hours at a full speed of six and a half miles per hour!
James R. Bupp