More than 20 years have passed since I first started coming to the Finger Lakes. My introduction to the Finger Lakes came by way of the various winery tours held around Seneca Lake, the largest of the Finger Lakes.
We took a tour around Seneca Lake today, starting out at Geneva, and then on to Ovid on Route 96A and finally heading down route 414 at Ovid. My first stop was at a place which had an old barn nearby. I used to think to my self, “what a lovely place for a restaurant.” The old barn is gone now, but the view of Seneca Lake is still fresh in my mind as I look over the fields to the beautiful blue waters below and then over to the distant farms on the other side of the lake.
There is a historical marker at this site which I hadn’t noticed before. General John Sullivan and General James Clinton lead their troops in 1779 on a mission against the hostile Indian Nations and the British to make this area safe for settlers. I wonder what they were thinking about as they marched northward.
Further down the road we stopped briefly at Wagner Vineyards. I remember Bill Wagner, a WWII veteran who came to this area after the war to build his own winery. Every summer he would host an outdoor birthday party in honor of his Mother, and he even named a wine after her – Alta B.
Those summer celebrations were great as he made it a real party with picnic lunches outside, and tables to sit and enjoy the day, and entertainment. On Sunday mornings, he would come to the Ginny Lee Café and sit at the player piano in the Café and play for his own enjoyment and the delight of his guests. The Ginny Lee Café will open next weekend on March 16 as we were one week too soon.
Further on down the road, I pulled over and took a picture of the Hector Falls. I don’t know how many times that I have passed this waterfall in a hurry, never stopping to take a picture or to enjoy the beauty of the scene. The water runs under the road and then drops down 200 hundred feet or so to the lake below. In 20 years, I’ve missed a lot of water that has flowed over these falls. But today, I didn’t miss a drop!
