It was on one of those nights when I couldn’t sleep that I got up and started to thumb through the latest Geneese Vally Penny Saver. I spotted an ad for a yard sale at Woodville, NY (just up the road on route 21 from Naples, NY) on June 1 and 2 (9-4 pm) next to the Saw Mill Restaurant. Of special note to some of my readers were the words that items for sale will include items from the Keuka Maid: bar stools, arm chairs, and fixtures. Also featured in that same magazine was an ad for the opening of the Saw Mill Restaurant (7121 State Route 21, Woodville, NY) which sits right on Canandaigua Lake at Woodville. The restaurant will be opening 7 days a week from June 1 till the end of September and features a beef BBQ buffet on Sundays.
All this information was enough for me to plan a trip to Woodville to get an update on the Keuka Maid which was moved there during the winter. What remains of the Keuka Maid now resides at the Fields Marina in Woodsville, just on the south side of the Saw Mill Restaurant. Jeremy Fields, who bought the Keuka Maid at auction last year for $26,000, has been quiet in regards to what he has planned for the Keuka Maid.
Just as I started to take a few pictures, a lady came out from the Saw Mill Restaurant and asked if I needed something. I told her about my little blog Finger Lakes Living and how I have been following the story of the Keuka Maid with great interest. She told me that Jeremy Fields was her son and that she owns the Saw Mill Restaurant. One of the pontoons which floated the Keuka Maid has been completely redone and is now ready for the water. She said that Jeremy’s plan is to reconstruct the Keuka Maid just as it was disassembled, only in reverse: float the pontoons first and then build the superstructure of the boat on top of the pontoons while they are in the water. The boat will be re-constructed in such a fashion as to allow a pontoon to be pulled from under the boat for future inspection without pulling the whole boat out of the water.
Jeremy left open his option of leaving the Keuka Maid on Canandaigua Lake or returning her to Keuka Lake at Hammondsport, NY. Send me a note at jbupp@fll360.com if you know or want to take a guess. Take a trip to Woodville, NY this weekend and pick-p some memorabilla from the Keuka Maid. And please stop at the Saw Mill restaurant for a cup of coffee and some lunch.
