From six I news.

This is connections.

I'm Raquel.

Stephen.

Today we continue our summer tour of the Finger Lakes.

With a trip to a place that a little less traveled and a little less hyped.

But that's part of what people say.

Makes it magical.

Cuca Lake is known as the Crooked Lake for its unusual Y shape, and it's the only lake in the country that flows both north and south is ringed by small, proud communities in Hammondsport and Branch Port, each with their own stories.

Cuca is where natural beauty, local tradition and creative spirit all seem to thrive.

Side by side is where metal sculptors find inspiration.

Grape growers experiment with world class wine, and historians preserve stories that stretch back to Susan B Anthony, and the earliest settlers.

Today, we'll explore what makes Keuka Lake unique, from its artistic life to its wine trails, to a surprisingly rich and sometimes strange local law.

Joining me today are four people who know the area inside and out.

Full House.

Today in studio with me, I have Sam Kastner.

He is a local metalwork artist.

Hi, Sam, how are you?

Good afternoon.

I also have Kyle at Pella, Czech, director of programs for the New York State Wine and Grape Foundation.

Hi, Kyle.

Hi.

And Angela Mattoon, the office manager for Weiss Wise winery.

Vise vise proper German pronunciation.

Vise winery.

Okay.

And I'm not sure if she's on the phone.

Is she on the phone?

Yes.

Okay.

I have joining me on the phone is Trish.

Trish.

Tricia Noel, are you there?

Tricia?

Yes.

Yes.

Tricia is the director of the.

Yes, I am History Center.

Thank you for joining me.

Tricia.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Tricia.

And of course, we're going to go to you first, Tricia.

But we want to tell our listeners, if you want to join in on the conversation about Keuka Lake.

You can call us at 1844295 talk.

That's 1-844-295-8255 or at (585) 263-9994.

Or you can email us at connections at Dawg or comment in the chat section in our YouTube channel.

So, Tricia, you're on.

Tricia, are you here with me?

Yes.

Yeah.

I want to start here.

I mean, yes, I can hear you clearly.

I want to start with you, since you're the historian.

Right?

Pinion has an interesting name.

A compromise between Pennsylvanians and Yankees.

Can you tell us more about how the town came to be?

Yes.

So that is correct.

There were a lot of early settlers from and it was Sylvania that came up with a religious group called the Society of Universal Friends.

There were also a lot of people from New England.

The nickname for New Englanders back then was Yankees.

So they did have a town meeting and decided to come up with that.

Penn Yan as their town name after several other names didn't work out very well.

It was not the first community founded in Yates County.

But it was founded in the late 1790s.

By 1813, it was a relatively established village.

And in 1823, when Yates County became its own county, it was chosen as the county seat.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

And I know a Susan B Anthony has some history there as well.

In 1855, the Women's Rights Convention, to the rise of the Mennonite and Amish communities.

What is one of your favorite tidbits of the local law at Keuka?

Well, I think, you know, I think you just mentioned it, actually, I think it's it's very important that Penn Yan was the site of one of the women's rights conventions.

I know the really famous one is in Seneca Falls, but there were several after that.

The women's rights movement went all the way up through, through 1919.

So Susan B Anthony did come here several times.

She stayed on Main Street and she spoke in a, what was the called the what?

The Wesleyan Methodist Church is where the convention was.

Frederick Douglass also spoke there, as did Ernestine Rose.

So that, that women's rights convention had, quite an array of famous, reformers.

So, so we know about the penny and we know about Susan B Anthony.

Tricia, can you tell us something that we don't know about Keuka Lake and its past?

Well, Gates County is actually, the site of the permanent settlement of the Society of Universal Friends.

So that was, the first permanent group of non-Native American settlers in what is now Yates County.

They were a religious group that founded in 1776, in Rhode Island.

And they were founded by a person who went by public universal friend.

They believe they were inhabited by a genderless spirit, and they collected a group of followers in New England.

They moved to Pennsylvania and collected some more followers.

There.

And then, as soon as this area was open for a settlement after the Revolutionary War in 1786, people from that society started to move up here and the friend moved up here in 1790.

So our first permanent group of non-native settlers was a was a religious group that we believe was the first, religion founded in the United States after independence.

My family moved here with Jemima Wilkinson.

She's talking about the universal friend.

Wow.

So.

So, Sam, you you know a little bit about this history?

Not as well as she does, but I do know that, Cass and her family, two brothers moved here with her and settled in before you.

Before it was Yates County.

Yeah.

So what has your family, what are some of the stories have been passed on?

Through your family?

I mean, I am not a storyteller.

My father.

He's probably chuckling right now.

He knows all.

But, Yeah, two brothers are buried at one of the older cemeteries is the City Hill Cemetery on Route 14.

Part of the major winery on Seneca Lake.

And, those two brothers, there's those two families of Castor's, and we all know each other very, very well.

My kids are the, I believe, the ninth generation on our family farm.

And it goes back to when we had steamships on Keuka Lake with, locks along the outlet trail.

Mills, flour mills, lumber mills.

I believe my family may have owned one or more of those mills as well.

So we need to preserve you.

I what are you saying?

Tricia?

I want to talk about, opinion.

Right.

Because I know, I know, Penn Yan is going through some, new revitalize revitalization efforts.

What has downtown Penn Yan been like historically?

Well, originally, Penn Yan was a very tiny village.

It was a very remote in the early days of the county.

It wasn't the main community.

And Sam's correct.

The casters have have been in East County all along, and and the first, community would have been over near City Hall, like you mentioned.

And that area got developed first.

So Penn Yan was really an afterthought.

It wasn't until later that land was donated to the county that they decided to build the county courthouse there and make it the county seat.

So it wasn't really early on, a very important community.

By the middle of the 19th century, though, I think due to, merchants and the canal being there and all those mills, there was a pretty wealthy community of merchants in Penn Yan.

And you can see that downtown.

A lot of the houses, the old houses are are big, beautiful mansions that were built in the 19th century.

And, you know, like most rural or agricultural communities, it's had its ups and downs.

And right now, yeah, there was, one of the grants for downtown revitalization, and it's doing really well.

Yeah.

And Keuka Lake is the only like that flows north and south, right?

What does that mean for, the for industrialization, for the, for the economy.

What does that mean with the lake flows both north and south.

What's the benefit of that?

Tricia, what were the benefits?

Well, the.

Yeah, the lake does flow both ways because of the the shape of it being a why.

So there's those two branches where it can flow in two different directions.

So really a lot of the industry, on the lake, you know, early on there was, there was fishing the steamboats, boats, people were able to use the lake to transport goods and materials and people a lot easier than on the roads, the roads being very bad.

But really early on, the Keuka outlet and also the Crooked Lake Canal that were built to connect to Seneca Lake allowed a lot of, shipping to happen between the lakes, which was really important.

Once you get to Seneca Lake, you can travel to the rest of the world.

Wow.

Buy a boat.

We need to get you a historian badge.

Sam.

We're, So I want to talk about Hayman's port.

Right.

That's the most southern tip.

And Hayman's port has been named the coolest small town in America.

This is the question for all of you.

Why do you think if you've been to Hayman's port, why do you think it's been called the coolest small town?

This can be hard for Sam and I because we both grew up in Union.

But yeah, I grew up close to Hammondsport, so maybe I can speak to that.

But, it has a lot of history.

It has a lot of sense of community.

It has a gorgeous little park downtown, has the waterfront, and so it has a little of everything that brings people together.

And the industries of aviation and grape growing have allowed it to develop into this just really vibrant small community with a lot of sense of pride.

Yeah, it's actually the historical home of viticulture and the Finger Lakes.

We've been growing grapes started in Hammondsport in 1829.

So almost 200 years now.

Really a thriving wine region prior to prohibition.

And that all started in Hammondsport and around Keuka Lake.

The cool is Sam finger lakes boating museum, Glenn Curtis air museum.

I believe he was the first to fly.

Whether the, the right.

Yeah.

The Wright brothers were.

We're not.

I don't get into the argument, but, it's a picturesque hallmark, you know, movie.

Yeah.

You know, the holidays, it's all lit up.

There was just an arts craft fair in the in the square.

Restaurants are great, and it's right on the water.

So you can bring your boat and take a walk or an airplane.

They do the same for an airplane?

Yep.

Is it the watermelon drop or something like that where they have, the there's a there's an event that happens and see, this is what happens when you have someone who doesn't live in Hammondsport.

Talk about the events down there.

But they there is an event where the seaplanes, it's a part of the celebration of the aviation history in Hammondsport, where there's targets in the water, if I'm not mistaken, and they have to drop watermelons from the planes and see how close they hit someone is said, oh, we can Google it.

There is can be a lot of there are a lot of small town events they have throughout the summer, and they also try to keep it going throughout the winter.

For the community, it's a big in terms of tourism, but also there's a strong community presence throughout the year.

Hammondsport, the coolest small town in America.

And for people exploring the region, what are some of the hidden gems or must see historic sites along the Keuka Lake?

Mr. historian, every, so I love I pedal a lot and I go out skyline drive to the very top of the bluff, and when you get to the end, you can see Hammondsport.

You can kind of look back a little bit and see branch, Port Hammondsport or Suny Penn on.

But it's, it's kind of like a sky sky view of bird's eye view of the lake.

And out there there's Garrett Chapel.

There's beautiful stained glass.

Dedicated to one of the sons of the Garrett family.

Historic town chapel.

Yep.

Out on the bluff.

Live music.

Sometimes you can get a wedding venue there.

Yeah.

Extremely private.

No parking.

It's up a steep hill.

Seasonal.

Seasonal.

Limited use road.

But it is accessible.

It's accessible during the summer.

I think they do still do Sunday services out there so people can go out and, enjoy the chapel and the church and also, get a sermon in.

Yeah.

Kyle, what would you what would you recommend if someone, a tourist, get a boat and get out on the water, get a bus.

But within reason.

Understand what you're driving as well.

So, unlike, say, I'm.

I don't have a long family history, but I did grow up in Penang and have the great fortune of, spending many, many years, on the east side of the bluff, which is not arguably, but clearly the best side of lake.

But it's the opportunity to get out on the water.

Keuka really provides the best lake life experience, in my opinion.

Compared to some of the other lakes.

It's smaller you can navigate depending on on how quick your boat goes from one end to the other.

There are restaurants and bars accessible by water.

It's a clean lake.

It's it's beautiful to swim in.

The temperature is, practically bath water at this point.

It's calmer.

It's more absolutely our larger.

There's a yacht club right off the bluff.

So the part of Keuka that sticks down the forms, the Y is called the bluff.

So there's the east side, there's East Bluff Drive, there's West Bluff Drive, then there's East Lake Road and West Lake Road.

It gets kind of confusing, but heading down the west side between Branch Port and Hammondsport is the Keuka Yacht Club.

And so the Sunday sailing regattas that you can see, because not only does the lake flow in two directions, but that's also where the wind changes significantly.

So it's a good sailing spot.

Wow.

I read an article that I wanted to just read some of the responses that some people that were quoted in the article said what they said about Keuka.

And I will have you, all of you respond, including you, Trisha.

One person said, Keuka Lake is so beautiful and clean and pure.

Another person said, for me, it is a place to recharge my batteries and reestablish balance.

And one more person said, this is the next Napa.

The wine connoisseur over here said yeah.

And so I think what we are looking for is a providing a wonderful tourism experience to the people that visit, but I think we also kind of like it being a had a hidden gem of sorts.

Yeah.

Interestingly with Covid I think a lot of people, local people started to discover the Finger Lakes more and more because they were supposed to be in France or supposed to be in Italy, and they took us closer trip, to the Finger Lakes from New York City, from Philadelphia, from Cleveland area.

We do get a lot of tourists there.

And I think Covid really opened people's eyes to the potential that the Finger Lakes has.

It was a nice alternative.

If you want to go to France but can't make it, you can come to.

Our wines are going to be much more comparable to European style wines.

Cool climate.

I mean, we are not Napa.

We don't make Napa style wines.

Napa wines are beautiful in their own right, but ours are our very distinctive, cool climate.

Wines tend to be higher acid, lower alcohol, more food friendly.

So I would I'd push back slightly on the suggestion of the next Napa.

We are the Finger Lakes, the largest wine producing region in New York State out of the seven different Avas within the state.

And again, the, you know, Cuca is the heart of winemaking in the Finger Lakes, and it's a good reason to come and visit.

And the the wine region itself is the reason that the tourism has actually grown significantly since the there was the Farm Winery Act in 1976 that, did a number of different things, but it allowed wineries to actually sell their own product rather than having to sell it to a distributor and then purchase it back, which gave the opportunity for tasting rooms to grow.

And, you know, before in the before the 76, legislation was passed, there was maybe a handful of wineries, Doctor Konstantine Frank on Keuka Lake being one of them.

But since then, it's grown significantly.

And now we've got probably around 130 wineries in the Finger Lakes in total.

Quite a few of them on Keuka.

And it's the reason that tourism had an opportunity to really kind of develop here.

There were, you know, scattered resorts around the lakes before that.

But, the wine region itself gave, gave the reason to develop more accommodations.

We're still working on increasing our our culinary opportunities.

But yeah, and no one brought a bottle of wine to sample.

I would I, I would have to I this could have been a great party.

I want to before we go into like, we were going to talk a lot about wine a little later on, but I want to talk to you, Sam.

Let's talk about art and nature and both big parts of this community.

And for those watching on YouTube, I believe we do have some some stills of your work.

Sam, your metal work.

You spent your life making art inspired by nature.

That's true.

What is it about Keuka Lake that fuels your creativity?

So I start every day with used to be three dogs.

It's now two walking the farm.

That's how I ground.

That's how I. I mean, I overlook Keuka Lake.

Our farm is, I think I think we're about somewhere in the 300 acre range.

And at one time we owned right down to the lake shore.

We still have 300ft of natural beach, but at one time we owned maybe close to two miles and our own steamship dock.

Packing house.

So you get produce to the steamships, and it would go to the outlet through the locks to Seneca Lake.

And that's how we would sell things.

I'm not super familiar with that.

It's a long time ago, but, someone in the family sold, the lower portion of the farm to New York State to put in route State route 54.

So the dairy farm, a lot of the big outbuildings were all removed to put in the highway.

Yeah.

So for me, yes, my studio is probably close to 80 years old.

My grandfather built it out of recycled materials.

It's a really a blacksmith shop.

There's no heat, there's no running water.

The doors, when they're open, I'm outside.

I work outside almost as much as I work inside.

And growing up, my mom used to threaten to cut the cord off the TV.

So my brother and I, we were outside all the time.

I think that's lost now, isn't it?

It could be.

I think definitely.

I have four children.

They.

I mean, when that Covid struck, we were lucky.

We were outside pretty much every day.

We didn't have, cabin fever.

We were able to do our own thing, and, nature's.

I mean, the waterfalls.

We have big gullies on our property and just natural waterfalls.

Ferns.

You know, I spent a lot of time in northern California, where the ferns were 18ft tall and the redwoods were just as beautiful here.

It's a different kind of beauty.

Yeah.

And your, your artwork kind of just camouflages into the scenery.

Yes.

One of the goals is to make it so that it's a part of the environment.

Part of the, you know, influences the architecture.

Is, you know, the tourism was getting bigger and bigger that a lot of the, the original wineries have hired me to do something to kind of set them apart from their neighbors.

Yeah.

So they all kind of work together.

And it's become a very large public art trail.

Seneca Lake.

Keuka Lake.

I could list the wineries, but we'd be here.

There's there's a lot of great, a lot of great to drive around.

Just like you sounded that Sam did.

Sam did that time.

Sam.

Sam.

So we know Sam's work.

Oh, absolutely.

What?

Tell us about his work.

What does it what?

Why is his work so distinct that we know what is.

What do you do?

What does Sam do?

I'd say, personally, I look at the stuff that he does, and you can see movement.

You can see the feeling that he put into it.

It's obvious that there's a lot of work behind the scenes, working with the folks that he's doing the work for, so that the end product reflects them.

I worked for a winery that he did a very it's not on Keuka Lake, but a very significant gate for.

And it's very indicative of of the experience that you're going to get at that winery, Fox Run Vineyards.

And you can't miss it when you drive down 14, but you do gates.

And I Sam, tell us what you do.

A lot of large scale contemporary work.

So the gates at Fox Run are potentially close to 75ft wide, about 30ft tall.

There's a bit of all the architecture from the original barns.

The trees, landscaping, of course, the fox is I think the fox is about six foot long, jumping through the the landscape.

They're solar powered, so we have, really nice lights, which you go by at night.

It's a completely different experience where the whole landscape is lit up.

We get the landscaping is all natural pollinators promoting, our monarch butterflies, which are now, I think they're still on the extinction list.

Potentially.

So educational.

When someone asked, we're able to kind of get some history on what?

Where, why we've done it.

Scott and Ruth were great with the process.

Redtail Ridge, just down the street.

Neighbors.

There's a whole line of very large, very supportive, local wineries that wanted something that was maybe that Napa style.

But but our own sort of roots here in, in the Finger Lakes.

Yeah.

Don't get Kyle started.

Don't think that, Yeah.

So saying what?

What would you consider your signature?

Because each artist has their signature.

Well, you know, that's their work.

What is your signature?

Originally, I went to school at Alfred University, so it's about 45 minutes.

Maybe, depending on how you're driving in an hour to the south of, Hornell.

And, I started making spheres so very large balls out of anything.

I could find.

Silverware, nickels, nails, horseshoes.

A lot of my early collectors have those pieces.

And now I've kind of evolved into organic flora fauna.

So I do a lot educational pieces with animals.

Last year, I had a wonderful commission from the Cayuga nation where I made the five clan animals heron, wolf, bear, snipe and turtle.

And they are very large pieces that sit on the a lot of Eagle sculpture trail and Seneca Falls.

So.

So what role?

I believe artist have a very important role in the Finger Lakes.

What role do you think artists play in this?

Well, for me, I'm trying to capture a little bit of education.

So, to, to design and build those five animal sculptures.

I had a class at the Dove Block, the Art Center in Geneva, and potentially 20, 25 students for a week.

We studied those animals, the shapes, the forms.

We made them out of recycled cardboard, and they became life size.

We use refrigerator boxes and cut all the pieces.

And that was how I started the inspiration for that body of work.

My son Rourke is 20 years old.

He's now a business partner, and the two of us now sort of work together to bring those cardboard shapes to life in metal.

Wow.

An important question for you, Sam.

Are there places around the lake that have a special energy or story to them that only artists can see?

I think anywhere you can see a sunset.

So I grew up on the east side, where Kyle was on the, the wrong side.

She gets a great debate on right.

I get a great sunset, and I make it.

You know, a part of every day is to sit down and just watch that happen.

And then as the stars come up, I'm a being an artist.

I don't have a normal schedule.

I kind of go when I'm sort of inspired.

And a lot of times like this time of year, I'm on a boat, very late.

So yeah, I think the spots are all around us.

I love the gorges.

It's just.

Yeah, it's, it's it's magic.

Cuca and Pinyon both have arts festivals, and you can see in the artwork displayed that the lakes are a big inspiration.

Just the landscapes are stunning.

Yeah.

Sam, you pass, you're passing this on to to, to younger generations.

Yeah.

One of my goals is to sort of evolve the studio into educational programing with high schools.

Any schools?

But I've been focusing on high schools.

Trying to be important to you?

When I was in school, we had tools, and there are minimal to no tools in school anymore.

So, I believe in Penn Yan specifically.

To, to go to Boces, a trade school, you have to have very good grades your junior year.

And folks like me that are right brain creative or work with their hands or learn a very different way.

That's kind of what I'm trying to catch now is those students that maybe don't know what skills they have because they're not able to experiment with them.

Where can we find your work, Sam?

So we can, like a website link?

Yeah.

Sam kastner.org.

I just had a, a website put together, my good friend Paulina.

Garces read, local designer.

She's been helping me tweak it.

It's fantastic.

I've never had a website.

This is the first month it's been live.

I work again, and it's through.

The wineries are a lot of my larger clients.

And it's word of mouth.

And rumor has it that, Albert Paley, you were his right hand man, right?

I enjoyed a lot of time with Albert.

Yes.

What is something that Albert taught you that continues right now?

Well, a lot of times I'll get the catch phrase.

That was then.

This is now.

And what we may have started initially has evolved into something else, bigger, better or with different challenges.

So, Yeah, I really, pretty much anytime I'm working with a group of students I have referenced my time with Alfred.

With Albert.

Okay.

Yeah.

We are talking about, the Cuca Lake here on.

I want to take a quick break, and now we're going to talk about that wine when we get back.

Stay with us.

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Tour registration online at Seward house.org, and we're back on connections.

And my guest with me, we're talking about Cuca Lake.

And here in studio with me I have Sam Kastner.

He's a local metalwork artist.

I have Kyle Pella, Czech director of programs for the New York State Wine and Grape Foundation, and Angela Mattoon, wine educator and office manager for Vice Winery, said that right.

And on the phone lines or remotely, we have Tricia Noel, director of the Yate County History Center.

Now, before we get into that wine, my favorite part, I have a comment from a, someone on YouTube.

I'm going to read this comedy to respond.

I wish more.

Cukor's shoreline was protected.

It would have been really great if the point of the bluff were left completely wild and accessible, with trails and picnic tables.

Ooh.

Everyone's nodding.

Yes, it's completely agreeable.

I think my family owns one of the larger natural beaches, and at least on the east side, I don't know about all of Google Lake with close to 300ft.

But this is like Lake Tahoe.

Development happens and it happens fast and without proper zoning, which is hard to define.

What is proper, what is accurate, what is correct?

It's a beautiful place.

And as the tourism goes up, the, the amount of people, during the pandemic, you couldn't buy property on Keuka Lake.

It wasn't.

I'm not gonna say it wasn't for sale.

It just might not have been a public sale.

Yeah, it's going fast and quick.

Yeah, yeah, it's I mean, I would also with Cuca shoreline and the bluff in particular, you know, calling that out for development.

I mean, I'm going to go back with the history of wine again.

Prior to prohibition, though, the bluff was completely planted in grapes.

It's to the shore.

Yep.

It's prime growing area.

The steep slopes offer great air drainage.

You know, you've got both morning and afternoon sun.

So the best of both worlds, the east and the west side.

So, I mean, there's some folks in the wine industry who would love to see there are still some vineyards out there, but not anywhere near what it used to be.

Yeah, it's it's tough.

I mean, the balance between, you know, publicly enjoyed nature and privately enjoyed nature is is always a question.

Paul.

Tricia, I, I would love for you to respond to that.

What do you what do you think about the the YouTubers comment?

I think it's Sydney is her name and she wish more Keuka shoreline was protected.

Yeah.

So I think a lot of people agree with that.

And as Sam said, development happened very fast.

And it did I mean, noticeably so within the last few decades.

It looks different.

I think, you know, originally people used the lake as a workspace before sort of the concept of using it for leisure.

And it wasn't until sort of the late 19th century, 1880s, 1890s that people started to build cottages.

And I think if you look at those early photographs of when cottages started to be built, it's shocking.

You know, how how empty the lake looks, compared to how it looks now.

It's it's one of those things everyone wants to enjoy it.

So it gets crowded.

And then and then it's, it's that's hard to because you want it to be natural and you want the trails and the, obviously, the vineyards, but that is also true.

The, the vineyard, area on the bluff has shrunk dramatically.

You know, we have photographs.

You just a couple decades ago where it's it's noticeable.

And I know it's one of those things it's hard because everyone wants to enjoy it, but then and then it's hard when it gets crowded.

Meg, you.

Tricia, I have a caller on the line.

His name is, Hoover, I believe from from Pittsford.

And he's writing a book about Keuka Lake.

And he doesn't think the guests are saying enough about Keuka.

Who are you on the line?

Yes, I am, are you there?

I am, I'm here.

We can hear you.

Tell us over.

What are we missing?

Well, one one thing you won't miss.

You don't want this turned into, Napa Valley because you don't want, 29, busses going up and down, route 54, either side of the lake and pulling into any winery.

Fortunately, most of the wineries have signs up, so there's no tour busses, but it's near like Fox Run.

They take tour busses and some of the bigger wineries too.

But, I just took a friend of ours from Saint Louis.

She's my wife's sorority sister, and she's never been up in the Finger Lakes.

And on Monday, we drove her down to, we started a fox run.

Then I drove over to Penn Yan and, showed her some of the developments.

And Penn Yan, a couple of the breweries.

And then I took her, to the Switz for lunch, and she was sitting there.

I don't know how she ate because her mouth was open the whole time.

Just looking at the beautiful scenery.

Wow.

And then from there, we went over to see our friend Megan Mac at, I mean, Megan, Frank at the, Doctor French Winery and shared a bottle of, a rosé of Pinot noir.

I'm sitting on the bench overlooking, the, beautiful view looking north.

So there's so much to say.

And, you know, an hour doesn't give it justice, but, I can tell you, I, I retired from Cornell a number of years ago, and what I've done is taking up, writing fiction.

I've written a trilogy of A family in the Finger Lakes, and I know the Finger Lakes like the back of my hand.

My dad was a salesman, and his region was the entire, 1011, 12 Finger Lakes.

And I rode with him as a kid, and he took me around the back roads.

Like when I drive from Branch Court back to Pittsford, I go down Italy Hill and come into Naples, sometimes just to go to, you know, a certain restaurant.

Or I can, I don't need a map around the Finger Lakes.

I know all the back roads and the single lane roads and everything, but, you don't just get that overnight, so I have a lifetime of experience, so I, I my third novel was, in the trilogy of the family.

It was about Seneca Lake, and it was about a, fictional winery that, they are run by, the family.

There's also part Canadian, and my current book is not going to be part of the trilogy.

It's a separate new story, and it's about the fictional grandson of the, Cornell's graduate of 1808 1908, Kenneth Roberts, who wrote one of the best historical fiction books ever in America.

It's called Northwest Passage.

And if you haven't read it, listeners, I suggest you read it.

It'll educate you and and knock your socks off.

Anyway, I'm writing a story about his fictional.

His fiction is his grandson, a fictional grandson, and he's going to be on the faculty at Keuka College over on the West Side of the east, fork.

And we're going to be talking about some things that have to do with, Ithaca.

Cornell.

It's a, if you could college some of the other institutions around the Finger Lakes, but it's set in the late 1980s, early 19, 1990s.

So it'll be it'll be ready in about six months.

Okay.

My Hoover, we want we want to actually have the guest before the hour wraps up.

We want to have the guest talk about this.

The wine that, that you're mentioning.

I please thank you for taking my call.

I appreciate you guys are, you know, got an interesting program.

We need more of this, too, by the way.

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling.

Thank you.

Hoover, I believe, I think Kyle sent him right.

He said it's not Napa.

Do not you got a ringer?

But let's talk about the wineries.

Keuka Lake is home to one of the smaller wine trails in the region, but it punches above its weight.

There are 24 wineries now, and a long legacy that dates back to Doctor Constantine, who pioneered grape growing here in the 1950s.

Now, Kyle, let's start with you.

What makes a Keuka wine trail distinct from the others in the Finger Lakes?

So Angela might actually be able to answer more specific questions about the Cuca Lake Wine Trail.

Sure.

Since vice is a member.

Yeah.

So our our history actually goes back way to the first bonded winery in the 1800s, Pleasant Valley.

Well, I nary which is still, functioning in Hammondsport.

And then Doctor Konstantin Frank did a lot with a history to bring vinifera grapes specifically to the Finger Lakes, whereas before it was a lot of native and hybrid varietals.

In terms of the wine trail, it's a small wine trail.

But the the idea behind the events that they are currently doing, and this is a little bit different model, is to give really in-depth experiences with the key winemakers and owners of the facilities.

So when you go on a wine trail event at Keuka, you get to speak with the winemaker, you get to go through production.

It's not just, stop and sip.

Yeah.

You really get an experience with the people that are making the wine.

And, Angela, tell us about this winery.

This is a relatively new winery in the area, considering all the history it was established in 2017.

Ashley and Peter Rice are our owners.

Ashley is a native of the region.

From him grew up in Hammondsport and Peter is from the Mosel in Germany, hence the name vice.

He's sixth generation winemaker from the Mosel region.

Zelda is his hometown, and, it started out very small, in a little one room schoolhouse.

Actually did all the tastings.

Peter did the winemaking.

Actually did some of the winemaking, too.

But it was a husband and wife team.

And over the past five years especially, they have grown exponentially, exponentially.

They've done a lot of construction, new tasting room space, new production space.

And it's really a different experience compared to when you first came, which was a one room schoolhouse, no plumbing, very, very little, room.

I think it could fit like 10 or 12 people.

And now we have hundreds of people coming.

This is the second year in a row for the best winery, you know, and just received word that we won winery of the year in the New York Wine Classic that the New York Wine and Grape Foundation holds for New York State wineries.

So we've won the winery of the year, which is a culmination of the wines as a whole.

So it's an average score, essentially, of all the wines that you submit to this competition.

So you're being so humble.

So this winery.

So you talk about the experience, right?

Can you can you elaborate on what that experience entails?

Well, in the last three years, if you were coming, it would have been different every single time it started off.

And we still have people come in every day that are like, I was here back when it was the school, and we love hearing those stories of people following us year over year.

All the more reason to come back again.

Again, yes.

So now we have this beautiful new building, a lot more space.

We still have our main tasting bars along the lake so that you have a view while you're tasting.

But we also have opportunity to do self-guided flights outside, so that you can have, a family friendly experience as well as an educational one, if that's what you're looking for.

And dog friendly.

Yeah.

Yes.

Really important.

Yeah.

Kyle, I want you to elaborate on what makes Keuka Lake.

So the place to be for for wineries like vice to to thrive, to go from a schoolhouse to something so extravagant.

So I'll preface this with I will drink Finger Lakes wine, New York wine growing up in Penang or on Cuca Lake in Penny on its hands down my favorite lake for a number of reasons.

The historical value to the Finger Lakes wine region, like I mentioned earlier, original vines planted in 1929.

And while the doctor Frank story is the story that most people know and understand, we've got so much more depth in history.

Prior to prohibition, Keuka Lake itself was actually the second largest sparkling wine producer in the country.

So Napa, you know, take note.

We actually had winemakers coming over here from champagne, France.

And they were using heirloom or, native and hybrid varieties more back then there was vinifera.

Prior to prohibition.

That's the traditional European wine grape, your rieslings, cabs, things like that.

Chardonnay.

But yeah, prior to the 1900, the turn of the century, we actually had about 50 wineries in, the Finger Lakes and Cook Lake itself.

Pleasant Valley, like, Angela mentioned, actually took a sparkling wine over to the world fair in Austria is in the 1870s, I think, and it won world's best Sparkling Wine and earned the nickname by a Boston entrepreneur as Great Champagne of the West, which is now why it's still called Great Western Champagne to this day.

Yeah.

Wasn't it a native, Catawba?

It was Delaware from Delaware.

Yep.

But it was.

It wasn't a European varietals.

Yeah.

It was.

My entire use was La Russa grapes, which are not vinifera.

It's the Concord Niagara.

Don't the Sean yak.

The ones that are used in grape pies, grape flavor.

Yeah, yeah.

But there's, you know, there's a huge revival these days of winemakers using those grapes, which I think, you know, we we've started calling them more heirloom style grapes because it's just more rooted in the tradition.

But again, post prohibition, at that point, most of the native, the, the non vinifera that was growing in the region was primarily what was still growing really well, and that's where Doctor Constantine Frank comes in.

He and Charles Fournier, another gentleman's name who you hear usually in conjunction with, with Constantine's name, sort of came to this area and looked around and said, you know, there is an opportunity to grow vinifera, those traditional European wine grapes here, where a lot of folks would say it was just too cold, and proved everyone wrong, essentially.

And that was really in the 40s and 50s and, and that's where they call, Constantine the, you know, father of the vinifera revolution, essentially, which really helped put Finger Lakes wine back in a place of recognition with fine wine, because these days, generally fine wine leads with vinifera, and so that's given the, the rest of the region an opportunity to sort of grow from there, but all rooted around Keuka Lake to start.

Interesting enough, the history of using, la, and heirloom varietals.

Cornell University has a, experimental station in Geneva where they are working to develop hybrid grapes that have both the native, resistant qualities and, hardiness and the vinifera, qualities for winemaking.

Cornell has a wonderful program for that.

So there's a lot of educational and agricultural experimentation going on in the Finger Lakes as well.

And that's where Constantine worked.

When he first came to the region and where he met Charles Fournier, and where they sort of decided to head off on their own to prove everybody wrong.

See, the more we talk about this, the more I get it.

I you start becoming resentful that we don't have any samples, right?

Yes.

I bring you some.

Thank you.

Now, the Finger Lakes, we know the influence.

Worldwide.

But is the wine culture here in the lake more personal or intimate?

Absolutely.

It's it's we're we're striving for a high class experience, but in a laid back, casual manner that's accessible to everyone.

And I think the wineries on Keuka Lake really exemplify that.

They're very welcoming, whether you're a newbie and it's your first wine experience to, those that have traveled all over the world to Napa and Bordeaux and that come here expecting like a high class experience.

And there has been a lot of investment in on Cuca Lake into facilities that that allow us to bring in some people, that normally wouldn't think of the Finger Lakes as a destination.

Well, I know I have a caller right now that wants to respond to this.

Edgar Middlesex wants to add a tidbit about Cuca.

Edgar, are you on the line?

I am, can you hear me?

Yes.

Yes, Edgar.

Yes.

Come on, join in on the conversation.

What would you like to tell our guests and our listeners?

I just I just wanted to add this one thing that makes for me, you could stand out over all the other Finger Lakes is its sense of scale.

Because the lake is narrower and the hills are steeper, it has a much more intimate and cozy feeling than Seneca or Cayuga or even Canandaigua, because those are wider and the hills are steep.

So the combination of steep hills and the narrow Lake Duca gives it a whole totally different feel from the rest of the Finger Lakes.

And I and I love to use the lake and Hammondsport for that reason.

Thank you very much for letting me throw then it.

Yes.

Thank you, thank you.

Edgar, I want to remind our listeners, if you do want to share your experience at Keuka Lake, you can call us at 1844295 talk or at (585) 263-9994, or just email us at connections@sky.org.

For all of you, what's something most visitors, most visitors might overlook a great a tasting room or view that you think really captures that Keuka spirit.

I would grab a bottle of sparkling wine from vice, from doctor Frank, from Keuka Spring, from any number of different places.

I would head to Penn Yan and I would go to Seneca Farms, and I would order their fried chicken, and I would go sit in a picnic bench in the pines, and I would while you probably can't open the wine outside, but, sparkling wine and fried chicken, that's a pretty good combination.

And it's just straight up classic bucolic.

I'm hanging with Kyle.

Absolutely.

What do you think, Angela?

I love the southern tip of the lake.

Hammondsport.

It.

I would take a walk and around the downtown, make my way down to depot Park and make a little picnic.

There, beautiful views of the lake.

You can see all the way down to the bluff, and it's just a really idyllic small community that you can just wander around and take in the small town feel.

I love how you romanticize sugar.

It's it's.

I am definitely taking a trip there.

And Sam, as the artist, I know you know where all the great.

Yeah, I do, I know all the good views.

Oh the great.

I'm currently designing the entrances to the Saunders Finger Lakes Museum in Branchburg.

Yeah, so there's exclusive information here.

It's not exclusive, but they're open and they're cool.

Last I knew, their goal was to open, 2026 spring early summer 2026.

So I usually go to offers and I get a sandwich and some kind of specialty drink.

Homemade sandwich, homemade bread, country store on the corner.

And branch.

Bought some picnic hardware and I go, they have a spot where you can walk, their property out to a little gazebo at the very, very tip of branch.

Bought.

And that's where I had my lunch.

Yeah.

But next to it is the state park.

So you can bring your boat camper.

They've got hiking trails.

I think our local high school team has often had cross-country meets out on the trails.

Doesn't the body Museum do a kayak from Saunders has the, the the Finger lakes.

Saunders finger lakes Museum has a kayak launch.

Yeah.

And, I don't know if we've missed it yet.

But they have a race like a it's kind of like A5K.

What?

They do a race, they do.

Evening paddles under the stars.

Educational paddles.

It's a wonderful, wonderful spot in in Sugarcreek.

I believe it's Sugarcreek.

Yeah.

And, Tricia, we haven't forgotten about you.

What?

What is what's something most visitors might overlook that you think should be a destination?

I think in the Keuka region.

In Yates County in particular, where my museum is, we have a lot of, really unique and rich history.

The women's rights movement and the abolitionist movement was just as active in Yates County as it was in, other towns in western New York.

And my museum here has a lot of information about that and also about the public universal friend, as I mentioned before.

I think having no major cities on Keuka Lake leaves it really unspoiled.

And you can see the agricultural, heritage really well when you're driving around in the country.

And I think a really good view is from, a historic home called Esperanza, which was built by the Rose family, and it's now a restaurant.

But that's up on the bluff.

And you can see all the way down the lake.

Really incredible view.

Oh, the the gentleman that called in having the higher hills.

Yeah.

You can drive along the lake on the lower Lake Road at a very slow pace.

20 miles an hour.

Dog friendly people are out on their bikes, but you can also run parallel up on the top of the hill, and you'll have an amazing view of the entire skyline.

Looking down at the lake, pick almost any of the hill, the roads that come down to the water from there to Bellis, Silsbee, Italy Hill.

Excuse me over in Bridgeport and you're going to get a stunning view.

But I mean, you can't miss some of the winery views.

You know, vice has a beautiful view.

Straightforward of the bluff.

Right across the street from the Sweat's living room.

Living room has a stunning view.

You can see almost.

Yep, yep.

So many, so many options for our listeners.

Before we wrap it up quick, all of you.

Kuga is often called small but mighty.

What gives this place its strength, its history, its history and sense of community?

Community.

Community.

Everybody would help everybody.

Anyone that's local.

If there's someone breaking down, we'll take turns helping, pulling over, make sure everyone's okay.

Agreed?

Yeah, yeah.

Trisha.

What gives?

Keuka Lake its strength?

Small but mighty.

Well, I agree with the others.

I think there's a very strong sense of community there.

There's a lot of people who've been in this area for 200 years or more.

And I think there there's obviously a lot of newcomers too, but I think people in the community are always very kind and welcoming to them.

Well, small but mighty Keuka Lake, so many options.

Vice winery.

Still looking for my samples.

I'm going to hold you to that, Angela, I want to thank you all for joining us.

Sam Castner, Kyle Belichick, Angela Mattoon, and remotely, Trisha.

Oh, Trisha.

Yes, yes.

And remotely, we have, joined us for Trisha Noel, director of the Yate County History Center.

Thank you guys for telling us all about Kuka.

And thank you to our listeners for supporting public media.

And.

Our.

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