A new exhibit at the Finger Lakes Boating Museum in Hammondsport explores how waterways connected people, industries and communities across the region for centuries.
"Finger Lakes Water Ways: The People, Boats, and Maritime Systems that Shaped the Region" opened July 10 in the museum's main building at 8231 Pleasant Valley Road.
The exhibit examines the north-south routes that linked Keuka, Seneca, Cayuga and other Finger Lakes to wider commercial networks. It also highlights the waterways' importance to Indigenous peoples, including the nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
Displays include a mural by local artist Brian Buckley, a rudder from a steering sweep on a Finger Lakes ark, a rudder post recovered from an underwater wreck and models of working boats, commercial vessels and wreck sites.
The exhibit was funded in part by New York state and the National Maritime Heritage Grants Program, which is administered by the National Park Service. The museum is open year-round from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on major holidays.
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