Skaneateles - a Scenic Getaway in the New York Finger Lakes Region

I didn't hear about Skaneateles Lake until my sophomore year in college at Binghamton. Because of my errant freshman ways, my GPA was so abysmal, I needed to shore it up with two consecutive summers of classes. I didn't mind it much especially since the campus atmosphere was relaxed and less crowded, even if the syllabus remained an intense semester's worth of work crammed in less than two months.

That summer, I took a geology class with a professor who believed that instruction should go beyond the classroom. As such, the syllabus read more like an itinerary than a standard course outline. Peppered among the classroom lectures were various field trips. We would go to quarries near the Adirondacks, ferreting for trilobyte fossils in the shale, taking mind of the rock layers as our van sped by upstate New York's rolling topography. On one occasion when our professor scheduled for a stop at his house by Skaneateles Lake, it didn't take the class long to figure we should bring along a beach towel and swimming trunks.

History of Skaneateles Lake
Skaneateles Lake is the cleanest of all the Finger Lakes, so much so that the surrounding towns and municipalities use the Lake's waters unfiltered. The city of Syracuse pays more than 2 million dollars a year to keep the lake pure and crystal clear, testing it on a regular basis. Look at any map and you'll notice the cluster of lakes resemble finger scrapes carved into terra firma by the last ice age's glacial recession. Skaneateles Lake is the easternmost of Central New York's Finger Lakes and its name comes from the Iroquois for "long lake". Commonly pronounced "skinny atlas", it runs 16 miles long, measures 1.5 miles at its widest and 315 feet at its deepest.

The view by the professor's home was immediately breathtaking. I remember the house resided on a cliff, and access to the water was restricted to a narrow and long descent of wooden stairs. I don't remember where along the lake his house was located (I can't even remember the man's name), but when I drove back this past summer, I had an unbending determination to bathe again in the lake's crystal waters. And the view still didn't disappoint. I drove up along the eastern side of the lake on Route 41, also called East Lake Street. The row of houses lined along the water ranged from modest ranch style homes to burgeoning mini-mansions. Blue patches of the Lake's water blurred by in the space between each property, sometimes above it, depending on the land's elevation.

My Stay
The Arbor House Inn is no more than a ten minute walk from the middle of town. It's a welcoming and well kept B&B. My room was clean and comfortable - two preeminent must-haves for any lodging establishment. Second thing I noticed about my room was its balanced study of lovely contrasts: the ornamental wash basin and pitcher located on the wooden desk offset the cool and modern Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom. The stressed and charred honey wooden floors and four-post bed were a nostalgic nod to bed and breakfasts of a bygone era, but the free wireless Internet connection really stoked me.

What To Do in Skaneateles
I walked back to the middle of town and started to explore the downtown district. Skaneateles is a resort town with a fine mix of neatly manicured parks and historic landmarks dotted with arts and craft stores, galleries, specialty/gift shops, fine restaurants and casual taverns and Inns. It's a thriving but small business community that doesn't forget the little flourishes like lining the main street with fresh flowers, decking the parks and scenic areas with lots of benches so visitors can enjoy an ice cream as they people-watch, or just gaze upon the lake as the sun sets.

When taking a trip or vacation, it's always best to temper your expectations. Coming to Skaneateles Lake for the weekend, I wanted the highlight to be a dip in the sparkling lake, but not so. While I found other notable highlights about this town, swimming was not to be. When I asked about available swimming spots, the locals were friendly, helpful and even forthcoming with their town politics. I went into a Christmas village shop and the gentleman owner told me that 10% of the town's population owns all of the shoreline along the lake. Remember when I said that Skaneateles Lake was 16 miles long? Yeah - and almost all of its shoreline is privately owned. Unfortunately none of the town's accommodations (inns, motels or B&Bs) are located along the lake.

I intended to go to the Chamber of Commerce to find out if there were any public access points, but a further walk around town obviated that need when I came across a sign for public swimming in Clift Park. It's a bit of a disappointment when there's no beach or sloping shore -- just an embankment-slash-promenade with cement steps that take you directly into the water; then, the area in which you're allowed to swim is cordoned off in a neat rectangle. So basically, you have a virtual swimming pool defined in the lake. It's like going to a huge buffet of the most wonderfully prepared food, but the sign reads you're only allowed to eat the radish rosette adornments. Nothing was stopping me from going in anyway, but I felt self conscious when I noticed most of the bathers were young teenagers and small kids; albeit well behaved, I just really had a creepy sense that I was the stranger in the trenchcoat offering kids on the playground some candy.

Later, I went to Johnny Angel's for a quick bite before I would retire back to the Inn. It's a pretty unassuming front, but the sign of specialty burgers posted by the entrance intrigued my growing appetite: bison, veal, pork, turkey and duck? I was all set to try a duck burger until I walked in and read that they also had Kobe Beef burgers. I placed my order and waited at the red and white checker clothed tables. It wasn't terribly crowded just yet, so I regarded it as a good sign when the order took twenty minutes to prepare. When I heard my name for pick up, I fetched my Kobe Burger, sat down and took a bite into the most delectable, hot, tender and juicy burger I've had in a long while. Who knew this city slicker would try his first Kobe-anything in Skaneateles? I may have been disappointed with the swimming arrangements, but the eats redeemed the day.

The Wineries of Skaneateles and the Finger Lakes
On my second day, I started off with a little breakfast, which Wayne, the owner, provided in fresh abundance every morning to his guests. That particular morning, he offered homemade blueberry cakes and cinnamon crumb, not to mention a savory sausage and feta cheese omelet. His sister owned a fruit stand, so the bowl of in-season peaches tinged the dining area with a sweet, ripe and juicy scent of summer. After draining my coffee and swiping a white peach for later, I decided to do a little sightseeing beyond Skaneateles Village. I heard that the Finger Lakes were known for their wineries, so upon Wayne's recommendation, I set out to Anyela's Vineyard, a new winery located on the western side of the lake.

The drive was less than ten minutes from the town center, but it took me at least a half hour to get to the vineyard because the scenery kept knocking my socks off. I found myself constantly stopping by the side of the road to photograph one scene or another, my favorite being a sea of sunflowers beautifully framing the lake. It couldn't be a more perfect day.

When I arrived at Anyela's, I drove up an ascending and slightly winding hill flanked by neatly manicured rows of grape plants. When I reached the main facility, I noticed that construction was still in progress. Everything was open for business, but the sommelier indeed confirmed that Anyela's had just opened in Mid-May of 2008, so changes were still coming down the pike.

The main area was beautiful, modern, and upscale. It was a bright, airy space with high arched walls converging above at a peak; it felt like you were walking into an inverted arc. Dark, wooden support beams interspersed several feet apart accented the rest of the blond wood décor that dominated the rest of the space. The wine bottles were displayed in meticulous Warholian fashion, with copious varietals adorning the tasting area - Pinot Noir, Noiret, Cabernet Franc, their award-winning Overlay as well as Rieslings and Pinot Gris. A local artist's work was displayed on one side of the tasting area and the relaxing, casual atmosphere was highlighted by the owner's Golden Retriever named Lexi. The unofficial mascot walked around and greeted the patrons with belly-up abandon.

Conclusions
I took advantage of the small weekday crowd and just meandered about until I was ready for the wine tasting. I tried five wines most of which were pretty solid, with the exception of one that really soured my palate. The Finger Lakes are mostly noted for cultivating Rieslings, not so much reds. While I bought two bottles of Rieslings to enjoy later, I decided a bold and fruity Overlay would best accompany the fruit and cheese platter I ordered for lunch. The wine was an opaque, purple ichor whose taste was only equaled by the breathtaking view offered by the open patio extension. The perfect day continued as I casually snacked and pondered the lake in the distance while Lexi stopped by occasionally to see how I was doing.

Skaneateles offers many historical landmark signs along its main streets as well as off the beaten path. Most of the businesses reside in buildings that date back to the revolution and the Christmas Village Shop is a perfect example. It's really not that strange to walk into a house whose first floor is festooned with Christmas decorations in the middle of August. The town already has a Dickensian feel to it, so I almost expected the fantastic display. The house itself dates back to the 1860's - not exactly the revolutionary period, granted - but the quaint floor plan speaks to a different era of home construction: many tiny rooms laid out like a maze, multiple fireplaces, narrow hallways and creaky, but solid wooden floors.

If a dinner cruise is happening on the lake, live music at the park at dusk, a Regatta, or a hot air balloon ride over town and water, Skaneateles is brimming with summer activities, and the local chamber of commerce can direct you to all of the town's happenings. While I had an urge to swim in the lake, strangely enough I harbored no interest in taking the regularly scheduled boat tours that leave from Clift Park every few hours. The long pier that juts into the lake made for a nice enough opportunity to contemplate and enjoy the surroundings from a different perspective.

On my last night, I ended the evening with another Kobe Burger at Johnny Angel's, even though I should have probably tried something different - like the seafood menu at the Blue Water Grill, or even the Sherwood Inn, a mammoth blue property located just across Shotwell Memorial Park. Summer resort towns don't get any better than Skaneateles. I can only guess how the town looks year round. I'm sure the winter months are bitter for its 2500 permanent residents, but I'm sure it does nothing to detract from its idyllic charm. Skaneateles turned out to be a wonderful weekend getaway and as I reversed my course back home and drove down the side of the lake once more, I made a resolve to return again one day. But maybe next time I'll rent a modest house or cottage by the lake so I can cannonball myself into the crystal clear water whenever I feel like it.

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Check out my slide shows:

Skaneateles Slideshow - Part 1

Skaneateles Slideshow - Part 2

Skaneateles Slideshow - Part 3

Skaneateles Slideshow - Part 4

Skaneateles Slideshow - Part 5