Cayuga Lake Heritage describes the natural and cultural landscape that surrounds and includes Cayuga Lake, as defined by its watershed, and it is not to be confused with the New York State Heritage Area system of NYS Parks. My focus is on heritage interpretation rather than recreation, economic development, or resource management, though I will connect with all of those things. I will highlight places, institutions, and themes that are part of the Cayuga Lake area’s story.
Taughhanock Falls
Like a National Park
I’ve lived in the Cayuga Lake area for more than forty years, in charge of environmental education for the Finger Lakes State Parks for 24 of those years. I’ve felt all along that Cayuga Lake (indeed all of the Finger Lakes) has all the geographic, geologic, ecological, historical, and cultural significance posessed by a national park, and could be presented that way.
National Park Rangers in Seneca Falls
Finger Lakes/North Country Trail
Regional Routes and Trails
In addition, the lake is encircled by the Cayuga Lake Scenic Byway, the Cayuga Wine Trail, and there are seven state parks along or near the lake, four of which are connected by a state park trail. There are a number of local parks by the lake, and several state forests protect the headwaters. The Finger Lakes Trail and North Country National Scenic Trail traverse the hills and gorges south of Cayuga Lake.
Far above Cayuga's waters
Colleges and a University
Cornell University, a world class Ivy League institution, is propped “far above Cayuga’s waters” upon East Hill above the City of Ithaca. Ithaca College has a grand view over the lake from South Hill, and Wells College fronts along the east shore in Aurora, N.Y. The New York Chiropractic College is near the northwest corner of the lake. Tompkins-Cortland Community College is in Dryden, in the Fall Creek watershed.
by Bill Hecht
The Longest Finger Lake
If all of this is not enough to make Cayuga Lake special, then the lake itself is. It is the longest (38 miles) of the eleven Finger Lakes, which as a region is one of the most beautiful and geologically unique geographic features on the continent. Cayuga is more than 400 feet deep, dipping more than 50 feet below sea level. It ranges from a mile to 3 1/2 miles across, and contains more than 2 1/2 trillion gallons of fresh water. It is the lowest in elevation of all the Finger Lakes, with the waters of Keuka Lake and Seneca Lake draining into Cayuga from the west. Cayuga is connected to the world by the Erie Canal.
Blackstone River Nat. Heritage Corridor
A Model “National Park”
Cayuga Lake may not be a national park, but it is as good as one. My initial model for presenting Cayuga Lake as a “heritage region” is the National Park Service’s Blackstone River National Heritage Corridor in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Called, “the Birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution,” it is presented as a national park and thematically unifies a watershed region with state parks, historic sites, museums, visitor centers and other places run by entities other than the National Park Service.
Exhibits enhance the visitors' understanding.
Heritage Interpretation
In this website, I will attempt to present Cayuga Lake in this light, as a geographic feature with its surroundings (watershed) worthy of the love, care, visitation, and interpretation we expect at a national park. My focus will be on natural and cultural heritage interpretation. I will attempt to tie together the many different sites and organizations that are dedicated to the heritage interpretation, presentation, and protection of this remarkable lake and its headwaters.
Perhaps this will help lead someday to an official heritage area recognition and designation of this extraordinary natural and cultural resource bequeathed to us by the Ice Age and inhabited by people of the Cayuga Nation for centuries before us.
Tony Ingraham
Ithaca, NY
Cayuga Lake Heritage 
