HAMMONDSPORT—If you like classic wooden boats, you will love the new Finger Lakes Boating Museum. This Saturday, June 21 the new Hammondsport museum will offer boating enthusiasts a chance to experience a part of Finger Lakes boating history. The museum’s Penn Yan Aqua Flyer, a Dundee Boats canoe, Dan Sutherland’s Troutboat, and a rare Penn Yan Imperial will launch a boater’s interest in the main exhibit area. The museum is located on a 14 acre complex from the former Taylor Wine Company buildings in Hammondsport previously owned by Mercury Aircraft. Mercury’s President J. F. “Bud” Meade III donated the Taylor buildings to the boating museum in October, 2013. Since that time, FLBM President Ed Wightman has led a cast of 100 plus volunteers putting in some 3,000 hours of work to re-purpose the mature brick and stone buildings into a new museum with handsome maple hardwood floors, new lighting and freshly-painted drywall. Wightman said, “We are so fortunate to have such wonderful support. We simply could not have done all of the things we have accomplished without the terrific support of our donors, officers, trustees, members, staff and volunteers throughout this entire project. The community has just embraced our museum project.” Wightman proudly added, “Our museum will not just be static, we will be a teaching and educational museum with boat-building and boat restoration classes. The museum has assembled a collection of more than 100 wooden boats built in the 14-county Finger Lakes region of New York over the past 100 years. A museum boat must have been built by an individual or firm involved in commercial boatbuilding. The museum also features the Steven Harvey Collection of model steamboats and a complete collection of classic wooden boating magazines and periodicals. The museum will also include a children’s museum area and a video room. Wightman said, “Our museum opening on Saturday, June 21 is a soft-opening. We won’t have all of our museum features ready in June and July, but we will have most all of our components in-place for our grand opening this fall.” Please see the boating museum photo essay on page 13. The Finger Lakes Boating Museum is located at 8231 Pleasant Valley Road in Hammondsport. The main entrance is located on the third floor of the building. Proceed up the driveway and follow the museum signs to the entrance.
