Keuka Lake Homes

Keuka Lake

Overview
Length 19.6Miles / Max Depth 183 Feet / Max Width 1.9 Miles / 59 Shoreline Miles
Keuka Lake is an unusual member of the Finger Lakes because it is Y-shaped instead of long and narrow. Because of its shape, it was referred to in the past as Crooked Lake. Keuka means canoe landing in the Iroquois language. Keuka Lake empties into another Finger Lake, Seneca Lake, from a stream, called Keuka Lake Outlet, at the lake's northeastern end in Penn Yan, New York. The stream empties into Seneca Lake at the village of Dresden.

Fishing
Keuka Lake has a good population of lake trout, rainbow, browns and landlocked salmon. Bass both smallmouth and largemouth abound in its clear waters. Northern pike, perch, crappie, rockbass, bluegills, and bullheads are plentiful here as well. You can catch some big brown trout here - one fisherman landed a 22 pound brown on Lake Keuka, setting what was then a state record that has long since been eclipsed.

Boating
Keuka Lake has less wind that some of the larger lakes and, consequently, is more popular with motorboaters than sailboaters.

Wineries
Keuka Lake is where Finger Lakes winemaking got its start. Rev. William Bostwick planted grapes in his Hammondsport gardens around 1840, and some varieties responded so well to the local climate that other gardening enthusiasts jumped on the bandwagon. Soon local growers were sending their grape harvests to market in New York, where they were shipped off to winemakers all over. Around 1870, the first commercial winemaking took hold in Hammondsport, and local vintners have kept at ever since. The Keuka Wine Trail is not as extensive as that of some of its neighbors, but many wine enthusiasts think Keuka Lake has some of the best winemakers in the region. Explore the Keuka Wine Trail and decide for yourself.

Did You Know
Keuka lake has two inlets--Cold Brook at the southern end of the lake and Sugar/Guyanoga Creek at the northern end of the left branch. The water of the left branch flows south around Bluff Point and into the right branch where all the water exits through the Outlet into Seneca Lake. This makes Keuka Lake the only lake in the world that runs in both a northerly and a southerly direction.

History
In the late 1800's the Adirondack Region had become the most popular tourist destination in New York. Each spring droves of tourists from New York City headed to the North Country lakes where they were greeted and fed upon by clouds of hungry mosquitoes. In 1892 a group of businessmen in Hammondsport attempted to redirect the seasonal crowds to Keuka Lake by announcing that they had imported a large colony of brown fruit bats which had devoured all of the area's mosquitoes. A stamp was produced proclaiming that Hammondsport was "The town with no mosquitoes". These were distributed locally with instructions to attach them to all outgoing mail in an effort to further spread the word.

Keeping it Clean
There are several organizations that are working to help maintain the quality of Keuka Lake. These include the Keuka Lake Association (KLA) and the Keuka Watershed Improvement Cooperative (KWIC). These organizations are committed to helping to improve and maintain the quality of Keuka Lake.

Personal
During my college years I spent a summer working for a tile layer. We did a big job right on Keuka Lake. It was my first real exposure to the lake and it was easy to see what all the fuss was about. The lake is simply beautiful. Most recently, my sister-in-law held her wedding reception on Keuka Lake.

References:
Note: The information above was compiled from various websites. It is meant to provide a general overview of the lake. It does not guarantee the accuracy or reliability of the information.

Bob Markel
“Your Personal Guide For Lakefront Real Estate”