Ithaca, a scenic city at the southern end of Cayuga Lake, is the home of Cornell University and Ithaca College. Beautiful waterfalls cascade along the Cascadilla, Fall Creek and Six-Mile Creek gorges. Three State Parks are nearby: Allan H. Treman State Marine Park, Buttermilk Falls State Park, and Robert H. Treman State Park. Another, Taughannock Falls State Park, is eight miles north. Ithaca prides itself on its city parks, the largest of which are Cass Park and Stewart Park.

    The city, a cultural center, is home to the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, The Hangar Theatre, the Ithaca Ballet, the Ithaca Opera Association, a Summer Concert Series, and many events offered by Cornell University and Ithaca College. Ithaca also has many museums, including the Dewitt Historical Museum, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art of Cornell University, the Hinckley Museum, the Paleontological Research Institution, and the Science Discovery Center.

    Outdoor attractions include the Circle Greenway Walking Tour, Cornell Plantations, the Ithaca Farmers' Market, and Sapsucker Woods Bird Sanctuary.

    The first inhabitants of Ithaca were Native Americans of the Cayuga Nation, who, like most of the region's inhabitants, had their homes and crops destroyed during the Revolutionary War. Eventually Ithaca was named because it was located in the town of Ulysses; the original Ithaca was the home of Ulysses, the legendary Greek hero. The War of 1812 cut off the supply of gypsum from Canada, and the Cayuga Valley became one of the sources of that important ingredient of plaster. Ithaca became the principal shipping point.

    Ithaca claims to be the birthplace of the ice cream sundae. The C. C. Platt drugstore sold the first one to an Ithaca minister, who came into the store late one hot summer Sunday morning after his service and asked for a dish of ice cream with some syrup poured over it. C. C. Platt asked some Cornell students to try the dish, and a national institution was born.

Excerpt from Persons, Places and Things In the Finger Lakes Region
by Emerson Klees

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