The Village of Skaneateles is known for its award-winning restored downtown. The village boasts of preserved homes and shops, a scenic setting on Skaneateles Lake, and good restaurants.

    The first non-Native American visitors to the site were Moravian missionaries from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. They built "the Pilgrim’s Hut" of logs on St. James Beach.

    By 1797, a series of mills using the outlet for power had been built along Skaneateles Creek. An artisan from Salem, Massachusetts, brought the New England influence to the architecture of the older homes in the village. He built many of the "Salem doorways" that still decorate many of the older homes.

    Skaneateles was a stop on the Underground Railroad during the mid-1800s. Evergreen House was a rest stop for slaves being escorted from the South to freedom in Canada.

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

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