Topic starter
08/08/2008 5:39 am
Saturday October 11 MOR will be having their fall meeting onboard the Str. Chautauqua Belle. The trip leaves from her Mayville, New York landing at 11 AM, weather and navigation conditions permitting, and heads down the lake to the famous Chautauqua Institution. There, if you like, you can leave the boat and explore this Victorian jewel box, and return on the 2 PM boat back to Mayville. The price for the boat ride including a box lunch is $23.00. Advance reservations are necessary through MOR.
Rooms have been reserved in MOR's name at Webb's Resort Hotel, which is near the Chautauqua Belle's landing in Mayville. The price is $119.00 per night and reservations can be made directly with the hotel until September 15. Their phone number is (716)753-2161. The banquet will be Saturday evening at the hotel's The Captain's Table Restaurant. The prices for the banquet menu range from $19.50 to $36.95 and include a broad range of meat, fish and poultry offerings.
The Chautauqua Belle is a high pressure sternwheel steamboat designed by Alan Bates. She was built by Jim Webster and was christened with a bottle of Welch's Grape Juice before the start of the 1976 season. For the past several years the Chautauqua Belle has not operated, but luckily a new group of investors realize what a unique asset she is to the community and purchased her to operate once again. She offers a delightful trip on the most northern part of the Ohio River Tributary System.
For further information contact myself or the Chautauqua Belle website.
15/08/2008 4:21 pm
Frank,
Would love to be there if I can! Never know what will happen between now and then! She is a beautiful old boat....I remember seeing her on Capt. Bates' drawing board as a child.
~Travis~
15/08/2008 6:48 pm
Ah, memories.
In many ways the Chautauqua Belle was a greater challenge than the Natchez. For one thing, how can the designer maintain the overall proportions of a steamboat when it is very small? Passengers object to either bumping their heads or having their legs sawn off to suit a design. There are a good many houseboats bigger than this boat.
The cabin is all aluminum plate and was welded together by a high school boy with the engaging nickname of Sludge. Jim Webster tried to find aluminum welders from Pittsburgh to Buffalo and all refused him. He finally bought a welder, gave the handbook to Sludge and told him, "Read this! You're going to build my boat."
Now this Sludge was a doer. As a member of a very large family, he could not afford to buy or rent a tuxedo for his senior prom - so he tailored one. He met the challenge and the boat has the grace and style of a wooden packet.
Fortunately, the Coast Guard does not regard Chautauqua Lake as a navigable stream so we did not have to contend with them. Inspection was by the New York Recreational Vehicle Bureau and the State Boiler Inspector. A naval architect from New Jersey was imported to do the inclining test. It is steam throughout and, oddly, the generator has a larger engine than the paddlewheel and draws a great deal more steam.
M.O.R. has chosen a beautiful trip to a gorgeous collection of "High Victorian" architecture. Automobiles are not allowed in the Chautauqua Village and a stroll through there is like stepping back a full century or more. The lake, itself, is a very pretty stretch of water contained between low hills.
When Jim Webster planned his boat he tried to interest restaurants along the lake in allowing him to land at their places. All of them asked, "What's in it for me?" and wanted to get a piece of the boat's ticket fare. When they saw those buses from Rochester, Pittsburgh and Cleveland disgorge big groups of tourists they suddenly were begging Jim to land.
You will like Sludge's artistry.
16/08/2008 1:32 pm
I know Deb and I are gonna try to make it. Pretty easy drive for us and quite lovely with the colors that time of the year, and if you drive the backroads, it's a treat. The biggest issue is that is the weekend we typically head north to close up the cottage, but we will deal...
Frank, how do Deb and I make reservations to ride the Belle "through MOR"? Is there a phone number? Deb and I are not MOR members...
Topic starter
23/08/2008 2:50 am
Bruno, I sure hope that Deb and you can make it, and bring a friend or two with you too! Just send a check (made payable to Frank X. Prudent) to me for $23.00 per person for the boat ride and box lunch, and let me know if you want to come to the banquet. Please make your own resrvations at the hotel, and let them know that you're with MOR.
Topic starter
15/09/2008 4:07 am
Today, September 15, is the last day that Webb's Hotel will be holding rooms for MOR's weekend visit to ride the CHAUTAUQUA BELLE next month. So, if you plan on going call them today. (See my first posting for the phone number.)
Also, there is some interest in having a van drive some of the MOR group to Mayville from Cincinnati and back. The price would be $125.00 per person, plus gratuity, if we can get nine people whom want to take advantage of this service.
Topic starter
05/10/2008 2:17 am
MOR's sojourn to the headwaters of the Ohio River Tributary System is only a week away now. The good people of the Str. CHAUTAUQUA BELLE know we're coming, and actually profess to be looking forward to it. There are seventeen of us lined up to go, and there is room for more on the boat. Even if you can't join MOR for a full day of adventure, stop by for the CB's 11:00 AM trip at the Mayville, New York steamboat landing next Saturday, October 11 and say hi!
Topic starter
14/10/2008 3:21 pm
Matt, the college age new owner of the Str. CHAUTAUQUA BELLE and his family gave MOR a warm and friendly welcome onboard the CHAUTAUQUA BELLE. Thankfully, their greeting was surely matched by the warm temperatures, bright sunshine, and fall colors of the Lake Chautauqua region. What a treat it was! The boatride took us down to the Chautauqua Institute and back over the lake's sparkling clear waters. Sea weeds growing ten feet beneath our shoes could be seen waving below the boats' hull as we steamed along. The pilot spent much of his time blowing the polished brass three note whistle which is on loan to the boat. Needless to say, no one onboard complained about all the whistle blowing. Her original whistle is having some work done on it, and will be returned for next season.
Like many old steamboat companies, running the CHAUTAUQUA BELLE is a family affair. Matt aquired her at auction, and he spends much of his free time, which isn't much since he's a midshipsman at a New York maritime college, helping out. We met grandma, grandpa, dad, and Matt's sister all doing their jobs, while being wonderful hosts and hostesses to the passengers aboard. Hopefully, they are reading these lines too, and they will soon be members of S&D and MOR.
This family truly rescued steamboating on Lake Chautauqua. The boat was sitting on it's cradles up on shore for nearly three years. From the sounds of things, she wasn't in much better shape than the AVALON when sold to Louisville. Now the CHAUTAUQUA BELLE appears to be earning back her following. She made all of her trips on Saturday. The second trip of the day had a fifty plus passenger bus group aboard, and the new schedule started this year offers a variety of cruises to appeal to all age groups.
The MOR banquet was a delight. Truly, the food was fantastic! We ordered off of an abreviated restaurant menu, and my walleye pike was beyond compare. The first round of drinks was compliments of the restaurant too, because the waiter said they were so slow getting them to us! I didn't hear any complaints. Both Webb's Hotel and Webb's Captain's Table Restaurant deserve kudos for the services they provided!
The CHAUTAUQUA BELLE is a rare treasure, and Webb's is an easy walk from the steamboat landing. If the opportunity is there to ride the CHAUTAUQUA BELLE and visit western New York, don't pass up on it. I can promise that there are sixteen other folk that are sure glad they went steamboating on Lake Chautauqua this past week end too!