The Bluff Point Stoneworks
The Bluff Point Stoneworks are a prehistoric structure located in the town of Jerusalem, New York, at the crux of Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes region of western New York State. Though they were studied many times throughout the 20th century, the structure has been mostly destroyed, and it is still uncertain who built the structure.
Bluff Point on Keuka Lake
S. Hart Wright's drawing of the Stoneworks
Keuka Lake is one of the major Finger Lakes in the U.S. state of New York. It is unusual because it is Y-shaped, in contrast to the long and narrow shape of the other Finger Lakes. Because of its shape, it was referred to in the past as Crooked Lake. Keuka means "canoe landing" or "lake with an elbow" in the Seneca language. The first white settlers to the lake region came after the Sullivan Expedition during the American Revolutionary War. In 1833 the Crooked Lake Canal was completed, connecting Keuka Lake with Seneca Lake, connecting with the Erie Canal. Beginning in the first half of the 19th century many steamboats operated on the lake which largely functioned as transports between Penn Yan and Hammondsport, often in service of the wine industry. In 1872 the Bath & Hammondsport Railroad, connecting to the Erie Railroad, went into operation, replacing the use of the canal. Beginning in the mid 19th century the lake has since been surrounded by vineyards and wineries which earned it the title, the Cradle of the Wine Industry, in New York. During the beginning of the 20th century the first water-craft airplanes were developed and tested on Keuka Lake by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss.
View of Keuka Lake
Steamboat Mary Bell Keuka Lake, 1893
Curtiss' "flying boat" It, and other models like it, were developed and tested on Keuka Lake.