Last Updated on October 3, 2024
Chautauqua is a popular summer destination for golfers, water sports enthusiasts, and wine lovers. If you’re planning a trip to the area with your family or a group of friends and need the perfect place to stay as I did, you’ll find it at the Chautauqua Harbor Hotel.
This lovely property is located in Celoron, New York, on the shores of Chautauqua Lake. It’s the ideal place for a vacation as well as a weekend getaway because it’s only two hours from Cleveland, 2.5 hours from Pittsburgh and 90 minutes from Buffalo by car.
History of the Hotel
The Chautauqua Harbor Hotel is located on the former site of the Celeron Amusement Park. At the turn of the century, it attracted 500,000 visitors and rivaled Atlantic City and Coney Island in popularity.
The park’s first ride was a carousel and was the inspiration for the present-day Carousel Bar, where guests gather for drinks, conversation and to watch the big game. The park also sported two buildings, the Auditorium and the Theater.
The Auditorium housed a quarter mile skating rink, the largest in the U.S. at the time. The Theater hosted events that featured William Jennings Bryant and John Phillip Sousa, and later, it became the Pier Ballroom, where bands like Tommy Dorsey and Guy Lombardo entertained the audience.
The eastern end of the former Celeron Park is now Lucille Ball Park in honor of the area’s “favorite daughter” and the “First Lady of Comedy.” The Desi Arnaz Bandstand is (appropriately) located on the site of the original dance hall. I enjoyed browsing the pictures of Celeron Park on display throughout the hotel lobby.
Rooms and Suites
The hotel offers 135 rooms and suites, many with patios and balconies overlooking the lake. All are spacious and comfortable, but the amenities are what you’ll remember because the Chautauqua Harbor Hotel goes the extra mile by including little touches that make your stay unforgettable.
Beds are made up with luxury linens and your choice of down or fiberfill pillows. The bathroom offers an array of luxury toiletries. There’s a separate vanity with overhead lighting and a makeup mirror, which saves counter space in the bathroom and allows two people to get ready at the same time.
In many hotels these days, you’re lucky to get daily housekeeping service. At the Chautauqua Harbor Hotel, you get that along with nightly turndown service, including chocolates by your pillow and light jazz playing on the stereo. If you want to sit outside in the morning or evening, you’ll find cozy, hooded robes in the closet.
Each morning, the staff sets up a refreshment station on each floor stocked with freshly brewed Starbucks coffee, assorted teas and hot chocolate. Guests can grab a cup and enjoy the picturesque view of the lake from their private balcony or patio or chat with family, friends and other guests in a conversation area with bay windows.
Chautauqua Harbor Hotel guests enjoy indoor and outdoor pools and a hot tub, working out in the spacious fitness center, and testing their golf skills on the putting green. In the evening, everyone happily gathers at the Lakehouse Tap and Grille, the Carousel Bar that overlooks Chautauqua Lake or around one of the firepits to enjoy local craft beers and wines.
Around Chautauqua
Many guests enjoy just relaxing at the Chautauqua Harbor Hotel during their stay. However, I found plenty of activities, attractions, and restaurants in nearby Jamestown and the surrounding area to explore.
Many visit the Lucy Desi Museum to reminisce about their favorite episodes of I Love Lucy and learn how Lucille Ball became a famous actress and comedian as well as a television producer and studio executive.
For a fun, interactive experience, visit the National Comedy Center located just down the street. It isn’t unusual for guests to spend an entire day seeing the exhibits, trying out stand-up comedy routines, and watching throwback videos of George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show.
Bird watchers like to visit the Roger Tory Peterson Institute, and history buffs head to the Robert H. Jackson Center to learn about the man who served as the Chief U.S. Prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials and was the only person to have served as a Supreme Court Justice, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Solicitor General.
Chautauqua County is in the middle of Lake Erie Wine Country. So, wine enthusiasts flock to the area to sample their way through over 20 wineries in Chautauqua County and Pennsylvania. Book a wine tour through the Chautauqua Harbor Hotel or with a private company.
Many guests also visit the world-renowned Chautauqua Institution to see a theater, symphony or ballet performance or tour the attractive campus.
Four sitting U.S. presidents have visited the Chautauqua Institution since it was founded in 1874, including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and Bill Clinton. In 1936, FDR gave his historic “I Hate War” speech to 12,000 people in the Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater.
Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Anthony Kennedy and Ruth Bader Ginsburg lectured at Chautauqua during their tenure on the bench. Other notable visitors and lecturers include Booker T. Washington, Susan B. Anthony, and Amelia Earhart.
Celebrities who have performed at Chautauqua include John Philip Sousa, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Lucille Ball, Johnny Mathis, Leann Rimes, Harry Connick Jr. and Toby Keith.
The Chautauqua Harbor Hotel offers guests old-fashioned hospitality that reminds them of days gone by and the supreme comfort and a wealth of modern amenities. I found it to be the perfect place to stay while exploring Chautauqua.
