At last! On June 21 I got to do what I’ve been wanting to do for a longtime – walk into the Finger Lakes Boating Museum!

FLBM has been sort of a local Flying Dutchman for 15 years or so, ever wandering without ever finding a port. It’s been famous as the museum with a collection (and a pretty good one, too), but no place to put it.

When I was director a Curtiss Museum, I let them keep some of it there. Besides being neighborly, it added another exhibit dimension for our own visitors. Another boat here, another boat there, and it started to add up. Eventually I said they could bring a new one in, as long as they took one out. They brought in a good-sized sailboat, and took out a dinghy.

Actually, I thought that was hilarious, and of course I was also a Boating Museum member. But now the museum has a place of its own, and a goodly collection of these marvelous watercraft is on exhibit for the public at last.

FLBM is at the old Taylor winery (originally Columbia Winery) in Pleasant Valley, just about across from the Great Western Visitors Center. So the region’s newest museum experience is located in one of the oldest museum structures – a 19th-ventury winery with a very European feel.

The main level has the ship’s store, the boat workshops, and several large galleries of boats on exhibit. Wandering chest-deep in classic boats, for all the world like a swimmer near the dock, the best description I could come up with was: a dull gleam. That may seem self-contradictory, and perhaps a dignified gleam would be better. Most of these boats are wooden – sanded, varnished, and polished to a shine, but it’s the shine of maturity – the amused faces of creatures who’ve seen more years than we have, and who have weathered the storms.

Unsurprisingly there were several Penn Yan boats. Penn Yan was the most prolific maker on our inland lakes, and had just about the longest history. There always seemed to be crowds around the 1931 Penn Yan Imperial Runabout J1 inboard. Not only does it have a close-at-hand local interest, but many visitors can remember good times in Penn Yan boats.

The oldest boat on exhibit was a 1905-1914 Sutherland double-ender, made in Branchport. The newest was a 1990 Sutherland, built to reproduce a 1906 model. Five generations of Sutherlands have made boats on Keuka Lake.

While the double-ender can be readily rowed in either direction without having to turn, others among the rowboats and troutboats have the more typical slightly-arched rear deck often found on boats made near Keuka Lake. This deck is bordered by a half-round metal molding, to keep metal fishlines from scoring the wood as the fisherman trolls.

Besides the Penn Yan and Sutherland products, I also noted boats by Emmons; Dundee; Mitchell; Morehouse; Charles Ernst; and George Pragel. Pragel, who had plenty of experience working wood at Gunlocke, made boats for 40 years in Wayland – not usually thought of as a center of Finger Lakes boating.

Besides the canoes, rowboats, sailboats, and power boats, there’s also an exhibit space for Finger Lakes steamboats. The biggest boats have the smallest room, but it couldn’t be otherwise. Those huge vessels that carried hundreds of tons of grapes and tens of thousands of passengers are represented mostly by models.

Also on the third-floor main level are the boat shop and finishing room. Obviously maintenance, conservation, and restoration are vital activities here. But in addition to that the museum is putting a large emphasis on education – hands-on education – in creating and caring for boats. This museum has reached the point where it too must be considered a manufacturer of Finger Lakes boats.

On the lowest level are the old caves and vaults with their giant wine vats. The Boating Museum recognizes that it’s a steward for the winemaking heritage of the facility. Among other things, they expect to rent this space out for small groups and meetings.

It’s exciting to be in on an opening day, and exciting to think about the future. The museum will develop and mature its exhibits, but it is already taking its place as part of the Hammondsport tourism offering. Right in the immediate village environs are the Boating Museum, the Curtiss Museum, the Great Western Visitor Center, and the Greyton Taylor Wine Museum at Bully Hill – adding up to quite a few reasons to spend time in Hammondsport… not even counting the lake, the village, the other wineries, and the great outdoors.

Anyhow – congratulations to the folks at the Finger Lakes Boating Museum – home at last!