Meet the Author: Edward T. Davis III, Author of Chautauqua Lake History Books

The Fenton History will soon be offering for sale three volumes of local history compiled by Edward T. Davis III, a retired family physician who practiced for many years in Jamestown.
A two-volume set entitled The Early Years of Boating on Chautauqua Lake contains almost 600 pages of text, mostly consisting of newspaper articles dating from 1826 – 1888, the majority of which are from the Jamestown Journal, Jamestown Daily Journal and Jamestown Evening Journal. Accompanying the articles are 280 photographs/advertisements supplied by the Fenton History Center, the Chautauqua County Historical Society, the Chautauqua Institution Archives, the Davis collection of stereoviews of the Chautauqua Lake region dating from the 1870s – 1880s and several private collectors.

The third volume, entitled Life in a Chautauqua Lake Resort Community: The Early Years of Point Chautauqua, New York, tells the story, again through period newspaper articles, of the evolution of Point Chautauqua from a Baptist colony in 1875, through the years of the Grand Hotel and ending in 1930, as it settled into a quiet summer and year-round community. It consists of 320 pages with 250 photographs.

A Meet-and-Greet will be held at the Fenton History Center June 25, 2026 at 7:00 PM. Copies of the books may be ordered at that time