Before anyone even thought about making a fiberglass boat, wooden boats, made of mahogany, were everywhere on Chautauqua Lake.  They were beautiful.  And just about all of them were purchased at a boat dealership here in Bemus Point New York.

The dealership that sold those beautiful boats is now a museum.  It’s the Lawson Center Boat Museum on Lakeside Drive.  Everything that is known about boating on Chautauqua Lake can be learned here.  Craig Butler, a museum trustee, is giving me a tour. He says the lake was dominated for many years by large steamboats and yachts that served the majestic hotels.

"It was called basically the Resort Hotel Era. Largely, it lasted from around 1870 and it died out completely by about 1930,” he says.

During most of the Resort Hotel Era, the common working family could only get around Chautauqua Lake by renting a row boat or a canoe. But then, a local businessman man, David S. Lawson, made available the first family priced, motorboats to Chautauqua Lake.  The beautiful mahogany powerboats were sold at Mr. Lawson's boat store called L.S. Aero Marine in the very building where the museum is now located.

"We celebrate.  We preserve boating history and other regional history on Chautauqua Lake and we highlight the legacy of the Lawson family,” says Craig.  

Taking center stage at the museum are the mahogany boats that cruised Chautauqua Lake beginning in the 1930's until the late 1960s when fiberglass boats took over. Wooden boats didn't last too long.  They became marred and scratched, and fell victim to dry rot. Here at the Lawson Boat Museum, old deteriorated mahogany boats are brought back to life by expert volunteer wood workers. The boats are donated to the museum.

"We try to take all that we can because if not us, then who?” declares Craig. 

Among the many boats on display are a 1939 Chris Craft Utility Deluxe in its original condition. There's a 1939 Century Sea Maid named "Little Dipper.”  There's also a mahogany boat built by David S. Lawson himself in the 1930s.  

The history!  I can see myself in any one of these beautiful wooden boats cruising along Chautauqua Lake on a nice summer's day.

The Lawson Boat Museum is open on Saturdays and Sundays from Memorial Day to Labor Day.  It's also open on Wednesdays during the months of July and August. The museum is sponsoring its 23rd Annual Antique and Classic Boat Show on June 22.