History Trip Ideas

Create your own itinerary and travel back in time to learn about Ontario County’s past that impacted our current way of life in so many ways. When visiting the villages and communities below, set aside time for this sites and museums:

Bloomfield

• AWA Communication Technologies Museum, Bloomfield. Step inside a century of American ingenuity at this remarkable Bloomfield museum, where an extraordinary collection of antique radios, telegraphs, televisions, and wireless communication artifacts traces the history of how humanity learned to talk across distances, a fitting stop in the region that helped wire the world.

• East Bloomfield Historical Society, Bloomfield. Home to the historic 1802 Stone Church and a rich collection of local artifacts, photographs, and records, the East Bloomfield Historical Society offers an intimate and genuine portrait of rural Ontario County life from the early settlement era through the 19th century, the kind of local history that puts the broader Finger Lakes story in human scale.

Canandaigua

• Canandaigua Boathouses, Canandaigua. These charming Victorian-era boathouses perched on the northern shore of Canandaigua Lake are among the most photographed landmarks in the Finger Lakes, a living remnant of the region's gilded age leisure culture and a delightful window into how generations of families have treasured life on the water.

• Granger Homestead and Carriage Museum, Canandaigua. This magnificent 1816 Federal-style mansion in the heart of Canandaigua, home to Gideon Granger, Postmaster General under Presidents Jefferson and Madison, offers exceptional guided tours of its original period interiors alongside one of the finest carriage collections in the Northeast, painting a vivid picture of early American political life and the ambitions of the young republic right here in Ontario County.

Clifton Springs

• Foster Cottage Museum, Clifton Springs. This intimate Victorian cottage museum in Clifton Springs offers a rare glimpse into the domestic life and hydropathic cure culture of the mid-1800s, when the mineral springs of Ontario County drew thousands of visitors seeking healing, and the village around them became an unlikely hub of reform, temperance, and social change.

Farmington

• 1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse, Farmington. One of the oldest Quaker meetinghouses in western New York, this beautifully preserved 1816 landmark served as a pivotal gathering place for the abolitionist and women's rights movements, the same community of Friends whose values of equality and conscience helped inspire the world-changing 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, just miles away.

Geneva

• Geneva History Museum, Geneva. Housed in the elegant 1839 Johnston-Pringle House on Geneva's historic South Main Street, this beautifully curated museum brings to life the full sweep of Geneva's remarkable past—from its Seneca roots and early settlement through the abolitionist era, the founding of Geneva Medical College where Elizabeth Blackwell made history, and the city's evolution as one of the Finger Lakes' most architecturally distinguished communities.

• Johnston House, Geneva. Standing as one of Geneva's most distinguished landmarks on the storied South Main Street corridor, the Johnston House is a striking testament to the civic confidence and architectural taste of early 19th-century Finger Lakes society, a beautifully proportioned reminder that Geneva was once one of the most prosperous and culturally ambitious cities in upstate and western New York.

• Prouty-Chew House, Geneva. The beautifully preserved Federal-style Prouty-Chew House in Geneva serves as the headquarters of Historic Geneva and anchors one of New York State's most intact 19th-century streetscapes, a graceful starting point for exploring South Main Street, where the architecture, ambition, and social history of a thriving Finger Lakes city are written in stone and wood at every turn.

• Rose Hill Mansion, Geneva. One of the finest examples of Greek Revival architecture in America, this breathtaking 1839 mansion overlooking Seneca Lake was home to the Swan family and their prosperous agricultural empire, a restored landmark whose grand colonnaded facade, original period furnishings, and sweeping lakeside setting make it one of the most memorable historic house tours in the entire Finger Lakes region.

Gorham

• Gorham Historical Society, Gorham. Dedicated to preserving the agricultural heritage and community stories of one of Ontario County's oldest townships, the Gorham Historical Society is a welcoming local treasure where photographs, documents, and artifacts bring to life the farming families and rural traditions that shaped the character of the Finger Lakes for generations.

Manchester

• Hill Cumorah Visitors Center, Manchester. Whether you come for its religious significance or its fascinating place in American cultural history, Hill Cumorah in Palmyra—where Joseph Smith reported finding the golden plates that became the Book of Mormon in 1827—is one of the most visited sacred sites in the country and an essential stop for understanding the remarkable wave of religious revivalism that swept through the Finger Lakes region in the early 19th century, earning it the name "the Burned-over District."

• Manchester Model Railroad Association, Manchester. A delightful and surprisingly absorbing stop for visitors of all ages, the Manchester Model Railroad Association's meticulously detailed layouts capture the golden age of American railroading, particularly the Lehigh Valley Railroad (LVRR) and in a region whose 19th-century growth was shaped entirely by the iron rails that connected the Finger Lakes to the wider world, this is living industrial history in miniature.

Naples

• Bristol Hills Historical Society, Naples. Tucked into the scenic Bristol Hills, this community historical society preserves the stories, photographs, and artifacts of one of Ontario County's most distinctive landscapes, a rewarding stop for anyone who wants to understand the people and history behind the beauty of the Finger Lakes hillside towns.