Findley Lake, New York

History

Findley Lake was settled by War of 1812 veteran Alexander Findley, a native of Northern Ireland who had emigrated to America sometime around 1769, settled in eastern Pennsylvania, married and started a family, and returned to Ireland for a few years before making the decision to live permanently in the United States. After purchasing land in Greenfield, Pennsylvania, in 1805, he then purchased lot 52, near what is now Findley Lake, from the Holland Land Company in 1811, and built a dam there in 1815 to power his mill, thus creating the lake from two ponds. The settlement that grew up around the mills prospered.

Findley Lake is a four season getaway for camping at Paradise Bay Park Family Campground (located right on the lake), hiking, biking, golf, fishing, hunting, boating, skiing and snowmobiles. Peek'n Peak Four Season Resort is less than five miles and all hamlet and town roads are approved and marked as snowmobile trails. The community has antique and specialty shops as well as restaurants, bed and breakfasts and country inns.

Geography

Findley Lake is entirely centered in the town of Mina. The hamlet is approximately 19 miles east of Erie, 11 miles of south Ripley, 16 miles north-northwest of Corry, Pennsylvania, and about 27 miles west of Jamestown. Though the main routes are State Routes 426 and 430, there is access to Findley Lake via Interstate 86 (exit 4). Other secondary routes include county routes 1 and 78.

References

References

1. {{gnis. 950064
2. "[http://findleylakehistory.weebly.com/ Story of Alexander Findley]". Anthropological data indicates that early Mormon congregations settled here not long after [[Alexander Findley]]. Findley Lake, New York: Findley lake & Mina Historical Society, retrieved online August 25, 2018.
3. Downs, John P. and Fenwick Y. Hedley. ''[https://archive.org/details/historyofchautau01downs History of Chautauqua County New York and Its People]'', Vol. I, 205. Boston, Massachusetts; New York, New York; and Chicago, Illinois: American Historical Society, Inc., 1921.
4. Boerst, Randy. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=mk_EV6fKwTwC&dq=%22Ebenezer+Skellie%22&pg=PA14 Around Findley Lake]'', p. 47. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2005.