Chautauqua

It was, and still is, just a little town, a long lake, and a county at the far western end of New York State, all bearing the Indian name Chautauqua. In the Seneca language Chautauqua is said to mean "foggy place" or "one has taken out fish there," but it was the fishers of men who made Chautauqua a household Word. The lake became a religious and educational summer resort. In 1873 the Chautauqua Lake Camp Meeting Association was formed, and the improving began in earnest. Ministers and scholars, politicians and musicians, even exercise experts came to the healthy summer air of Chautauqua to better their audiences in mind and body, and to assuage any worries the audiences might have had that they were frivolously taking a mere vacation. The name of the place became identified with a system of self-improvement.

By the 1880s the Chautauqua idea of combining relaxation and edification had caught on as far west as Dakota Territory. Speakers and performers went on a Chautauqua circuit from resort to resort giving Chautauquas, usually in tents or just the open air. There was even a Chautauqua salute, waving a white handkerchief, first used in appreciation of a pantomime lecture given by a deaf man at Lake Chautauqua in 1877.

Chautauquas lasted until well into the twentieth century, but they were eclipsed starting in the 1930s by the Depression, radio, movies, television, and air conditioning. Towards the end of the century, however, Chautauquas saw a modest revival, once again bringing noted speakers to towns and resorts for a combination of fresh ideas and fresh air.