Built on the site of a Seneca Iroquois village, Canandaigua was an important railroad junction and the home port for several steamboats by the mid-19th century. In 1873, activist Susan B. Anthony was tried in the Ontario County Courthouse, in the City of Canandaigua, for the crime of voting. She was found guilty and fined $100, which she did not pay.

Upstate New York is home to the Finger Lakes region of narrow bodies of water just south of Rochester, famous for wine production. More than 100 wineries here produce some of North America’s tastiest chardonnays and rieslings. The New York Wine and Culinary Center at 800 South Main Street, in nearby Canandaigua is the best place to sample the region’s grapes. They have a hands-on kitchen, an educational theater, tasting room, dining room, culinary boutique, and a local-source restaurant, the Upstairs Bistro. During colder months they have a cozy fireplace in The Sands Gallery, and in summer months their Garden Tent offers music, BBQs, and other events.

On the Lake Ontario shore, the park has a total of 39 acres, with a picturesque pier, summer boating, fishing and swimming (mid-June until Labor Day), seven shelters for rent, picnic tables, grills, electricity, water and bathrooms. The newly renovated Roger Robach Community Center Bathhouse (180 Beach Ave) is available to rent for picnics, parties and weddings.

The 1905 Dentzel menagerie carousel has 52 hand-carved animals including jumping and standing horses, cats, deer, giraffe, goat, lion, mules, ostriches, pigs, rabbits and a tiger. Single rides cost just a buck.