Canal & Country

05 · Coming into focus

Finger Lakes

Village main streets, dining rooms, town centers.

The Finger Lakes are a multi-place region, not one metro. Ithaca and Cortland anchor it; Ontario, Seneca, and Cayuga are shared with Rochester and Syracuse; Yates and Schuyler stay light. The page will follow main streets, not a tasting-room circuit. Geneva, Canandaigua, Skaneateles, and Ithaca are towns with dining rooms, shops, and centers people use in every season. Wine country can remain scenery. The subject is town life.

Coming into focus

OMB Bulletin 23-01

Multi-place

Several lake towns. Ithaca and Cortland anchor the statistical areas. The page keeps each place whole.

Schema
Multi-place
Places
  • Ithaca, NY MSA 27060 Tompkins
  • Cortland, NY μSA 18660 Cortland
Combined area
Ithaca-Cortland, NY CSA 296
Shared counties
  • Shared with Rochester, NY MSA 40380 Ontario
  • Shared with Seneca Falls, NY μSA 42900 Seneca
  • Shared with Auburn, NY μSA 12180 Cayuga
Light
Yates, Schuyler
Page shape
Several places, each kept whole.

What opens here

The places waiting for copy.

  1. Geneva and Canandaigua

    City and village centers at the north end of the lakes, written for weeknights.

  2. Ithaca’s blocks

    The commercial streets around campus, written as one lake city with its own center.

  3. Skaneateles and the villages

    Small centers with real tables and shops, held to the same standard as a city avenue.