Description

Keuka Lake Info

Keuka means "Canoe Landing"
Length is 22 miles
Width is between 0.5 and 2 miles
Max Depth is 187 feet
Average Depth is 101 feet
Volume is 379 billion gallons

The only Finger Lake that flows into another lake and uniquely flows both north and south. Keuka Lake is the only lake in the country that flows both north and south. Shaped like a "Y" with two northern branches (ending in Penn Yan and Branchport) and one southern branch (in Hammondsport). It spans 11,584 acres and is the third-largest of the Finger Lakes. Water from both arms meets near Bluff Point and flows north toward Penn Yan, where it exits via the Keuka Lake Outlet into Seneca Lake.

Here's a map showing places to get fuel and some of the restaurants on the lake

Click here for a pdf of the above map

The historic canal between Keuka Lake and Seneca Lake was known as the Crooked Lake Canal, built between 1830 and 1833. Today, the water flows through the Keuka Outlet, and the old canal path is now the Keuka Outlet Trail.

Canal and Outlet Facts;
Length: About 7 to 8 miles long connecting Penn Yan (Keuka Lake) to Dresden (Seneca Lake).
Elevation Change: Drops about 270 to 278 feet through a series of 28 historic locks.
History: The canal closed in 1877 and was replaced by a railway, which was later damaged by a storm and turned into a public trail.

Click here for a Keuka Lake Wine Guide

Early Peoples and Settlement:
Native Americans: The Seneca tribe of the Iroquois lived around the lake, calling it "o-go-ya-ga" (the promontory). The name "Keuka" comes from a Native American phrase meaning "Canoe Landing".
Early Communities: European settlers arrived around 1790. A religious leader named the Public Universal Friend founded the township of Jerusalem nearby, using the outlet for mills.
Name Change: Known as Crooked Lake for decades, it was officially renamed Keuka Lake in 1887.

Canals, Trains, and Steamboats:
Crooked Lake Canal: Opened in 1833, this 28-lock canal connected Keuka Lake's outlet from Penn Yan to Seneca Lake, linking local farms to the Erie Canal system.
Steamboat Era: Starting in 1837 with the steamboat Keuka, boats carried passengers and freight. Later, intense "steamboat wars" broke out in the 1870s as rival companies competed for tourist and shipping dominance.
Railroads: Railroads arrived by the 1870s (such as the Bath and Hammondsport Railroad), replacing the canal system for heavy transport.

The Birth of Winemaking:
First Vineyards: In 1836, the first commercial vineyards in the watershed were planted in Pulteney and Hammondsport.
Climate Advantage: Settlers discovered that deep, warm lake waters protected delicate grape vines from harsh winter freezes better than traditional crops. By 1860, hundreds of acres of vineyards lined the hills, establishing the region as a premier American wine producer.