Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York State that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. Chautauqua has been called unique even more often than she has been called beautiful. Newcomers to Chautauqua are usually first impressed by the late 19th and early 20th century architecture. They feel that they are entering the quaint past when they see old-fashioned houses standing close together along winding, tree-lined streets. On even a quick tour of the Grounds, however, newcomers soon become more conscious of the present, rather than the past. Two important aspects of Chautauqua are quickly grasped by newcomers: her tie with a quaint past, not to be denied, and her vitality in the present. Surprisingly, both aspects are rooted in Chautauqua's history, for her very beginnings in 1874 were established to meet the contemporary needs of Sunday School Teachers.
