Fletcher “Ned” Ward, Chautauqua Lake’s Other Boats author, is shown donating the book to Maureen Stahley of the Lawson Center. With them are Craig Butler and David Wesp, past TLC presidents.

Fletcher Ward, a local historian and author, has released his seventh book.

Chautauqua’s Other Boats is a compendium of the histories of 34 boats that have seen service on Chautauqua Lake. Storied boats like the Ossabaw, the schooner Mink, the Adonde (Seahorse), Ralph Sheldon’s Seasled My Girl, and the legendary Onosee among others are highlighted. As well, some of Chautauqua’s working boats like Nathan Brown’s storeboat, Erastus Sand’s ferry, the ferries at Fluvanna and Greenhurst, the two ferries at Bemus Point, Chautauqua Lake’s “horseboats”, and the three different iterations of the Gadfly are all discussed. For those who enjoy learning about more unusual vessels, there are chapters about “bicycle boats”, a “folding boat” and even a boat made out of car hoods.

The book is the second which Ward has written and donated 100% of sales to the Lawson Center. Ward authored The History of Chris Craft Corporation’s Jamestown Division which recounted the history of the mahogany boat manufacturer in Falconer. The printing of that book was paid for by a grant from the Chautauqua Regional Community Foundation making sales of the book 100% profit for the boat museum.

The Lawson center has had only 200 of this book printed and the first edition books are expected to sell quickly. If the book is well received, the author will write Chautauqua’s Other Boats, Volume II over the winter and likewise donate that work to the boating museum.

Chautauqua’s Other Boats is available exclusively at the Lawson Center at 73 Lakeside Drive in Bemus Point. The center is open Wednesdays and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.