Did you know that the development of Long Point on Chautauqua Lake with substantial estates and summer homes dates back to the 1880s when, in 1887, Jamestown businessman and banker Frank E. Gifford purchased the “peninsula” that extends out from the lake’s eastern shore along with the adjacent acreage. Mr. Gifford built a large farm on a portion of the land and leased other portions to individuals who also built homes. Years later, in 1929, Bainbridge Colby, an attorney and former Secretary of State in the Woodrow Wilson administration, purchased land adjacent to the north and built an estate known as “Little Brook Farm” where he and wife Anne lived for many years. In 1956, Cecile Minturn, Frank Gifford’s daughter, donated her home on the peninsula’s southern shore and all of the surrounding acreage to the state of New York subject to a life use agreement. She passed away in 1965 and Long Point State Park was created, beginning operations in 1968. In 1961, Anne Colby likewise donated her property to the state of New York, that transfer occurring years later upon her death. The Gifford and Colby estates, along with land owned by the West family and other smaller estates, total the 360 acres that make up Long Point State Park today. The accompanying photograph shows the Minturn home, a familiar sight to many who went boating and swimming at Long Point up through the 1960s. Reference Credit New York Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation. Photo courtesy of Reed Library.