The state Department of Transportation said it plans to update a sign that misspells Chautauqua at a rest area off Interstate 86. Submitted photo

The state Department of Transportation plans to update a sign that misspells Chautauqua at a rest area off Interstate 86 near Bemus Point.

The sign discusses the historical significance of steamboats and other forms of transportation in Chautauqua County — or “Chautauana” as is depicted on the sign.

Area resident Dani Anderson said he first noticed the misspelling on the sign — which misspells Chautauqua twice in the same way — while he was on a lunch break.

“I live within a mile of there and was up there on a lunch break,” Anderson said. “I used to be there all of the time when I was working, and now I am only there every so often. I saw the sign and thought ‘we live in Chautauqua County, and yet we can’t spell it right?'”

Anderson would come to the area as a kid in the 1970s, back before I-86 was constructed and when it was Route 17.

“I used to ride out onto the rest area, 15 or 20 years before the state turned it into a rest area,” Anderson said. “There’s another sign on the other side of the road where another rest stop was meant to be made but was never made.”

The sign discusses how there used to be steamboats on Chautauqua Lake and the Chadakoin River. Anderson said there used to be several, and that they were all named after cities.

“There were several, including Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and of course Jamestown,” Anderson said. “Jamestown was the last boat to run. I saw its final voyage down the lake. These boats had three decks and a hole where it would puff out huge, black, streams of smoke.”

Anderson said the boats would travel down the Chadakoin to McCrea Park on Eighth Street where the Chautauqua Bell is docked these days. Additionally, Anderson said some of the boats sank and have been recovered.

“It used to be something fun that people would go out on the boats and spend a Sunday afternoon,” Anderson said. “There’s a huge story with multiple books written on steamboats in Chautauqua County.”

The sign also discusses the first railroad in Chautauqua County, opening in 1856 and running from Buffalo to Dunkirk.

Anderson said he was bothered by the sign when he first noticed the misspelling. He reached out to the Chautauqua County Historical Society about it.

“The historian said all they did was provide the information for the sign,” Anderson said. “They are not responsible for the misspellings and actually didn’t know who made it and when. I would guess the state commissioned it.”

Susan Surdej, a state DOT spokesperson, said the agency will update the historical sign at the Chautauqua Lake rest area with the correct spellings.