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Lucy less famous than naturalist Peterson, hometown says
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Sunday, Apr 19, 2009
JAMESTOWN, N.Y.: In 1975, the residents of this town in western New York took a straw poll to determine the community's most famous son or daughter.
By one vote, the winner was a very surprised Roger Tory Peterson, the bird painter and nature watcher.
On the losing side was actress-comedienne Lucille Ball.
Today Jamestown celebrates Peterson and Ball, along with Supreme Court Justice and Nuremberg prosecutor Robert H. Jackson.
Signs for all three mark the entrances to Jamestown, a town of 31,000 that sits at the southern end of pretty Lake Chautauqua, about three hours northwest of Akron.
Peterson (1908-1996), known as the foremost naturalist of the 20th century, is remembered at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History, part repository, part art gallery, part nature center and part museum.
His book, A Field Guide to the Birds, was published in 1934 and introduced generations of Americans to the joys of bird-watching. Fifty additional guides were produced over the years.
Peterson is known as a naturalist, artist, educator, photographer and an early environmentalist.
What visitors will find is partly a shrine to Peterson. You can find historic items like a favorite camera, a canvas bird blind and awards he earned on display.
The institute is where Peterson's paintings, photographs, films, papers, correspondence, recordings, books and study skins of dead birds are housed. That includes more than 1,200 original paintings from Peterson's field guides, plus 300 art prints and lithographs.
You will also find nature art and photography by others on display.
The institute, which opened in 1993 and is surrounded by 27 wooded acres with trails, heavily promotes nature education.
It is also known for its programs and special events. It is sponsoring the first Roger Tory Peterson Birding Festival on June 4-7 with workshops, talks and bird walks in the Jamestown area.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. (It's closed Sundays from January through March.)
Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children and students.
For information, contact the institute at 311 Curtis St.,
Jamestown, NY, 14701, 716-665-2473 or 800-758-6841. The Internet site is http://www.rtpi.org. It has a nature Web site athttp://www.enaturalist.org.
There is a lot of love for Lucy in Jamestown, too.
You should start with the Lucy-Desi Museum, with eight galleries and six screening areas devoted to Lucy (1911-1989) and Desi Arnaz (1917-1986), her ex-husband, one-time co-star and musician.
Next door at 2 W. Third St. is the Desilu Playhouse that features replica sets of the Ricardos' New York City apartment and the so-called Beverly Palms Hotel suite where Lucy pantomimed with Harpo Marx and set her nose on fire with William Holden in Episode No. 315.
The living room and kitchen from 623 E. 68th St. in New York City were featured in 168 television episodes.
The galleries include costumes, props, letters, gowns, awards, photographs and more used in Lucy's five television shows.
There are clips from Lucy's radio show, My Favorite Husband, from 1948 to 1951, and Desi's singing.
Admission for adults is $10 per museum, $9 for 60 and older and $7 for ages 6 to 18. There are discounts if you go through both buildings.
Across the street from the two museums is a Lucy-themed gift shop that carries dolls, clothing, books, DVDs, magnets, music boxes, collector plates and more. There are even Lucy rugs, screen doors and lamps at 300 N. Main St.
The gift shop and the two museums are managed by the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center. It offers a flier that provides directions to all the Lucy attractions in Jamestown.
Lucy is also featured on four outdoor murals by artist Gary Peters Jr. on buildings in downtown Jamestown.
You can also drive past Lucy's birthplace at 69 Stewart Ave. and her childhood home, No. 59 on what's now called Lucy Lane. Her ashes are interred with her parents and other family members at Lake View Cemetery, 907 Lakeview Ave.
The Fenton History Center in Jamestown also offers a look at Lucy, including her local roots, her visits home and the relationships she maintained in Chautauqua County.
Jamestown celebrates Lucy-Desi Days on Memorial Day weekend and marks Lucy's Aug. 6 birthday with a festival in early August.
For information, contact the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center at 716-484-0800, 877-582-9326 (LUCY FAN) or http://www.lucy-desi.com.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays.
About 15 miles northwest of Jamestown is one of the biggest attractions on Chautauqua Lake, one of the prettiest lakes you will ever see. The venerable Chautauqua Institution sits on 300 lakeside acres.
The Victorian summer retreat runs a highly acclaimed and highly popular program that is a major draw with its mixture of the arts, politics, religion, education and recreation.
It is where Susan B. Anthony argued for women's suffrage in 1892 and where Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his I Hate War speech in 1936. Other speakers have included Amelia Earhart, Margaret Mead, Thurgood Marshall, Freeman Dyson, Jane Goodall, Kurt Vonnegut and Oscar Arias.
This year's keynote speakers are filmmaker Ken Burns and historian-author David McCullough.
The Chautauqua Institution hosts more than 170,000 visitors a year for its nine-week program with opportunities for reflection, self-expression and spiritual renewal.
It was founded in 1874 as a training camp for Sunday school teachers by Methodist minister John Heyl Vincent and Lewis Miller, an Akron inventor whose daughter married inventor Thomas A. Edison.
The institution has been described as a summer camp, a small town, a college campus, an arts colony, a religious retreat and a music festival.
It features morning lectures with big-name speakers in the 5,000-seat amphitheater on an array of topics from June 27 through Aug. 30. There also are classical and popular music concerts, operas, ballet, plays, art exhibits and more than 300 special studies classes.
The catalog of classes is available by calling 800-836-ARTS; for tickets, 716-357-6250; for hotel reservations, 800-821-1881. You can also check out http://www.ciweb.org or write to P.O. Box 28, Chautauqua, N.Y. 14722.
The institution, a National Historic Landmark, is a surviving example from the Utopian movement.
Visitors can stay in Victorian cottages, or hotels, inns, guest houses, condominiums and apartments, many with porches overlooking the institution's 750 acres with 1,200 well-groomed buildings and the lake. Weekly rentals run from $125 for a room to $5,000 for a house.
It is a walking and bicycling community, with restricted automobile use on the grounds.
The 157-room Athenaeum Hotel, built in 1881, is the queen of accommodations. Nine U.S. presidents have stayed at the hotel over the years. Call 800-821-1881 or check it out online at http://www.athenaeum-hotel.com.
For entertainment, the institution has its own symphony orchestra, ballet company, conservatory theater, opera company and book club, the longest still-running operation in the United States. It also features concerts by big-name entertainers.
Recreational facilities include a golf course, tennis courts, beaches, boat rental, shuffleboard, lawn bowling, softball, volleyball, a fitness center, bridge games and sailing classes.
Special programs are available for children.
One week at the institute costs $345 for adults and $135 for children. Opera and theater tickets are extra, as are classes. Daily admission is also available.
You can also connect with the Chautauqua County Visitors Bureau, P.O. Box 1441, Chautauqua Main Gate, State Route 394, Chautauqua, NY 14722, 716-357-4569 or 800-242-4569. Its Internet site is http://www.tourchautauqua.com.
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Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
JAMESTOWN, N.Y.: In 1975, the residents of this town in western New York took a straw poll to determine the community's most famous son or daughter.
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