Plan your own field trip! Take our self-guided tour of Chautauqua County’s statues, monuments, and murals. We have organized the following landmarks in geographical order and recommend starting in Celoron at Lucille Ball Memorial Park, and ending in Findley Lake, NY – or doing just the opposite. Please tag your photos with #TourChautauqua.
Lucille Ball Statues
Lucille Ball Memorial Park, Celoron
Sculptor Carolyn Palmer revealed a life-size statue of Lucille Ball in Lucille Ball Memorial Park on, August 6, 2016, what would have been Ball’s 105th birthday. There is a second statue of Ball in the park, the original. Many people felt the first statue was not an accurate representation of Lucille’s likeness and a movement began to replace it. During this process of commissioning the more life-like statue, the original statue gained some level of notoriety, fame; ultimately it was decided that both statues would remain in Lucille Ball Memorial Park. Plan a future visit to take a selfie with both statues.
Lucille Ball Murals
Various Locations, Downtown Jamestown
Gary Peters Jr., a Jamestown artist, was commissioned to create five larger than life murals throughout downtown Jamestown, Lucille Ball’s hometown. The mural inspired by the episode, California, Here we Come, is the official “Largest Lucille Ball Mural in the World.” Other murals are titled, “Job Switching,” and Lucy Does a TV Commercial, after another beloved episode, and two are dedicated to the love between Lucy and Ricky/Lucille and Desi, which continued even beyond their marriage.
Robert H. Jackson Statue
Robert H. Jackson Center, Jamestown
Stand with Robert H. Jackson, U.S. Supreme Court Justice and U.S. Chief Prosecutor at Nuremberg, Germany, at the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown. The Jackson Center is dedicated to highlighting Jackson's service, his ideas, and his many significant achievements which have impacted the 20th and 21st centuries.
Ruben Fenton Statue
Fenton History Center, Jamestown
Ruben Eaton Fenton’s life began on July 4, 1819, in the Town of Carroll, NY, perhaps an omen to his future vocation. Fenton’s resume includes law student, teacher, storekeeper, lumberman, various local political leadership, U.S, Congressman – D (1853), founding member and secretary of the original Republican party – to which he would later disaffiliate with when it became the new Republican Party, President Lincoln’s endorsed candidate for NYS Governor during the 1865 election, which he won and served two two-year terms, U.S. Senator, President of First National Bank, and Head of American Commission to the 1878 International Monetary Conference in Paris, France.
Ruben Fenton was backed by the Abolitionists, supported the cheap postal system, an extension of invalid pensions, the regulation of immigration, and the repeal of the fugitive slave law. He was opposed to the invasion of Kansas, the bounty laws, and payments for the losses of rebels in the Civil War. Years prior to the Civil War, he had gained the nickname “The soldier’s friend” due to his efforts on behalf of returning War of 1812 soldiers by sponsoring, promoting, and securing the passage of the Pension Act for those veterans.
Fenton’s administration was lauded by several reforms such as the creation of an agency to supervise and inspect all state hospitals, asylums, and homes, all formerly unsupervised. He enacted legislation for raising the minimum standards for teachers; the establishment of six new state schools for training teachers; and the abolition of all tuition and other charges in the public schools - an act followed by a one-third increase in school attendance within one year.
Today, the Fenton History Center celebrates not only Ruben Fenton’s legacy but is a valuable cultural institution that connects the past to the present by highlighting Jamestown and Southern Chautauqua County’s vibrant history through thoughtfully curated exhibits, a genealogy library, veteran services, and educational programs. The Fenton History Center hosts a variety of walking tours that highlight local architecture, lore, and history.
The Lady in the Glass Case
Lake View Cemetery, Jamestown
There are many myths about the Galloway “Lady in the Glass Case” memorial in Lake View Cemetery. Speculations range from the death of a young bride, to the untimely death on a prom date, to a forbidden love between a heiress and her chauffeur.
The truth is a tragic loss rather than a love story. Grace was the only daughter of three children born to a family made wealthy through oil. They had lived in a mansion that is now known as the Moose Club in Jamestown. Grace was a promising opera singer who actually frequently appeared at Chautauqua Institution. Her family decided to send her to a Boston Institute to study music.
When Grace died in 1898 at just 16 years old, it was from a case of tuberculosis that came about during her stay in Boston, not from a broken heart. The Galloway family commissioned an artist in Italy to sculpt a statue modeled after Grace, in Italian marble.
Consider stopping at Lucille Ball’s final resting place while you’re in Lake View Cemetery, simply follow the red hearts stamped on the walking path.
Trail of the Whispering Giants
Lake Shore Dr. W. and Pike Streets, Dunkirk
Whispering Giants is a series of public art sculptures that depict Native American people by Peter Wolf Toth, an Akron, OH resident. Toth donated one sculpture to each U.S state and Canadian Province, as well as a few donated outside North America.
New York’s sculpture, named Ong-Gwe-Ohn-Weh, in New York is in the City of Dunkirk at the Memorial Park adjacent to the Dunkirk City Pier. Toth created it over the course of two months during the summer of 1973. It was carved from the lower trunk of a dead elm tree.
Upon completion, the work of art was moved to its site where it was dedicated on Sunday, October 21, 1973, and accepted on behalf of the City of Dunkirk by Mayor Clemens J. Lutz. Mr. Toth is an advocate for Native Americans and he, “wants to bring focus to the culture of this nation’s original citizens.”
Dunkirk Lighthouse
Point Gratiot, Dunkirk
One of the most prominent on all of Lake Erie, a tour of the Dunkirk Lighthouse keepers’ cottage offers visitors a look at life in a bygone era. While the light is operational, modern technology has absolved the need for daily human "keeper." View the lighthouse from Point Gratiot and also plan to tour the Lighthouse Keeper's cottage, ascend the 61-ft tower for spectacular views of Lake Erie. The property also features an extensive collection of military and maritime artifacts.
Brad Anderson & Marmaduke
87 West Main St. Brocton
Take a close-up with Marmaduke and his comic strip creator, Brad Anderson, at least in statue form. The statue shows Anderson and his Great Dane pestering him! Anderson was born on May 14, 1924, in Jamestown, NY, with a pen in his hand. He continued to draw cartoons for 91 years. Anderson’s hometown was Portland, NY. In 1954 he created the lovable Great Dane Marmaduke and often included his family, friends, pets, places in the Town of Portland, and local landmarks from his childhood in Chautauqua County in his cartoons.
Barcelona Lighthouse
3224 East Lake Road, Barcelona
The First Natural Gas Lighthouse. Finished in 1829, the 40-foot tall Barcelona Lighthouse was the very first natural gas lighthouse in the country. It was in Federal Lighthouse Service until 1859. At that time, it became privately held through various owners until 2008, when the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation acquired it. Though it no longer has the original lens, nor is it used for navigational purposes, it is still lit and visible today through an agreement with the Town of Westfield. The lighthouse is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Lincoln-Bedell Statue Park
Rte. 364 & Rte. 20, Westfield
A statue, erected in 1999 in Westfield, NY in what is now known as the Lincoln-Bedell Statue Park. This interesting park showcases unique, bronze statues of Abraham Lincoln and Grace Bedell, the eleven-year-old Westfield girl who suggested that he grow a beard.
In 1860 Grace wrote to then Presidential Candidate Lincoln, “I hope you won’t think me very bold to write to such a great man as you…I have got 4 brothers and part of them will vote for you any way and if you will let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you.” Grace continued, “You would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be President.” Lincoln wrote back just four days letter and when his inaugural train stopped in Westfield, New York in February of 1861 he was able to show Grace his whiskers in person.
You can learn more about the Lincoln-Bedell Letters and all of Chautauqua County’s rich history at the McClurg Museum, home of the Chautauqua County Historical Society, located within walking distance of Lincoln-Bedell Statue Park.
The Schooner Mautenee’s Anchor and Water Wheel
Main St., adjacent to Twin Docks Gourmet Deli, Findley Lake
The Schooner "Mautenee" was shipwrecked in Lake Erie near Ripley, NY during a gale storm on October 20, 1905. In 1906, George Fox transported the one-ton anchor using horses and a log cart to his Findley Lake home on North Toad. He hung the anchor from the Schooner's lifeboat davit in his front yard. The Dunlap family later purchased the home and anchor. The anchor and davit were moved to the current site located in the heart of downtown Findley Lake in 1993.