Chautauqua Lake, eighteen miles long and one to three miles wide, drains through a branch of Connewango Creek to the Allegheny River, giving the region an indirect connection to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. French expeditions used Chautauqua Lake and these rivers as a route to Midwest posts in the 18th century, and in the next century lumber rafts cut from nearby timberlands floated down this river system. Indian occupation of the area began approximately 10,000 years ago; much later, Erie Indians lived here until the Iroquois conquered them in 1656. After 1800, the Holland Land Company opened the area to settlement from its branch office in Mayville, and James Prendergast settled Jamestown in 1808, where it developed into a furniture-making center. After 1860, vineyard cultivation became widespread throughout the lake region, and the long growing season favored agriculture, with fruit orchards and dairy farms becoming extensive. In 1874, the Chautauqua Institution began a program of adult education, and its lectures, musical presentations, and entertainment later spread the fame of Chautauqua throughout the United States.
