The History of Camp Chautauqua

Camp Chautauqua properties have always been a campground of one kind or another.

History tells us that the first visit by explorers of Chautauqua Lake found an Indian encampment at Magnolia, which is now Camp Chautauqua. The Indian story is that the Canadian tribes invaded our Indian encampment, captured and slaughtered the Erie tribe before runners could bring help from neighboring tribes.

At the turn of the century, these properties were established as picnic areas for the various employees of the plants being established in nearby Jamestown. At the time picnickers came by boat or trolley. The trolley line encircled the lake. Many church picnics were held here too. At that time the park was called Sylvan Park.

In later years, the park was purchased and established as a girls camp and than became two camps, one for boys and another for girls. The girl’s camp was called Twa-Ne-Ko-Tah; the boys camp was called Camp Timber Top. The property had been dormant until the Andersons purchased the park in 1966. The area had been closed to the public for seven years, the grounds and the buildings were in deplorable condition.

The properties were renovated with consideration always given to preserving the natural beauty of the land. We now boast of clean, renovated restrooms, a complete store, pool, tennis court, animal petting farm, water, electric and cable TV to over 250 campsites, boat launch and 200 boat slips plus all amenities to provide a first class camping resort. We provide a dump station as well as a pump out service for those not on sewer hookups. Camp Chautauqua is a top-rated campground in all the major national directories. We rank in the top 100 campgrounds out of the more than 10,000 campgrounds inspected by Woodalls.