Skaneateles Historic District

Federal and Greek Revival village core listed on the National Register

The historic district covers most of the village core and is one of the best-preserved 19th-century town centres in upstate New York. It is small enough to walk in an hour: Genesee Street has the brick storefronts and the 1839 Greek Revival former bank that now houses the historical society, while West Genesee and East Lake Street curve away from the centre past Federal-era houses with porches looking down to the lake.

The Skaneateles Historical Society in the Creamery building runs occasional guided walks and keeps a free brochure of the main buildings. Pick one up to do the loop yourself.

things to do sight architecture
A story
Skaneateles' tight grid of brick and clapboard houses survived because the railroad bypassed the village in the 1840s — the line went around the north end of the lake, sparing the village from the warehouses and tenements that swallowed up other Finger Lakes towns. What looks like preservation today is mostly an accident of nineteenth-century freight routing.