So Close To Paradise

Chautauqua—An Idea, An Ideal, A Place

The Bell Tower where once steamboats moored. Photo by Sandy Robison.

Vintage photo of FDR. Photo courtesy of Chautauqua, An American Utopia by Jeffrey Simpson

One of many great halls of learning on Chautauqua Institution grounds. Photo by Sandy Robison

Pictured are canoes stored in a rack on the shores of Chautauqua Lake. Photo by Sandy Robison

One of the charming Victorian homes on the calm streets of Chautauqua Institution. Photo by Sandy Robison

Chautauqua. It’s a beautiful word, just to say it. Chautauqua. I like to remember the word Chautauqua is a mixture of cultures — native American,…