Est. 1866

A History of the Cazenovia Club

"The Club, whose weathered tower keeps silent watch over the 'lake of the yellow perch,' represents nothing so much as the determination of its wardens to maintain a sanctuary: a place of quiet resort in which to retire from the commotion of modern life."

T. Hume Laidman, 2013

1866 – 1885

The Owahgena

On June 20, 1866, Lamburtus Wolters Ledyard founded the Owahgena Lake Club on the shores of Cazenovia Lake. Nearly twenty years later, in the summer of 1885, he built the clubhouse that still stands today — constructed for $5,000 in the Queen Anne style, with rustic interiors, boat slips for thirty-five craft, and a three-story tower concealing a water tank.

Ledyard described it with characteristic modesty: "a simple place that may gratify the tastes and serve the convenience of those who like quiet ways, and do not weary of the refined surroundings that form an especial charm of country life."

July 1887

A Presidential Visit

In July 1887, President and Mrs. Grover Cleveland were guests of the Owahgena — arriving by a fleet of steamers, sail yachts, and rowboats, nearly four hundred in number, decorated with Japanese lanterns. The lake that evening was, by all accounts, spectacular.

These Lake Fêtes were the social touchstone of Cazenovia summers. A correspondent for The Times of London had already noted: "Life seems so roseate under these halcyon conditions. It is inconceivable that the glamour will ever wear off."

1916 – 1917

The Club Is Reborn

After the Owahgena changed hands and sat dormant for years, a group of members gathered at "The Oaks" in 1911 with a simple purpose: to bring the Club back. On November 9, 1916, the Cazenovia Club Corporation was incorporated — "to promote social enjoyment and intercourse amongst the members."

The formal opening was April 17, 1917. The original boathouse — the same building Ledyard built in 1885 — was home again. The wooden tables upstairs, set for Ledyard's fêtes and Cleveland's visit, are still in use today.

"Shingled Dec. 5, 1924. Cold.
Lake frozen over for the first today."

Message found in the walls during 1983 renovations

A Century of Evenings

Saturday Nights
Under the Rafters

From the 1930s onward, Saturday evening dinner-dances defined the Club's social calendar. Long dresses, gloves, tuxedos — the dress code was taken seriously, as was the Costume Party, an annual tradition that has seen members arrive as Rolling Rock beer cans, Edgar Degas ballerinas, and, in 1953, with actress Eva Gabor as the judge.

During World War II, with no bands available, records were played — and on some Saturday nights, those records sailed around the room. The tradition of dressing for dinner continues.

Since 1888

Tennis

Tennis has been part of the Club since the Owahgena's earliest years. By 1902, the September tournament drew seventy-five entrants. The dress code was absolute: white. "Bleach your whites" was the Kaleidoscope's annual admonition, printed without irony for decades.

Among the Club's tennis instructors: Walter Van Tilburg Clark, the English teacher who would later write The Ox-Bow Incident. The courts today continue the tradition.

"It is only a simple place that may gratify the tastes and serve the convenience of those who like quiet ways."

Lamburtus Wolters Ledyard, 1885

One hundred and sixty years on, that remains the ambition.

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