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Whiskey Point

January 14

Whiskey Point is located on the east side of Canandaigua Lake. The spot gets its name from a whiskey still that early Ontario County settlers operated there.

It’s said that a scow full of whiskey sank off the point, momentarily turning the lake into a large highball. By the early 20th Century, disreputable gangs of hoodlums reportedly congregated there on Sundays.

Around the same time, the Prohibition Party in Ontario County wrote a letter to the editor of the Ontario County Times proposing the point’s name be changed.

By the 1960s a developer proposed dynamiting the hills in the surrounding area to create cottage lots. The proposal was not popular.

Whiskey Point is also the location of a fabled sea monster that lives in the lake, which is said to measure 30ft or more, though sightings have been minimal for decades.

A swimming party at Whiskey Point in 1911