I am now back in the “real world” after a week’s vacation at the Chautauqua Institution, courtesy of my daughter Elizabeth and her family. Any vacation is an escape from the minor everyday problems of living independently in the real world. This one was enhanced by two factors – my temporary conversion into a dependent of a functioning family group and the location of this specific vacation.
Every visit to Chautauqua seems like an episode from “Brigadoon”, a visit to a village that doesn’t appear to belong in the twenty-first century. Physically, it consists of immaculately maintained buildings dating back to the 1890s, brightly painted Victorian houses with large wrap-around porches and Gingerbread trim. Walking down Wythe Avenue is like being on a Hollywood movie set, except it is all real.
During the nine-week season each summer, Chautauqua is a gated community with about 7,500 temporary residents scattered over 750 acres. Most of these folks are transients, but there also is a year-around community of people. The majority of this group live elsewhere, but maintain vacation houses at Chautauqua. Two of my neighbors are in this group – we had lunch with Anne and Randy Fox this week, as well as dinner with Peg and Howard Alex.
Very few of the houses within the Institution have legal parking spaces; the Magnolia Cottage, which we rented, was not an exception. We drove up there in two cars; my van was packed full with a Minifish sailboat and two kayaks. Once they were unloaded, the cars were parked in a lot outside the Institution’s gates. Actually the village is small enough that all the necessary facilities are within easy walking distance. Walking rather than driving comes naturally at Chautauqua.
Bridgeville recently has invested in an “Active Transportation Plan”; one of its objectives is to improve “walkability” in the community. The folks involved in this study would be well advised to spend a day walking around Chautauqua and establishing a benchmark for this concept. The combination of greatly restricted vehicular traffic, numerous dedicated walkways, and the gentle topography makes this the ideal place for strolling.
According to its website, the Chautauqua Institution is “dedicated to the enrichment of life through a program that explores the important issues of our times.” During its season this is accomplished by daily lectures on the “Theme of the Week”, presented in the Amphitheater by world class experts.
Last week’s theme was “What Should Be America’s Role in the World?”, discussed by five world class apeakers, the most prominent of which was columnist Fareed Zakaria. The common thread for all the lectures was the war in Ukraine and the growing fear for the future of democracy in this country. It would be incorrect to report that these experts were completely optimistic about either of these concepts.
There was general agreement that the world has benefited significantly from the rise of democracy in the United States in the past two and a half centuries, and from our assumption of power in the international world following the Second World War. I found this to be a refreshing contrast to the posture of the “woke” clique who seem to be focused on sending would-be patriots on guilt trips.
When asked what individual citizens should do to strengthen our role, the speakers almost unanimously stressed voting and participation in the political process at the local level. I have no quarrel with that, although I would also emphasize focusing on becoming well-informed, especially if that forces you to seriously listen to the arguments of your adversaries.
In one respect it seems odd that a group of folks vacationing in an environment that maximizes security, order, affluence, and gentility chooses to spend some of this time contemplating the world’s major problems; on the other hand, perhaps one needs such an environment to be sufficiently open-minded.
The musical programs at the Amphitheater are excellent and quite diversified. I greatly enjoyed four of them, sampled two others and found them wanting, and skipped one completely. Different strokes for different folks! Three of them were mainstream classical – Violinist Joshua Bell and his wife opera soprano Elisa Martinez; master pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk; and the Chautauqua Symphony performing Sibelius’ Second Symphony.
My favorite was the Sunday afternoon concert by the U.S. Army Field Band and Chorus. Perhaps I was in the mood for patriotism or perhaps just for simple, familiar music; at any rate I enjoyed it immensely. When they performed John Philip Sousa’s “Liberty Bell”, I was reminded that I have frequently named Sousa as America’s greatest composer. Their encore, “The Stars and Stripes Forever”, confirmed that judgment.
Beth and Mike both taught courses related to their academic specialties this week. Her topic was “A Theater of Ghosts” and dealt with Japanese Noh drama. Mike focused on “Reading Anton Chekhov’s Stories”. The availability of limited interest courses like these is just one more remarkable characteristic of Chautauqua.
For me perhaps the biggest treat was going for a walk in the afternoon and just exploring. My strolls were random, although anchored by Bestor Plaza, where I invariably ended up having an ice cream cone or coffee. I probably could be accused of trying out all the benches in the village; certainly having lots of benches everywhere is a necessary characteristic of “walkability”.
We celebrated Rachael’s eighteenth birthday with a dinner on the porch of the Athaneum Hotel, one of my all-time favorite venues. An elegant just in time for another vacation.