A lit gas fire table on the shore with flames burning, the dock running out past it into calm water, and the far shore low on the horizon under a wide cloudy sky.

A Weekend For Two

The Sun Sets Over The Water. From Your Dock.

Seneca runs north to south, and the shore you stand on decides your evening. The western side watches the sun withdraw behind a hill. This is the eastern side, where it goes down across two miles of open water — and you watch it from a dock no one else may walk onto.

That is the whole of the proposition, and it is a matter of geography rather than atmosphere. Everything else is small and deliberate: one bedroom, a queen bed, a picture window over the water, and no particular reason to see another person between Friday evening and Sunday morning.

The Shape Of It

Two Nights, Roughly.

Not an itinerary. Just what tends to happen.

  1. Friday, late afternoon

    You park at the top and carry the bags down, which is the last effort the week will ask of you. The door takes a code, so there is nobody to meet and nothing to arrange.

  2. Friday, seven

    The sun goes down over the far shore. There are chairs at the end of the dock and you have brought something to open. This is invariably the part people describe first when they get home.

  3. Saturday, early

    Coffee on the deck before either of you has said much. The lake is glass at that hour and stays so until the first boat. A kayak is ten feet away, and entirely optional.

  4. Saturday, midday

    Up the hill to the wine trail. Two tastings is plenty and three is ambitious; the ones nearest the cottage are small enough that you talk to whoever is pouring.

  5. Saturday, evening

    Dinner out, or the grill and the fire pit. Most guests intend the former and find themselves doing the latter.

  6. Sunday

    Check-out is ten, which reads as early until you have watched the sun come up over the ridge behind the cottage and concluded that it was enough.

Two blue Adirondack chairs and a small table at the end of the dock, with a swim ladder at the edge, a potted plant, and open water running to the far shore under a tall cloudy sky.

Why The Shore Matters.

The lake runs north to south, so the eastern shore faces west across two miles of open water. In practice the light lasts longer, the reflection runs the whole way in to the dock, and the best hour of the day takes place exactly where you are already sitting.

It is the single thing about this cottage that a better kitchen could not replace.

Planning The Weekend

Dinner, Wine, And The Water.

There are more than thirty wineries within twenty minutes of the door. These are the few we would actually send you to, checked at the source, with how to book each one.

Coming in spring or late fall?

The Watkins Glen Gorge Trail is only open from early May to mid-October. The rest of the year, plan around the wineries and the dock. What else to do

The living room with lake showing through every window along two walls, a grey sofa and white coffee table on a patterned rug over deep blue tile, and a pair of chairs in the far corner facing the water.

What You Should Know First.

A weekend is spoiled by surprises, so here are ours.

The stairs
About thirty steps in two runs — ten from the parking area to the driveway, then twenty down to the beach
The size
657 square feet. One bedroom, one bathroom. Small on purpose
The kitchen
An electric range, a Keurig, no dishwasher. You will wash up by hand
Minimum stay
2 nights
The season
Open April through November. Closed December through March
Dogs
Up to 2, and they are allowed on the dock

The Full Detail

Pick A Friday.

Two nights is the minimum, and roughly half of what you will wish you had taken.

Check Availability