(ethereal, low orchestral music) - [Narrator] Legend has it that at the dawn of time the great spirit reached down and placed his hand on this part of the earth.

The imprint left behind became known as the Finger Lakes.

Each long lake, a memory, first created by the glaciers of another age.

Each name, a Native American word bestowed by those how inhabited this central region of New York State.

(flowing guitar music) The Finger Lakes reflect a timeless, natural beauty, a distinct and vibrant culture, a history steeped in seminal moments, and visionary icons.

(flowing guitar music) As each season passes, a new theme emerges.

And a new chapter begins in the story of this extraordinary place.

(upbeat, full band music) - [Announcer] Support for "Journeys Through the Finger Lakes," is provided in part by the Saunders Foundation.

Committed to supporting the vitality of the Finger Lakes region.

Nocon & Associates, a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, incorporated.

Committed to programming that advances the arts.

And the Jane K. and Robert C. Stevens Fund for New Programming.

(bright ethereal music) - The Finger Lakes is unique for so many reasons.

But the biggest reason I believe is because of the 11 fresh water resources we have.

The 11 fresh water lakes are within a 9,000 square mile region.

And there really isn't any place like it in the world.

70% of the world is made up of water.

And of that 70% it's only between 2 1/2% to 3% that's fresh water.

And of that, 69% of that fresh water is actually in glaciers and in ice caps.

With the remaining 30% actually in ground water.

Even just 1% fresh water.

So considering that we have 11 fresh water lakes in our region to make up part of that 1% in the entire world, is pretty awesome.

There is really nothing like it.

The four seasons, the way the trees and everything just becomes dormant for those few months during the winter.

That rebirth, year after year in the spring nights.

And then the summer, and then to be able to watch what happens in the fall months as things start to go down into the dormant phase.

It really makes for a rebirth that is absolutely stunning, and something that you can see anywhere else in the world.

(bright ethereal music) (easy going acoustic guitar music) (moves into flowing violin and acoustic guitar music) (moves into ethereal music) - [Citizen] There's nothing like it, and I think it brings a sense of community, a sense of history, and we all could just come together.

(gentle digital music) - [Citizen] You're supporting local businesses.

Men and women that devote their lives to not only making a living, but giving healthy food to people.

And that's really cool to be a part of.

And the benefit from the food, as well.

(bright syncopated and flowing horns music) - [Citizen] On a Saturday, it's not unusual to have 40,000 people come through here.

And there's been a market in Rochester since 1827 continuously operating.

So there's a long tradition of people actually going to the market and making the market part of their weekly shopping routine.

This is really still a part of people's main source of fruits, vegetables and other goods that we'll eat.

- When the market opened in June of 1905 farmers finally had a central gathering place to sell their goods.

Farmers sold it wholesale only.

There was no retail selling.

In many ways, the early public market really wasn't meant for the general public.

In 1911 and 1912, the cost of food suddenly skyrocketed.

This put the city under increasing pressure to allow more access to the market.

In 1913 they changed the market ordinance.

They not only allowed hucksters to rent stalls at the market, but they also allowed retail selling.

(bright, pizzicato violin music) - My grandfather was the first one to come here.

Then my father, and now myself and my kids.

We have a ton of people that come every week.

And we've gotten to know a lot of people up here.

I really enjoy talking to the people.

Otherwise, I don't see anybody on the farm, where here I get to talk to a lot of different people.

- Here in Rochester, even though we're in a northern climate here and get a lot of snow, the market's still busy in the winter time, because people want to come here, they need things here and it's part of their routine.

- We love coming to the public market.

I grew up coming to the public market - I want peach.

- with my family, she loves getting her peaches.

(laughs) At least when they're in season.

We come here for all of our fresh goods, any herbs, anything that we can.

We really like that home grown taste.

- People come from all over as shoppers, they come here as vendors from all over the Finger Lakes region.

We may not be directly in the heart of the Finger Lakes, but this market's still part of the heart of the Finger Lakes.

It really does bring that whole Finger Lakes culture together, from the wine to the cheeses, and all the great bounty we have in this area.

(bright music) (upbeat patriotic rock guitar music) (fireworks banging and popping) (crowd cheering and clapping) (fireworks banging and popping) (upbeat bass rock guitar music) - [Bill] Road racing in the United States had its rebirth here in Watkins, Glen.

(engine whizzing) (engine rumbles) (tire squeals) (engine rumbles) (car whooshes) - [Marianne] The Watkins Glen Grand Prix Festival celebrates the history of racing in Watkins Glen.

They started racing on the streets in Watkins Glen in 1948.

(engines roar) Our festival tries to celebrate those years in motorsports history that community is so passionate about.

(laughs) (upbeat guitar music) - This festival is one of a kind.

There's no place in the world that you're gonna get this combination of the area, and of this collection of cars.

It's a one day, once a year thing.

And we're excited to be part of it.

And we're part of it every year.

- [Narrator] The energy is contagious.

You're looking at a huge car community.

Everybody here comes for the cars, they come for the camaraderie.

The focus is on the cars, but more importantly, the relationships, and the fun that everybody has around their cars.

So it makes it a very dynamic, fun, engaging place to be.

(engine roars) - All roads lead to Watkins Glen.

(bright horns music) - Racing started at Watkins Glen on October 2, 1948.

It was the rebirth of road racing in the United States.

Cameron Argetsinger, it was his idea, he brought it to Watkins Glen.

He won the race, of course.

- Cameron Argetsinger was a local lawyer who had a dream to bring racing to Watkins Glen.

He designed the course with the help of a few others.

The community leaders got together and backed him.

- First race at Watkins Glen was a one day deal.

Haybales were put down.

And there was 23 cars in the Junior Prix.

In the Grand Prix, there were 15.

1948 through 1951, racing was really successful, huge crowds, good entry.

At the '52 race there was an accident happened.

A little boy was killed, a seven year old boy.

So there was never another grand prix on that circuit.

- [Marianne] At that point it changed to a configuration that did not include Main Street Watkins Glen.

So people raced on that race course.

And it went through several different configurations over the years until it turned into the present day Watkins Glen International Configuration at the track.

(engines roaring) (engines roaring) - The Watkins Glen Grand Prix Festival started in 1993 with the idea that it would run for five years, until 1998.

Which would be the 50th anniversary of racing in Watkins Glen.

When we got to 1998, none of the volunteers wanted to quit, and the community didn't want to let it go.

So we've been doing it ever since.

- Other people, you know, get excited, and I'm not knocking it.

(engine roars) (drowned out) a festival of some kind.

But for me it's auto racing.

(engine roars) It's just the excitement.

(upbeat rock guitar music) (bright, flowing acoustic guitar music) (moves into ethereal music) (leaves rustling) (flowing synthesizer piano music) (low, flowing synthesizer music) (water splashing) (waters rushing) (bright acoustic guitar and piano music) (water splashing) (bright acoustic guitar music) (waters rushing) (flowing guitar and piano music) (waters splashing) (upbeat guitar and piano music) - My hometown is Syracuse, New York.

And Syracuse has a lot of interesting glacial geology around it.

So I learned it fairly early in my life.

The state of New York actually makes Finger Lakes a region stretching from Rochester to Syracuse, and then from Lake Ontario down to the Pennsylvania border.

But most geologists consider the Finger Lakes as a watershed where the lakes flow into Lake Ontario.

Everyone agrees that there are 11 Finger Lakes.

And they are Conesus Lake, Hemlock, Canadice, and Honeoye, Canandaigua, Keuka, Seneca, Cayuga, Owasco, Skaneateles, and Otisco.

The Finger Lakes themselves are in glacial troughs.

And that means they are valleys that have been widened and deepened by glacial erosion.

The bottoms of the valleys are very flat, and the sides are very steep.

In the Pleistocene, which starts about two million years ago this part of North America was invaded by ice probably two dozen different times.

The glaciers left around 12,000 years ago gradually moving up into Canada.

And they have a very profound effect on the landscape here.

In many places you'll find deposits that the glaciers dumped.

There's a big merrain just south of all the Finger Lakes.

And they're very important, because it's a wall of dirt that was dumped by the glaciers like a snow plow.

And those bumpy hills of loosely consolidated rock form a natural dam.

There would be no Finger Lakes if that merrain was not there, because they would be able to drain southward towards Pennsylvania.

But instead, all the Finger Lakes go northward towards Lake Ontario.

Most of the Finger Lakes drain into this regal river and enter Lake Ontario at the city of Oswego.

The farthest four to the west, they flow into the Genesee River and come out into Lake Ontario in Rochester, New York.

Humans have probably been it in the Finger Lakes region since the end of the Ice Age.

Over time, the Haudenosaunee people, or known to many people as the Iroquis, or the Six Nations, moved into this part of the state.

And they were mostly agricultural people.

And they learned to adapt to the climate of this part of the country.

- I've been teaching here at Ganondagan since 1991.

And we have moved from the term Iroquois, meaning the five or six nations, depending upon what time period you talk about.

Being the Seneca, the Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida and the Mohawk, and the Tuscarora, we moved from the Iroquois people, to the proper word that we use Rotinonsionni.

People who build an extended house.

It's a metaphor across New York State, and that's how we live across New York State.

We function under a matrilineal system, since time immemorial, women make the decisions for their entire community.

During the early suffrages time period the very beginning Rotinonsionni women were living in the next town from American women, with the perfect matrilineal system.

Being able to vote, being able to rule their own household, govern their own land.

You wouldn't dare take a child from a Rotinonsionni woman.

Whereas at that time period an American woman didn't own her children, they could be willed away.

The suffrages main proponent taken from the Rotinonsionni women was the right to vote, the right to their own body.

Today, we are both on reservation throughout New York State, and off reservations in towns and cities.

Rochester, New York City, Buffalo, Syracuse.

We are included in the New York State curriculum.

Children learn about the matrilineal system, the government, they learn about every day life in a longhouse.

There's a lot that our culture can still share with everyone.

(ritual drum music) (man chanting in foreign language) (upbeat ritual drums and chanting) (bright guitar music) (moves into bright acoustic guitar music) - One special feature of the Finger Lakes is near the lakes on the slopes, which are very steep.

And that allows for very good vineyard cultivation.

The grapes like that particular terrain, because the drainage is very good.

They also like the fact that the soil is made of shale, which crumbles easily, and the roots can establish themselves very well.

The Finger Lakes has what we call a microclimate where the lakes hold onto the heat in the fall, and they're slow to heat up in the spring.

And that also is something that many of the grapes like.

- Our wine region is simply spectacular.

If we back up to understand what drove the wine industry here began with the Farm Act Bill that allowed wineries to begin opening.

And now when you look around the region there are wineries every place.

So what we have here is a gem with this wine industry, and a quality of wine that is now being recognized around the world.

- If you trace the history of premium wine making in the Eastern US, invariably it leads back to Dr. Konstantin Frank.

Dr. Konstantin Frank was a true pioneer story.

He was an immigrant coming from Europe in 1951.

All he had with was his PhD degree and a luggage full of books.

When he came to New York he heard from various people in the industry, that you couldn't grow the European grapes anywhere on the East Coast.

That people had tried going all the way back to Thomas Jefferson.

And they were unsuccessful.

The early attempts growers would take a cutting of the European vine, they'd stick it in the ground, and within a few years it died.

And so Konstantin knew that the challenge was overcoming an obstacle.

A local pest that lived in the soil that the native wild vines had evolved to be resistant to, but that the European varieties were susceptible to.

Being a grape scientist in Europe he had overcome these problems through a technique called grafting.

He took cuttings from the wild local varieties that you see growing along the roadside.

And he grafted them onto the European vine.

And thus was able to grow the European varieties here in New York State.

Examples would be chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, Riesling, these are world class wine grapes originally from Europe that are now growing all over the world, California, Australia, Europe and now New York.

So because we're now growing these world class wine grapes we can compete with other wine regions in the world to make some of the best wines.

Dr. Konstantin Frank was very giving with his techniques.

He made it a mission to educate wine growers from throughout the Eastern United States.

He wanted the Eastern wine industry to prosper.

(banjo music) - Being a seventh generation farm you have to take care of the land and the soil, or it won't be an eighth generation farm.

(bright pizzicato music) I've just always had an interest in doing things better, safe, smarter.

But Mother Nature keeps you humble.

(laughs) - When you think about making wine what you're trying to do it capture the unique essence of your place in each bottle of wine.

And so it's completely magical to us that you would take really good care of the soil, the air, the water in your farm and your vineyards.

Because that's what you're capturing.

That's the essence of the wine is the unique soil and climate in your place.

We installed a large geothermal heating and cooling project to heat and cool all the large buildings.

We installed 342 solar panels that produce the majority of the power that we use.

We were the first winery in the Finger Lakes to install electric vehicle chargers.

We tried to create as much habitat as we can for raptors who help with pest control.

And for bees that help with pollination.

We're always working to improve our soil health.

We do that through using mulch, making and using compost.

But we're always increasing efficiency as much as we can.

We'll have a complete energy efficiency audit done at least once a decade.

(full piano music) There are more and more wineries going solar, more and more wineries going geothermal.

And so I think we've definitely played a role in helping pave the way.

It really feels like history repeating itself.

You look at the history of my dad's great, great uncle and his plants and grapes, and bringing grapes.

And it was this sporadic experimentation and learning.

Now with the environmental challenges and with climate change we all have to experiment.

And how can we manage our soils better?

And how can we generate energy in a way that doesn't hurt our potential to keep being a world class destination, and keep making the wines that we've grown to love and want to share.

There's this whole renaissance happening in the region.

And I'm hoping that by demonstrating that these technologies work, that these practices work, that it makes it easier for others to do the same thing.

(bright pizzicato music) (bright ethereal synthesizer music) (footsteps crunching) (engine rumbling) (bright wavy ethereal music) - Hi, everybody, my name's Christopher from F.L.X.

Table Wanted to talk to you about a dessert dish that we're gonna be working on today.

(easy going synthesizer music) - Geneva is kind of like the entrance for people from Rochester and Syracuse to come in and experience the Finger Lakes.

F.L.X.

Table Fry Bird and provisions are all located on Linden Street.

Linden Street is in the literal heart of downtown that is for me, the heart of an evolution that I think has really been a big part of what's happened here in Geneva.

We quite literally have every customer in demographic from locals to tourists, to wine industry, to chefs.

You know, we get guests who have flown in from California or Texas just for dinner.

And we have regulars who live down the street from us who are here all the time.

So I've got some beautiful strawberries, I work with some great farmers to kind of get these non-irrigated beautifully intense, really, really sort of strong and aromatic berries.

And we're gonna basically treat them to a bunch of different textures today.

What we're gonna do is we're gonna start out with just a little corn cake.

So we make these with this beautiful cornmeal, and these beautiful grits that we get from a guy that we call the Grit Geek.

We got to using them, and frankly they appear in almost everything that we do at this point.

F.L.X.

Hospitality is essentially it's just a small group of restaurants that's focused on really trying to do something that we love and try to make products that we care about for people we care about.

- We really saw the potential of the Finger Lakes, we've visited like so many times, because we look at grapes, through our harvest, we visit Christopher's parents on every other weekend.

And eventually we were like, we just have to move back here.

It was really wanting to be part of something that is growing really.

- We want to take some of these different textures that we've created here.

Because now we have cooked, we have roasted notes, they're dehydrated, they're more concentrated.

We like kind of this balance of sweet and sour in our desserts.

Sweet, sour, salty, sometimes spicy.

We like them to be fresh and lively just like every other dish.

It's always changing here and it's always really product driven.

And it's about constant availability.

Whether that's our meat purveyors, or whether that's our cheese curds and things like that that we work with people in our area to produce for us.

- We're serving what we are excited about.

All of our dining experiences are just, it's so hard right, when people ask you, "What's the genre of your restaurant?"

It's what we like to serve, what we would like you to experience.

- [Christopher] The food is very important here.

We work really hard to make sure that the food is dialed in ad spot on.

The wine is fantastic, I would argue it's one of the most exciting wine programs anywhere in the world.

- It's a region that is evolving and is changing quite rapidly.

I think of course we're associated with Riesling, (speaks foreign language) acid driven and more leaning styles.

I think those varieties excel in what I enjoy the most from those wines, those producers who will work with those varieties is that the embrace what the Finger Lakes has to offer.

- People oftentimes think that they go to a restaurant for food.

And the reality is they go to a restaurant for an experience.

And it's not about just putting something cool on a plate.

It's about making the guests have fun.

We have a changing wine industry, we have an industry that's growing.

And ultimately, it was (glasses clink) we believed that there was an opportunity here for hospitality to be able to be able to pick up on that same movement.

And that by doing so we would really engage and enable continued growth.

(metal scraping) We're now gonna go ahead and kind of finish this off with a couple of different sauces.

(easy flowing jazzy music) So much of this dining experience is about memories.

I'm gonna finish this dish off with just a little bit of pop rocks here.

And then I'll take it to the table to finish it.

(easy going synthesizer music) (bright percussion and guitar music) (moves into elegant acoustic guitar and xylophone music) (bright, flowing piano music) - Harriet Tubman was an enslaved woman, a woman born into slavery in Dorchester County, Maryland.

Where she lived up until about her mid-20s.

And then she escaped from slavery in 1849.

Harriet became free because she was willing to take her freedom.

So we would say she was a self emancipated free woman.

She did not receive any papers stating that she was free.

And the only time legally she would have been free was whenever the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, and also the 13th Amendment.

Other than that she was an escaped fugitive.

And had she been caught, could have been placed back into slavery.

She's one of the few people who was willing to put her life on the line to go back and to retrieve people who were enslaved after she had her own freedom.

Most people after they were free would have said, this is it, I'm out of here.

I don't have to go back.

But because she had a cause greater than herself she was willing to go back to free those who were enslaved.

And that's what most people know her as, a conductor on the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad was a network of safe houses that people used in a network of people who were called abolitionists at that point, that would move people from one location to the next to help them escape slavery.

So it was basically a network of houses and people who have come together to help those who were enslaved become free.

The thing that brought her here to Auburn was the fact that she had a relationship with Lucretia Mott who was in the Philadelphia area.

And some people are not aware of the fact that Lucretia Mott actually had a sister who lived here in Auburn who's name was Martha Coffin Wright.

These woman were Quakers, they were two of the five women that started the Women's Suffrage Movement in this area.

But one of the great things about it is that they knew William Seward and his family.

And so at some point, they introduced Harriet to William Seward.

Harriet Tubman and William Seward had a very close working relationship.

(bright acoustic guitar music) - William Seward, a man who was born Downstate, closer to New York City, he hears of opportunities for young men to make their fortunes in this wide opening West.

And that actually meant Central and Western New York in 1822.

Coming West, the scales fall off his eyes.

He'd always been told that slavery was a necessary evil to ensure the growth of this fledgling republic.

As governor of New York he refuses to return run away slaves.

He actually appoints attorneys to represent them.

But probably more of a key moment for Seward is when he goes on to a national stage.

In 1848 and 1849 he's appointed, not elected to the US Senate.

And the very first speech he ever gives, he says, "Can nothing be done?

Because the public conscious is inert?

No," he says, "Everything can be done."

And he extols the crowd up a little bit here, and you can do it, and I can do it.

And together we can abolish slavery.

Mrs. Seward decides this house will be a stop on the Underground Railroad.

In 1859 when it's clear that Harriet Tubman wants to move her parents, looking for a forever home, a place to stay.

A seven acre farm that they've inherited from Francis' father, is available, $25 down, come to terms and extend the offer.

This is was a place that could be safe.

The cloak of the Seward family protection.

- They became very good friends, and she would actually go up to his house on occasion to sit down and talk with him about some of the plans that she had to start a school for young black girls in the area.

And also to have this home for aged that she has here, as well as the infirmary that she had on the back end of the property that she took care of those who were elderly and needed assistance.

So she was very well known in the community, and most of the people in the community supported her efforts to have this home for the aged.

And the John Brown infirmary here.

- One of the culminating stories in this relationship is from the years that follow.

Lincoln defeats Seward, becomes president, asks Seward to serve as his secretary of state.

They work together on the Emancipation Proclamation, 13th Amendment to strike down slavery.

And during these same years Tubman is leading armed raids in South Carolina, she's a spy and a scout.

And she entrusts a young girl, Margaret Stewart who was perhaps a biological niece, a family friend some thought, or clandestine daughter.

Right here in this house, where she becomes a part of the Seward family household.

Her story is as interesting as Seward and Tubman's.

And like those stories comes life as a museum.

- The most important thing for people to take away from Harriet's life work the fact that life is bigger than you are.

And no matter what challenges that you have to go through, if you have a dream or something that you want to accomplish, don't allow the situations or the circumstances around you to keep you from doing that.

Put forth all your effort to do everything that you can to make the world a better place, even if it costs you your entire life.

Be willing to give all that you have to make life better for other people.

(bouncy xylophone music) (water rushing) (flowing, deep and gentle full orchestral strings music) - It's an interesting thing to think about the fact that you have the Declaration of Independence, and then 72 years later the Declaration of Sentiments.

And 72 years after that women get the right to vote.

(heavy syncopated bass violin music) The Women's Rights National Historical Park was created in 1980 to commemorate the people and site associated with the first women's rights convention.

It was held on July 19 and 20 of 1848.

And it was the first time in American history that women and men came together, and publicly demanded among other things that women have the right to vote.

A lot of our visitors to Women's Rights National Historical Park come through the door, and the very first question they have is, "Why Seneca Falls?"

You know it's this beautiful, bucolic town, but it's very sleepy looking.

It doesn't seem to be this hot bed of reform.

And you're saying that Fredrick Douglass came here, that Stanton was here, Mott was here.

How did this happen in Seneca Falls?

- The Woman's Hall of Fame was founded in 1968.

Its mission is to showcase women and to educate broadly on women's achievements, their accomplishments, their contributions.

And large part to give a fuller sense of what a democratic notion of history looks like.

Seneca Falls seemed like a natural place to have the Women's Hall of Fame, and to continue to have it here.

It honors some history.

And it honors what we like to call that confluence of ideas that were, in this part of the country at the time.

And with which the women's movement owes a great tribute, as well.

- So when you have Elizabeth Cady Stanton who moves here in 1847 with her growing family walk into this environment, it's kind of a perfect storm of ideas, of people.

And so it's just a fascinating moment as a snapshot of our nation's history, and of Upstate New York history, because of all the movements that are spreading through the area.

- It's important to realize that the stories that we tell here have close to 300 women now.

Our stories that span decades, span all women and all endeavors, all ages, and sometimes their views maybe in direct opposition to one another.

I think the Hall provides that education.

It's a place for inspiration.

It's also a place where you find the stories of the roads less frequently taken.

- For the women and men who attended the Seneca Falls first Women's Rights Convention in 1848, what they're talking about is on national level, what rights are recognized and which ones aren't?

What's protected and what's not?

There is nothing in the Constitution that speaks to womanhood, it's all about men.

And so that's what they're really addressing.

They write a document that had become a touchstone for women's history in America.

And that document is called the Declaration of Sentiments.

This two day gathering takes place on July 19 and 20 of 1848 at the Wesleyan Chapel.

There's a ground swell of support.

And the focus eventually becomes on and amendment to the constitution that would give women the right to vote.

That becomes the focal point from the Declaration of Sentiments even though there are all these other threads.

Because ultimately, Stanton and others realize that to change the laws they needed to have suffrage.

They needed to have that right to vote.

- Susan B. Anthony was very quick to call out that you can't claim to have had a revolution that's of the people and by the people.

You can't claim that all are created equal if there is any human being that isn't granted full status.

So she had become and agent for the Anti-Slavery Society of New York.

And she goes to an anti-slavery meeting in Seneca Falls.

And there, through Amelia Bloomer, she meets Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

All three of them report about that meeting.

You could just tell they were spark for each other.

They were challenged for each other, and they were quite an amazing team.

What happened in the 1840s is they came here to build a movement.

Lots of the new religions and freedoms in colonies were here.

There was a certain promise.

And together, they honestly believed they could change and build better communities.

So you had the real freedom fighters right here.

You can't find a place in the country where there was more convergence of this energy around creating a better world.

- So I think one of the most powerful messages that emerges from this convention, and everything that happened after it and the legacy of that.

Is really that it just takes a few people to create change.

When people come here they learn the history, understand the legacy of that, really think for themselves when they leave about what that means for them personally.

- Sometimes when you start to learn stories of others, sometimes they might appear to be ordinary people.

You start to see where you live and how you live in a completely new way.

More importantly you start to see possibilities for yourself.

(upbeat contemporary synthesizer music) (snow scraping) (wind whooshing) (upbeat contemporary synthesizer music) (flowing orchestral music) - Glenn Curtiss was an innovator.

He was an entrepreneur.

He was someone who tirelessly pushed the boundaries, not only of himself, but of technology in the age that he lived in.

And for a guy from off the beaten path, and with only an eighth grade education, he really was unique in his time and place in the way that he was able to impact the world with his technology and entrepreneurial efforts.

- Glenn Curtiss was a man of many talents.

He's a local son born in the late 1870s.

Glenn Curtiss is most known for his development of aviation.

He was a pioneer aviator that stemmed from developing motors for motorcycles.

And then after working with several different aeronauts and early pioneers in the development of aviation, both in dirigibles and other means of flight.

Began working with Alexander Graham Bell, and doing the first publicly announced, officially witnessed air flight in the United States in July of 1908 here in Hammondsport.

Which put Hammondsport on the map as far as the center of aviation in this country.

He became the father of naval aviation, and then the father of the aircraft industry in the United States as it is today.

One of the things that I would say he was most successful at was getting other people together to work on problems that he couldn't solve himself.

Glenn realized that early on that he could not do everything himself, so he went out and found the brightest minds, the most energetic and like minded people he could find.

And brought them together to create his companies.

The village itself kind of went from a nice sleepy little village, picturesque village into a very bustling boom town almost overnight, because of the industry that Glenn was building here.

People were coming to get jobs.

Not only were they coming to get jobs, but you had all kinds of other movers and shakers coming to Hammondsport now to find out what was going on.

You had Henry Ford, McCormack, Alexander Graham Bell, and others came to find out what Glenn was doing and work with him.

The first Hindu, the first Dutch, the first Chinese, the first Japanese, the first African American, the first female pilots were all taught here in Hammondsport.

People were just on the edge of their seats sometimes waiting to see who was gonna get off the train that pulled into Hammondsport.

- I think Glenn Curtiss is going to be known, eventually, as the true driver of early 20th century industrial America.

He was able to touch so many lives all over the country and all over the world with his ideas.

And that technology changes, things advance, but ideas and the entrepreneurial spirit will continue.

And a guy in a rural part of the world with a single parent family, and a very limited amount of education can grow up to change the world.

And that's really for me, the most valuable legacy of his story.

(bright piano music) (moves into upbeat guitar and synthesizer piano music) (moves into wavy, flowing synthesizer music) (birds chirping) (easy going, percussion and synthesizer music) (birds chirping) (easy going, percussion and synthesizer music) (moves into solo electric guitar music) (bright acoustic music) - My name is Neil Mattson.

I'm an associate professor in the School of Integrated Plant Science at Cornell University, and I study greenhouse crops.

Greenhouses have their own issues.

They can be very labor intensive and very energy intensive.

It takes a lot of heat and light to keep a greenhouse crop going.

So in particular I focus on reducing the energy use in greenhouse production so that we have a more profitable and sustainable industry in the Finger Lakes.

(bright music) Cornell is one of the top agricultural universities in the world, and one of the things that we find is we make the most research progress where we have lots of colleagues to talk about issues.

And work out the details and work out the problems.

Cornell for 150 years has had this great philosophy of agricultural interdisciplinary research.

One of the trends that we're seeing is increased consumer interest in locally grown food.

We definitely see that in our restaurants here in the Finger Lakes, and consumers preparing food at home.

So they want to buy a product grown here and not shipped 3,000 miles across the country.

We can do that outdoors in the field only for a few months out of the year.

So we have a very narrow window that we can harvest those crops in the summertime.

So if we want to have that fresh, local food year round we really have to use greenhouses to make that possible.

(bright, tinkly music) With some LED lamps we can also control the color of light that we deliver to the plant.

And we're finding that can be really important for tweaking how the plant grows.

So if we look at the colors of the rainbow from like blue to red, plants can use all of that light really well for photosynthesis.

But certain colors of light trigger plant responses.

So high blue light can trigger us to get more of the nutritional compounds that we look for in like lettuce plants or kale plants.

(bright bouncy xylophone music) We have greenhouse extension colleagues scattered around New York State, and in the Finger Lakes region.

And they're the voice of the farmer in a sense.

They work closely with the grower.

They help inform us what are the issues that growers are seeing?

And convey to us the specific problems that they have.

And then we help solve those problems, and convey best practices, so that we can make our farms in the Finger lakes more profitable.

So in my hydroponics class I'm training the next generation of greenhouse growers.

Those students kind of become my legacy, or my children that go out and adopt these practices throughout the world.

(upbeat, bouncy xylophone music) (elegant acoustic guitar music) (moves into gentle full orchestral music) (reel clicking) (gentle, full orchestral and acoustic guitar music) - The Finger Lakes Land Trust is a non-profit conservation organization.

It works cooperatively with landowners and local communities, to come up with win-win solutions on conserving those areas that really define the character of the region.

We do this by establishing nature preserves that are accessible to the public.

Using conservation easement agreements that limit development on land that remains in private hands.

And we also work with local governments, and other non-profits in partnership to use these tools.

The Finger lakes is certainly not a wilderness.

What makes the Finger Lakes so significant to many people is this wonderful mosaic of woodlands, lakes, farmland, small villages and small city.

And really it's trying to maintain that mosaic.

So in the northern parts of the Finger Lakes, it's very rich farming country.

That means conserving farms, and working to address water quality issues.

In the Southern Tier the forests have returned as have black bear, it's about connecting existing public lands and protecting resources like the Finger Lakes Trail.

And then in between we have limited available lake shore left that's not developed.

It's securing those last gems both to preserve vital habitat.

And then also give the public a chance to get out on these lakes.

Today the land trust has conserved approximately 25,000 acres.

We own and manage a network of 35 natural areas that are open to the public.

And we hold conservation easements on approximately 150 properties that remain in private ownership.

What is probably most remarkable about the Finger Lakes is the amount of clean water.

One of the Finger Lakes is over 600 feet deep.

The navy tests sonar here they're remarkable lakes.

However, in recent years we're experiencing challenges to water quality.

We're not unique in this respect, across the world people are seeing more cyanobacteria, or toxic algae outbreaks.

Research is still underway, but it seems to be a combination of climate change, affecting weather in a way that's increasing the problem.

Runoff of nutrients, both from farmland, and also things like septic systems.

And then possibly non-native fresh water mussels that now live in the lakes.

It's a complicated problem, but one that we absolutely have to address.

I can't think of another place like the Finger Lakes.

I traveled around the world and while I've seen spectacular glacial lakes, I've not seen 11 arrayed in the way that they are in the Finger Lakes, encompassing such a broad and diverse landscape.

The challenges are daunting, but we can make a difference.

You can go to places like where we're standing now, that people have worked together with sustained effort and really made a difference.

(synthesizer music) (bright, bouncy synthesizer music) (moves into upbeat guitar and synthesizer music) - [Announcer] Support for "Journeys Through the Finger Lakes," is provided in part by the Saunders Foundation, committed to supporting the vitality of the Finger Lakes region.

Nocon & Associates, a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, incorporated.

Committed to programming that advances the arts.

And the Jane K. and Robert C. Stevens Fund for New Programming.

(bright digital music)