Here is the last CHQ 2024 post. I did not realize I would write quite as much about the place, but it wasn’t easy to encapsulate it.
Often, I would wake up at about 3:30 in the morning and wander into the Presbyterian House library. I would check my e-mail, complete my Wordle, etc. It’s a small but interesting room, which has an array of significant photos on the walls, such as one of Thurgood Marshall at a podium in 1957, a few years after he was the primary lawyer to litigate Brown v. Board of Education before the Supreme Court, and a decade before he was named to SCOTUS.
Many presidents and future presidents appeared on the walls, and at least some photos were taken in Chautauqua. The picture above of Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Al and Tipper Gore was taken before the 1992 election.
FDR was there in 1917, 1919, 1929, and 1936; the picture was of him standing before a crowd, which suggests earlier in the list. His cousin Teddy was there in 1890, 1894, 1895, 1905, and 1914, before, during, and after his presidency. William McKinley was there in 1895 before he took office.
For some pictures, it was more challenging to ascertain if they were taken there. Ulysses S. Grant visited Chautauqua as President in 1875. Rutherford B. Hayes visited in 1889, well after his term in office. Garfield’s stop in 1880 was a year before his Presidency and death. Gerald R. Ford’s picture was a government issue; his appearance in 1964 was a decade before he became Commander-in-Chief.
Furled flag
When I wasn’t attending an event during the day, I often sat on the back porch of the 2nd floor of the Presbyterian house. It’s a lovely space with a small table. To my left, I could see Chautauqua Lake, which was lovely. Often, I could hear music from the amphitheater; sometimes, it was from a worship service, while other times, it would be the rehearsal for a show that would take place that night. Once, a program for kids took place, with young adults performing short plays the kids had written.
I would talk to the staff, mostly young people, who would clean the windows, sweep the floor, and unfurl the flag. This particular American flag on this porch got wrapped daily. Once, when my wife came out and unfurled it after it had been wrapped twice, a couple of hours later, it had furled five times. Meanwhile, the Presbyterian flag, made of a much heavier material, only furled once that week.
I have never seen so many American flags in a small community as in Chautauqua. CHQ considers itself part of a great American experiment, so one expects to listen to points of view that are divergent from one’s own.
This is not to say that everyone is on board. The Daily Chautauquan, which comes out six days a week and covers (previews then reviews) most of the significant events, carried a letter to the editor blasting CHQ for inviting former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy to be in conversation with Julian Castro, HUD secretary under Obama, the day before my wife and I arrived.
There were many discussions about politics at mealtimes, largely because Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he wouldn’t run for re-election. A guy named Bill and I mused over Kamala Harris’ VP pick.
The penultimate day
My favorite time at Chautauqua was on Friday afternoon in the main quad. My wife told me there would be a Pete Seeger tribute on the green, which reminded me of a college main quad. It turned out that the performance was the day before. A couple, a guy on guitar and a woman on fiddle sang folk songs, and I sang a little harmony with them.
Then my wife and I returned to Presby House, where they served wine – before supper! – and a couple of young adults, the male clearly the son of a woman staying there, sang some songs. Eventually, they performed Country Roads, Take Me Home, and I sang harmony in the chorus, which made them happy. Then, someone else sang a Fleetwood Mac song. It was a fun time on our last afternoon at Chautauqua.