Finger Lakes history · regional story
Developing historyThe questionnaire that took a picture of Conesus Lake
A 1987 report used more than a thousand survey returns to describe life around Conesus Lake—and explained whose lives its results missed.
Research status
This history is still developing.
Parts of this account remain unresolved. Here is what the sources support, what is uncertain, and what we are looking for next.
About this review. Written and source-checked with AI assistance under an owner-authorized editorial process. This is not a personal review by Riley or an independent historian. Sources and unresolved questions are listed below; corrections are welcome.
- What the records establish
- The report preserves both a substantial community survey and an explanation of its sampling limits. Its response count is not a count of everyone who lived around or visited the lake.
- What remains uncertain
- We have not obtained the original computer file or independently checked the returns. These are historical results from a property-owner mailing list, not a census, a random sample of all lake users or a current demographic profile.
- What we are researching next
- Locate the project’s surviving aggregate tables, codebook and documentation of the sampling frame. Any original respondent files would require separate privacy and consent review; public historical work should begin with published aggregates.
The lake association’s mailing list became the starting point for a community study. A report published in May 1987 says its four-page questionnaire went to 1,800 property owners. Roseanne Bellanca and Darrell Norris at SUNY Geneseo helped revise it; student assistants mailed forms, followed up and entered the returns into a computer database. Conesus Lake, N.Y., A Survey.
The report counted 1,032 respondents, a 57.3 percent return. About half the respondent population lived at the lake year-round. The study was describing a community in 1986, with both seasonal and year-round households. Conesus Lake, N.Y., A Survey.
Its authors also drew a clear boundary around the findings. The responses mainly represented owner-occupiers. Vacationers, seasonal tenants, students and many absentee landlords were poorly represented. That limitation belongs beside the numbers whenever the report is used. Conesus Lake, N.Y., A Survey.
Sources
- Conesus Lake, N.Y., A Survey — Conesus Lake Association and Developmental Impact Studies Center, SUNY Geneseo; Darrell A. Norris and listed contributors; May 1987. Locator: Printed pp.4–5 / PDF pp.9–10: Survey Design and Respondents, Introduction, Response, Questions; printed p.12 / PDF p.17: Occupancy Patterns opening paragraph. Accessed October 22, 2026.