They came to preach the Good Word: one an Episcopalian priest, the other a woman evangelist. They pursued their mission from opposite ends of Keuka Lake and left lasting legacies. The woman, the self-styled “Public Universal Friend, brought in the region’s first colony; the Rev. William Warren Bostwick planted the first grapevine, paving the way for Keuka’s famous wine industry.

Listen to Jemima Wilkinson tell how she inspired her substantial flock to brave the wilderness in search of the New Jerusalem near the present Penn Yan, and in the process served her Seneca Indian neighbors, as well as settlers and foreign and domestic visitors.

Hear the Reverend Bostwick discuss an industry that began with a grape vine in his rectory garden; and come away with an appreciation for such ingenious and courageous souls as Glenn H. Curtiss, the Father of Naval Aviation.

It’s one of a series of books on area history aimed at giving visitors and residents alike an appreciation of an Upstate New York territory that earned the title “Gateway to the West.” It’s a story told from the perspective of its early settlers and some remarkable citizens who followed.

The pioneers were truly heroic in their endurance and accomplishments. Succeeding generations produced some of the nation’s most remarkable entrepreneurs, inventors, philanthropists, adventurers and national leaders.

Together they tell the story of how things hereabouts got to be the way they are.