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Passersby gaze across the street toward San Felice, the damaged dock behind them.

Boat exits Seneca Lake, hits
San Felice porch; man charged

VALOIS, Oct. 6, 2013 -- They came by boat, by car and on foot Sunday morning to San Felice -- a slow but steady stream of onlookers curious to see what had happened there the night before.

What had happened, according to a Schuyler County Sheriff's Department press release, was that a boater from Horseheads, 37-year-old Gregory R. Haskell, had run his craft into the San Felice dock at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday, with the boat subsequently exiting the Seneca Lake waters, crossing a stone walkway, crossing Lake Street, and smashing into the right front corner of San Felice's wrap-around porch.

There was nobody inhabiting the building at the time, now that tourist season was past. San Felice, long ago (in the early 1900s) a hotel near the site of a ferry and steamboat landing, now serves as a lodge for rent. It offers six bedrooms, 5 1/2 baths, and a spacious eat-in kitchen. But Saturday night all was quiet, the establishment vacant.

And then the silence was broken.

"I heard a noise," said an elderly female neighbor who had wandered by Sunday morning to see the damage. "I couldn't figure out what it was. But it was loud."

Now, the next morning, all was quiet again. The boat had been removed by trailer from the scene after the accident -- after deputies had investigated, notified San Felice owner Harrison Davis of Lakemont, and set police tape around the scene, on either side of Lake Street.

Davis was on hand Sunday, working with a friend to repair the porch, the only part of the structure visibly damaged. A gouge was bitten out of the porch floor and wainscoting, and a corner post was being replaced.

The dock did not fare well. It was smashed where the boat struck it en route to exiting the lake. An adjoining walkway made of large stones was torn up where the boat bounced on its way toward the San Felice structure.

"Lucky thing," said one passerby. "If the boat had hit that concrete wall ..."

There is, in fact, a thick concrete wall -- a breakwater -- fronting the length of the San Felice shoreline. By striking the dock and going airborne, the boat bypassed that unforgiving obstacle.

As it was, two people were taken to Schuyler Hospital, where they were treated and released, according to the Sheriff's Office press release.

It was not clear if just the two people were in the boat -- nor, therefore, whether Haskell was one of those treated. And the press release did not specify the size or make of the boat.

Haskell was given an appearance ticket for a visit to Hector Town Court on charges of boating while intoxicated and endangering the welfare of a child. The age and identity of the child were not included in the press release.

Photos in text: The damaged dock and the front of San Felice.

Left: The stone walkway, damaged by the boat.
Right: Work was under way Sunday on the porch.

The San Felice dock Sunday morning from a different angle.