Today's bustling Farmers Market at Ithaca's steamboat landing dates back to the heyday of the 1800s, when steamboats plied the lake waters, hauling freight, serving passengers and connecting Ithaca to an ever growing nation. Travelers embarked and disembarked at this site, using water travel routes linked to stagecoaches and later trains to make their way across the state. Town was a walk or carriage ride away. Now Steamboat Landing, connected to the rest of Ithaca by the Cayuga Waterfront Trail, serves as a point of commerce again, as it did in its humble beginnings as the site of Ithaca's first store.
I am not sure what prompted the author of this sign to claim that the steamboat landing is connected to the rest of Ithaca by the waterfront trail. As far as I am aware this remains wishful thinking and is blocked by a bunch of land and business owners who (somewhat understandably) do not want to give up their lake access for a public trail used by joggers and inline skaters.
Click on the image to see the info board in high resolution!