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New York County
Yates County, New York
Keuka Lake's Y-shaped wine country and Penn Yan's Mennonite heritage - from Keuka Lake's unique Y-shaped geography (the only Y-shaped finger lake - the two branches of Keuka Lake create a distinctive wine-growing environment with lake-effect moderation on multiple exposures, producing exceptional Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and hybrid varieties that have made Keuka Lake one of the Finger Lakes' most celebrated wine appellations) to Penn Yan's Old Order Mennonite community (one of the most visible Mennonite communities in New York State, with horse-drawn buggies, plain-dressed farmers, and traditional agricultural practices visible throughout Yates County's rural roads) and the Yates County Agricultural Museum.
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Office: Yates County Emergency Management Office (EMO) – 227 Main Street, Penn Yan, NY 14527 | (315) 536-3000 / (315) 536-5100
Services: Coordinates all planning, preparedness, response, and recovery efforts countywide; administers federal and state emergency response grants; collaborates with the Enhanced 911 Dispatch Center.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: NY-14A and NY-54A serve Penn Yan, the county seat, at the northern tip of Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes region
Transit: Limited; primarily auto-dependent – confirm current regional options directly with the county.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Yates County Building & Codes – Penn Yan, NY
Notes: Confirm current permit process directly with the county; some towns and villages may issue their own separate permits.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
County VSO: Yates County Veterans Service Agency – Penn Yan, NY
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Penn Yan Public Library – 214 Main Street, Penn Yan, NY 14527 | (315) 536-6114 | Hours: Mon–Fri 9 AM–7:30 PM, Sat 9 AM–4 PM (closed Sun)
Services: Genuinely founded in 1895, holding roughly 32,700 volumes and circulating over 100,000 items annually.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Yates County is genuinely home to one of the most unusual and significant episodes in early American religious history – in the 1780s and 1790s, followers of Jemima Wilkinson, a Rhode Island Quaker who, after a near-fatal illness in 1776, claimed to have died and been reanimated as a genderless preacher known as the “Publick Universal Friend,” settled in what became the town of Jerusalem near Penn Yan, founding the Society of Universal Friends, genuinely one of the earliest intentional religious communities in the United States and the first American religious movement founded by a person born in America; Wilkinson – who rejected both birth name and gendered pronouns for the rest of life – is recognized by scholars as a pioneering, and by some accounts trans or non-binary, figure in early American history; the Friend’s Federal-style home in Jerusalem, built 1809-1815, still stands and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and artifacts including the Friend’s portrait, Bible, carriage, and personal papers are preserved at the Yates County History Center in Penn Yan; Penn Yan itself sits on Keuka Lake, nicknamed “Crooked Lake” for its distinctive Y-shape, one of the most scenic of the Finger Lakes
Notes: Yates County’s Jerusalem is genuinely the site of one of the earliest intentional religious communities in American history, founded by the Publick Universal Friend, a uniquely significant and often overlooked figure in the study of early American religion and gender history, making it one of the more historically distinctive counties found anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
GIS Portal: Yates County GIS – accessible via yatescountyny.gov
Parcel Search: Yates County Real Property Tax Service – Penn Yan, NY
Addressing/911: Coordinated through Yates County Emergency Management Office
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Humane Society of Yates County (Shelter of Hope) – 1216 State Route 14A, Penn Yan, NY 14527 | (315) 536-6094 | Hours: Tue–Sat (call to confirm)
Services: A no-kill, privately funded 501(c)(3) shelter with roots dating to the early 1900s; opened its first permanent facility in 2000; rehomes several hundred dogs and cats from Yates County each year.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Environmental Complaints: NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) – dec.ny.gov
Notes: Contact your specific municipality directly for current refuse collection and recycling program details.
NOTES
Yates County’s Jerusalem is genuinely the site of one of the earliest intentional religious communities in American history, founded by the Publick Universal Friend. All contact information above was sourced from official county, town, library, and shelter pages as of this writing; phone numbers and hours should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit.
About Yates County
Yates County is the Finger Lakes’ smallest and most intimate wine and Mennonite heritage county – Keuka Lake’s Y-shaped shores and the Old Order Mennonite community’s visible traditional life define a distinctive character.
Penn Yan (the county seat, population ~5,000) takes its unusual name from the combination of “Pennsylvanian” and “Yankee” – reflecting the two groups of settlers who argued over naming the town and compromised by combining their nicknames. The community’s Mennonite presence is visible in the horse-drawn buggies on county roads and the farm stands selling produce, baked goods, and crafts.
Keuka Lake’s unique Y-shape creates two distinct branches of lakefront with different exposures, and the Keuka Lake Wine Trail connects over a dozen wineries producing the Finger Lakes’ most celebrated Rieslings.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Yates County Real Property Tax Service at 417 Liberty Street, Suite 1117, Penn Yan, NY 14527, phone 315-536-5196. Appeal to Board of Assessment Review.
Courts & Legal
Yates County Surrogate’s Court at 415 Liberty Street, Penn Yan, NY 14527, phone 315-536-5130, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
417 Liberty St, Penn Yan, NY 14527
(315) 536-5120
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Yates County Surrogate’s Court, Penn Yan (probate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Yates County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Yates County Surrogate’s Court 415 Liberty Street, Penn Yan, NY 14527 (315) 835-6321 Yates County is in New York’s Finger Lakes region, seated in Penn Yan.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
New York probate and estate administration is governed by the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act (SCPA) and handled by the Surrogate’s Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled. New York has 62 counties, each with its own Surrogate’s Court.
Voluntary Administration / Small Estate Affidavit (SCPA Article 13) – available when the decedent’s PERSONAL property (not real property) has a gross value of $50,000 or less, excluding certain property automatically set aside for a surviving spouse or children under 21 (EPTL 5-3.1). Owning real property does NOT disqualify an estate from this process – only the personal property counts toward the $50,000 cap. The filing fee is just $1.00.
Probate – required when there’s a valid will and the estate exceeds the small-estate threshold or involves real property.
Administration – required when the decedent died intestate (no will); the Surrogate’s Court appoints an administrator following the statutory priority order under SCPA 1001.
Step 2: filing for probate or administration
File the will (if any) with the Surrogate’s Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled, along with a probate or administration petition.
The court issues Letters Testamentary (with a will) or Letters of Administration (without a will) to the appointed fiduciary.
The fiduciary notifies creditors and beneficiaries and inventories the estate’s assets.
Debts, expenses, and any required New York State Estate Tax are paid.
The fiduciary distributes the remaining assets according to the will or New York’s intestacy law and files a final accounting to close the estate.
What it costs
Voluntary Administration filing fee: $1.00.
Full probate/administration filing fees vary and generally scale with estate value.
UNIQUE TO NEW YORK: New York imposes its own separate state ESTATE TAX. For 2026, the New York basic exclusion amount is $7,350,000 – estates at or below that owe no state estate tax. New York has an unusual “cliff”: if the estate’s value exceeds the exclusion by more than 5% (over $7,717,500 in 2026), the ENTIRE estate becomes taxable from the first dollar. No portability between spouses. Rates range from about 3.06% to 16%.
New York has no separate state inheritance tax.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
224 Court St, Penn Yan, NY 14527
(315) 536-5182
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
BOARD OF ELECTIONS
417 Liberty St, Penn Yan, NY 14527
(315) 536-5140
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Public Health Department
417 Liberty St, Penn Yan, NY 14527
(315) 536-5160
Social Services
417 Liberty St, Penn Yan, NY 14527
(315) 536-5183
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Yates County Public Health Department – Penn Yan, NY
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