But after looking I see that according to their map most of the Finger Lakes would be in what they consider Western New York.
I think that would only be correct if you counted the lakes that are further west than the FIVE that gave the area its name. We had NY history in school - many, many eons ago - and only five lakes were known as the Finger Lakes at that time: Seneca, Cayuga, Keuka, Canandaigua, Skaneateles - five lakes stretched down across the state like five fingers. Having moved away from the area 57 years ago, I see the other six lakes are lumped into the Finger Lakes now.
It would seem that there is still some confusion or disagreement regarding the area as my relatives and school friends still in the area claim there are five Finger Lakes where the below excerpt cites only seven are known as the Finger Lakes. I guess that would be measured by someone with seven fingers on one hand??
“”The Finger Lakes are a chain of lakes in the west-central section of Upstate New York that are a popular tourist destination. There are actually eleven lakes in the region, but only seven of the largest are commonly identified as the Finger Lakes.
The lakes mainly are linear in shape, each lake oriented on a north-south axis. The two longest, Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake, are among the deepest in America. Both are close to 40 miles from end to end, but never more than 3.5 miles wide. Cayuga is the longest (38.1 miles), but Seneca the largest in total area. Seneca is the deepest (618 feet), followed by Cayuga (435 feet). These largest lakes resemble the others in shape, which collectively reminded early map-makers of the fingers of a hand.””
Interesting exercise!