If you’ve ever visited Bath, you’ve almost certainly noticed the 500-foot wall that looms over the village from the south, just across the Conhocton River. That wall was formed in part by the glacier – the same glacier that gouged out Keuka Lake, then the vale of Pleasant Valley, slammed to a halt at Bath.
Mostly. While most of the glacier stayed put, its very top edged over and kept going for a spell, leaving behind “glacial erratics” – boulders and smaller stones that started out far to the north, and got swept along (actually, got inched along) by that last glacier.
Back in the early days of Bath several small groups of Native American people lived up at or near the top, and on several occasions officials from down on the flat had to trudge up to the top, in order to negotiate arrangements for peaceful co-existence.
In the 1840s a woman diarist wrote that it had become “a fad” in Bath to ride up to Mossy Bank to walk around and have picnics. Since that’s still going strong 180 years later, we probably can’t call it a fad any more!
By the 1850s the vista from Mossy Bank was noted as one of the two or three great “views” in Steuben County. Logging went on, though the slope made the work challenging. Whether with horses or on foot, you it was quite a job to get your picnic up to Mossy Bank. People found it worth the trip.
Ira Davenport built his “Riverside” mansion right over the Cameron Road bridge from Bath, roughly across from where the S.P.C.A. is now. In 1864, having seen the terrible death toll of the Civil War, he built a castle-like “Female Asylum” farther back from both the river and the road, right at the foot of the slope. He passed away in 1868, but his orphanage still made a home for distressed girls for another 90 years.
Mr. Davenport’s property included the steep slope and the Mossy Bank area, which became part of the orphanage after his death. “Davenport Girls” had their own Scout troop, and often enjoyed hikes up to the top.
The Appalachian Plateau begins at the top of the cliff, and while much of that is hilly, there’s a mile or so of fairly flat space first, and some of this is still used today as pasture. In the 1960s a forest fire burned for days between Cameron Road and Babcock Hollow Road. Folks pulled up lawn chairs onto the unfinished Southern Tier Expressway, and watched the show.
After the fire Mayor John Langendorfer fulfilled the dream of many years, turning Mossy Bank into a public park. Today there are picnic spaces, the Ted Markham Nature Center, occasional nature presentations, rest rooms, playground, a fitness trail, multiple hiking trails, and the lookout.
If anything defines Mossy Bank to most people, it’s the lookout and the view. Unsurprisingly, you get a great view of downtown Bath, the railroad, and the Conhocton River. The county fairgrounds. Several cemeteries. Lake Salubria. The West End, and beyond. Mount Washington blocks any view of Keuka Lake, but you can clearly see the roads to Hammondsport and Mitchellsville. If you know where to look, and conditions are good, you can spot the wind turbines in Howard, and the other batch between Prattsburgh and Cohocton.
Bath’s Christmas star is mounted on the lookout pavilion. Lately it’s again been lighted, this time in blue and yellow, to show support for the beleaguered people of the Ukraine.
At a little remove from the main body of the park is a smaller 14-acre section, largely taken up by a pond used for fishing and bird-watching (not to mention firefighting, if needed).
Mossy Bank is famed because eagles and osprey often nest within sight down below, and sometimes soar overhead, or even right in front of our faces. It’s a favored spot for many migrating birds and butterflies, including the monarch.
White-tail deer abound, and bears can be present, though I’m happy to say I’ve never encountered one.
The park is open to auto traffic from May 1 to October 15, and you often find families there on hot summer evenings, for the temperatures are commonly three to five degrees cooler than they are down below. Foot traffic is allowed the rest of the year, but so is hunting in season, so exercise good sense and care. Mossy Bank has 168 acres. It’s one of the crown jewels of Bath.