Tag Archives: Watkins Glen

Where to Park, in the Southern Tier!

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“If I had a dead fish, I’d share the carcass –
If I had a car, I’d parallel parkus.”

Stirring words from the Sherman the shark, sage of Kapupu Lagoon! But seriously, if you (or your guests) are touring the Finger Lakes, where many of our streets were laid out BEFORE the horse and buggy, you’ll sometimes find parking to be a challenge, or at least an annoyance. Here are some ideas, drawn from rich experience.
Parking in downtown Owego can be a challenge, especially since most of the on-street parking has a two-hour limit. There’s a small public lot on Church Street, but it’s often full. Two lots for county employees are available, but open to the public ONLY evenings and weekends. You don’t have to go very far to hit residential neighborhoods, with on-street parking not limited to two hours.
What you may not know is that the large Hyde Lot, off Temple Street behind the village hall, has free three-hour parking. It’s exactly what you need in Owego on a business day. Since the entrance is a block or two away from the business district, we visited Owego for decades before realizing it was there. It certainly simplified our visits!
Corning offers some challenges in the Southside business-government district. Tourists sometimes get caught (and ticked) (and ticketed) because they move from Zone A (for example) when the time limit’s up, and park at another spot. BUT if you find another area marked Zone A, THE SAME LIMIT APPLIES – it’s a TOTAL of two hours a day for ANY Zone A. So you have to move to a differently-lettered zone, or pay for parking… or pay for a ticket. There is a pay garage off Market Street, plus there are pay lots along Denison, next to the library, and elsewhere. The automated kiosk system at these lots is kind of a nuisance. You memorize your space number and go to the kiosk, key in your number, put in the appropriate money, get a slip, go back to your car, and leave it on the dashboard, after which you can finally go about your business.
This is tough on tourists who don’t know the system, the disabled or elderly who have trouble getting around, parents with small children, and anybody who doesn’t like walking or standing in sleet (snow, rain, hail, high wind, lightning). I believe the kiosks now take debit or credit cards, which helps if you’re out of cash. There’s no fee on weekends.
Hammondsport is a small town that gets large crowds. There’s a parking lot at Main and Shethar, and another at Mechanic and Shethar (both on northeast corners). There’s also a strip of head-in spaces at the waterfront, near the Depot, and two or three fringes of spaces at Liberty Square (Mechanic and Lake). Otherwise it’s on-street parking… try getting over to Lake or other away-from-the-center streets, and you may do well. For some events they arrange “remote” parking with free shuttles in and out.
Bath recently took out a few parking meters in the downtown business district, making free parking available for limited periods, helping people who need to step into a store or the post office. Many metered spaces (both parallel and head-in) are available. There’s also a large municipal lot (metered) behind the row of buildings on the east side of Liberty, between East William and East Steuben.
Watkins Glen has a small free lot on Third Street, behind the visitors center. The state park lot charges eight dollars sunrise to sunset. There are also spaces near the marina, and on-street parking… no meters in Watkins.
All of this is subject to change! And none of this is official! But it’s overwhelmingly accurate, and at least gives you a starting point for when you visit. Have fun in our small towns!
(By the way, that “If I had a dead fish” poem is by Jim Toomey, in his “Sherman’s Lagoon” comic strip. Check it out – it’s a great strip!)

“The Best Of”… In My Humble Opinion

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Our region is packed with wonderful places to enjoy, but where are the BEST of each category? Here’s a subjective, incomplete, and individualistic – but heartfelt! – list of recommendations.

Best Open-Air Museum: Genesee Country Village, in Mumford. 600 acres to stroll, with 68 period houses collected from the region and re-erected as a developing 19th-century village. It includes an octagon house from Friendship; a mansion from Campbell; a country store from Altay; a church from Brooks Grove; a one-room school from Rush; and Nathaniel Rochester’s plank house, from when he was still living in Dansville. (But don’t overlook the Farmer’s Museum, in Cooperstown.)

Best Kids’ Museum: The Strong National Museum of Play, in Rochester. Toys, games, playthings, and recreational books – you MUST like at least one of those! (I like ’em all!) I’m not sure how many acres there are under roof, but it’s all dedicated to recreation and play – last time I was there, there was even a Penn Yan Boats fishing boat on exhibit. Strong also has the National Toy Hall of Fame (find your favorites, or make a nomination!), a large dollhouse collection, and a wonderful indoor butterfly garden. Even with all those playthings (many of the hands-on) just a few steps away, what is better than a butterfly?

Best Aviation Museum: The Glenn Curtiss Museum, in Hammondsport. Follow the life of America’s first aviation titan, who made multiple millions within seven years after he and his friends built their first airplane. (The first airplane they ever BUILT, was also the first airplane they ever SAW.) And explore the life of the little home town that rode the roller-coaster with him. Years ago, I was the director here. I think you’d like it.

Best Local History Museum: The Buffalo History Museum, in Buffalo. The museum is historic all by itself, for it’s the only building preserved from the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, or world’s fair. (President McKinley was fatally shot just a few blocks away, and the museum owns the murder weapon.) The museum is fun, but it also doesn’t pull any punches on facing the community’s history of prejudice. One fun little curio – former president Millard Fillmore was one of the founding members of the Buffalo Historical Society, which operates the museum.

Best Place to Lose Yourself in Flowers: Cornell Botanical gardens, in Ithaca. Tiptoe through setpiece flower beds, or ramble among broadcast dame’s rocket.

Most Beautiful Place to Hike: The Finger Lakes Trail section between Steuben County Route 13 (Mitchellsville Road) and State Route 54, outside Hammondsport. Sometimes deer and wild turkey… hepatica and may apple in season… always the woodland, the nearby gorge and stream, the Keuka Inlet, and the lovely vineyard in Pleasant Valley.

Best Gorge: Watkins Glen, in… Watkins Glen! Letchworth and Stony Brook rightfully have their boosters, but you can walk the gorge at Watkins and get wet along the way. The gorge hoots and hollers and sprays, but you meet it, and enjoy it, on a human level.

Best Waterfall, NOT Counting Niagara, Which is in a Class by Itself: Taughannock Falls, near Cayuga Lake, outside Ithaca. A half-mile walk-in, and a single drop longer than Niagara’s, although noplace near as wide. Close second goes to Shequaga Falls, right at the end of West Main Street in Montour Falls.

Best Scenic Overlook: Mossy Bank Park above Bath, and Harris Hill Park near Elmira. Local folks have been enjoying Mossy Bank for 200 years, and I imagine the same is true for Harris Hill. Sailplanes take off and land right near the Harris Hill overlook. This is also the spot from which young Tommy Hilfiger saw the wall of water thundering down the Chemung in 1972, then raced it back to his first shop to save the stock by rushing it to an upper level. Mossy Bank used to be part of the Davenport estate, and girls from the Davenport orphanage loved to hike up there for picnics. You sometimes see eagles nowadays. (More “Bests” to come, from time to time!)

A Walk in Watkins

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We took a walk in Watkins recently, and it’s a good place to do so. Although we associate Watkins with its spectacular glen, most of the village itself is as flat as a pan. The streets are rectilinear. While the town is busy, especially in summer, most of the time you can get around comfortably on foot, and while Franklin Street is also Route 14, Watkins Glen has a good array of signals and crosswalks. There’s plenty to look at, and there’s even a free municipal parking lot (Third Street, just behind the Chamber of Commerce).
Watkins Glen is like Bath and Corning, in that it doesn’t have a “Main Street” – Watkins has Franklin Street instead. (Some places, like Wayland and Hammondsport, DO have Main Streets, but changing traffic patterns leave them not quite as “main” as they were planned to be.) Bath DOES have a “Maine Street,” though, right next to Vermont Street.
Seneca Lake draws walkers like a magnet draws iron filings. While Cayuga Lake is a little longer, Seneca is decidedly broader and definitely deeper, making it the largest Finger Lake in both volume and area. It’s not quite an inland sea, but it behaves like one, with waves running up the lake to crash against the stone seawalls of the Watkins marina. Of course there are gulls aplenty, but depending on the season you can also spot coots, buffleheads, loons, eagles, osprey, cormorants, and plenty more. A pier jutting well out into the lake has a famed pavilion at the far end. In season you can also see (and book a cruise on) the schooner “True Love,” on which Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly honeymooned (and sang the song of that title) in the movie musical “High Society.”
This waterfront is mostly for pleasure craft nowadays, but time was when it was a hardworking transshipment point. Roads converged here from Horseheads, Corning, Hammondsport, Geneva, and Ithaca. More importantly, Seneca Lake welcomed a canal at Watkins, connecting down into Pennsylvania. And even more important yet, several railroads and a trolley line stopped here. By 1876, as tourism boomed, a brand-new elegant station welcomed visitors. It’s now the Seneca Station Harbor Restaurant, with a spectacular view of the lake.
Most of the Franklin Street structures are historic. A. B. Frost bought a marble business as soon as he got back from the Civil War, and around 1870 put up the three-story iron works at 2 North Franklin. Municipal Hall (303 North Franklin) was a Works Project Administration project during the New Deal. The garage at 111 North Franklin started out in 1874 as a livery stable. Which makes it especially cool that the Glen Theater (112 North Franklin) opened its doors in 1924. Thirty years between livery stable and picture palace! Wow! What a transition, in far less than a single lifetime! (They preserve the original period interior. We love it.)
While you walk you can also keep your eyes peeled for hall of fame blocks set into the sidewalks, honoring racing car drivers – or look up a little and you’ll find huge racing murals on exterior walls. Watkins Glen folks take their racers seriously. There’s now a closed course a little outside of town, but you can visit the original 1948 Grand Prix start line in front of the courthouse. Pick up a brochure, and you can drive the original route yourself.
The Glen, of course, is the town’s stellar attraction, and the state park includes hiking and walking trails (though believe me, they aren’t flat). The 580-mile Finger Lakes Trail wends through the park, and then on sidewalk to the other end of town, where it hits open fields and starts to climb again. Likewise the Catharine Valley Trail begins in Watkins at Lafayette Park, following the old canal-and-trolley route down to Montour Falls.
We first saw Watkins Glen in 1995 when we stopped downtown for lunch as we passed through, just before my wife had open heart surgery. When we moved to Bath a year and half later we said, “Oh, good – we’ll be near Watkins Glen!” It’s a good town to visit. We like it a lot. Good memories.

Let’s Have a Wander!

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In times like these, as public and personal health – not to mention the lives of our loved ones – call on us to maintain a certain isolation, we can get to feeling cooped up and coo-coo. What can we DO with the long summer days?

In our case, we’ll sometimes go wandering. Even if you’re not up to hiking, our towns and villages offer hours and miles of pleasant ambling. While you’re wandering you can: keep a village bird list; spot (and read) every monument and historic marker; look BEHIND the houses to see which garages and other structures started out as stables, barns, or carriage houses; admire the streetside gardens, planters, and window boxes. Make up your own quarry to spot as you wander!

But WHERE shall you wander? Last weekend we enjoyed ourselves in ANGELICA (Allegany County). It’s a small but pleasing village with fine homes, not to mention the Allegany County Fairgrounds. One of the most memorable features is a large traffic circle with a park (and Saturday farmers market) inside, and five churches plus the town hall arranged along the outside. Spot the library, the veterans’ monument, and the lamppost banners that also honor veterans.

NAPLES and CANANDAIGUA (both in Ontario County) are very different communities, but they each enjoy a mile-long Main Street. Main Street in Naples is treelined, except where it’s bordered by vineyards. The Catholic church is an exciting modern design that suits the grape country, while the school would feel right at home in an Archie comic. Tree-covered ridges overlook Naples on either side.

The Canandaigua Main Street runs gently downhill into a marina at the north end of Canandaigua Lake. It’s a busy place, lined with shops and restaurants, offices and businesses, with the county courthouse at the top of the hill. (A monument honors Susan B. Anthony, who was convicted at that courthouse for the crime of voting. “I will never pay one cent of your unjust fine,” she told the judge, and she never did.)

If you’re wandering Main Street in PENN YAN (Yates County), notice when the bridge carries you over Keuka Outlet, draining that lake and filling Seneca. As you go by Birkett Mills, think about the days when the running outlet powered huge grindstones here. Notice Millie’s Pantry, whose founder was honored by President Obama for her years of work feeding the hungry. And spot the library, the oldest part of which was a gift from turn-of-the-century billionaire Andrew Carnegie.

At the other end of the lake, in HAMMONDSPORT (Steuben County), have a seat at the park in the village square and use your mind’s eye to see it in the days when Glenn Curtiss and Alexander Graham Bell would have strolled right past you, agitating ways to get into the air. Stroll down Sheathar or William Street to the lakefront with its “railroad gothic” depot, and imagine that you’re waiting for the steamboat to take you to your cottage.

Over in Schuyler County, start at the gazebo on the end of the pier in WATKINS GLEN. Spot the waterfowl in Seneca Lake, step across the (active!) railroad track, and amble down Franklin Street. Like Naples, Penn Yan, and Hammondsport, Watkins is in grape country. But it’s also auto racing country. Keep your eyes down to spot blocks in the sidewalk honoring great drivers. Lift your eyes up to spot the murals on the sides of buildings, capturing great moments in Watkins Glen racing. Soon you’ll be walking the route of those original Grand Prix road races, over 70 years ago. You’ll also be at the mouth of the Glen, that dramatic cleft that’s attracted hikers, artists and photographers for centuries. There are plenty of other places to wander. But these will get you started!

Winter Fun in the Summer Towns

It isn’t summer any more. Most of the tourists have long since gone home. The boat liveries are closed, the canoes are up on racks. The beaches belong to coots and sea gulls. The ice cream shops are closed. And here we’re left, in the towns that live and die on the summer trade.

*So what about US? What do WE do, all winter long?

*Well, there’s no reason to stop visiting the summer towns. There’s actually still a lot going on. (Though you should check for winter hours.)

*In HAMMONDSPORT (south end of Keuka Lake), as long as the day’s not too windy you can still stroll the streets and appreciate the dramatic scenery of the little village in the deep cleft… a cleft that it shares with the Lake to the north, and Pleasant Valley to the west and south.

*There are a couple of antique stores still open year-round, and one just outside the village, on State Route 54.

*You should really visit the Glenn Curtiss Museum… 56,000 square feet of pioneering aviation and motorcycling history.

*You can find a comfortable chair at the Fred and Harriet Taylor Memorial Library, and open up a book. Or a magazine. Or your laptop.

*Drive up to the other end of the Lake at PENN YAN, and you’ll find two bookstores (one new books, one used books) just a block or so apart. Besides new books, Long’s also has cards, gifts, and office supplies.

*Penn Yan has a museum complex at Yates County History Center, and an art gallery at the Arts Center of Yates County… both on Main Street. Also on Main is Penn Yan Public Library, where the original part of the building was donated by Andrew Carnegie.

*Take a stroll and enjoy the architecture of the historic business district (blending into fine homes and churches), or drop down to water level and hike (yes, even in winter if conditions permit) on the Keuka Outlet Trail. At times you can watch the ice fishers on the East Branch. There’s a triplex movie theater on the edge of town.

*If conditions permit, you can walk out on the pier and the docks at WATKINS GLEN (south end of Seneca Lake). Watkins has an old-fashioned downtown walk-in movie theater (The Glen), so see if they’re playing something you’d like.

*Even when it’s chilly you can stroll the streets to see memorials for racing drivers, set into the sidewalk, and wall-art murals celebrating the Glen’s ongoing racing heritage.

*You can also stop in at the Motor Racing Research Center, to see which historic racing cars are now on show in the lobby. Go down the hall, and you enter Watkins Glen Public Library.

*Main Street has two antique shops, a fiber arts store, an art gallery, and Famous Brands.

*At GENEVA (Seneca’s north end) try out lunch at the elegant Belhurst Castle. You could also visit Geneva History Museum at the 1829 Prouty-Chew House..

*CANANDAIGUA (north end of the lake of the same name) has a comic book store, a needlework store, a used book store, art galleries, antique shops, Unique Toy Shop, and lots more… the mile-long Main Street is still a thriving site for business and shopping. You can learn a little about “olden days” at the Ontario County Historical Museum. Or you could spend some time at Wood Library… all on Main Street!

*Anyway, don’t mope. There’s still lots to do!

Four-Month Canal Journey Climaxes at Watkins Glen

Darn that busybody DeWitt Clinton! His Erie Canal was one of the most spectacular successes of the age, but it was a disaster for the Southern Tier.

*Up until then the Chemung-Susquehanna River system was the great highway of western New York, with its connections to the Tidewater, Baltimore, and Chesapeake Bay. Bath, with its green squares and broad boulevards, was laid out to be the region’s great metropolis.

*That all slammed to a halt when the great canal opened in 1825. There were conventions and mob actions down here as crop prices and land values crashed instantly, leaving people with mortgages they could never pay off. The Land Office finally negotiated a revaluation.

*Meanwhile, little no-account shanty towns like Buffalo, Syracuse, and Rochester started to boom.

*Things improved for us when the Crooked Lake Canal opened in 1831, making Hammondsport a true port and putting Steuben-area farmers back into the game with a connection to the Erie system. Two years later Chemung Canal opened, eventually linking Corning and Elmira with Watkins Glen and Seneca Lake.

*All of that helped, but completion of the Erie Railroad in 1851 linked the Southern Tier with New York, Lake Erie, and Rochester. At that point, business truly started to revive.

*By 1868 those railroads had caught the attention of officials at the Brooklyn Flint Glass Works. The Erie gave Corning a major east-west mainline, and a major branch up to Rochester. The Fall Brook brought up coal, wood, sand, and charcoal from Pennsylvania. Raw materials could come in by rail, and finished products go out, and many costs were lower than they would be in Brooklyn. Corning could be a VERY attractive spot for relocation, and the decision was soon made.

*But while the railroads were a major consideration, another key factor was the canal. The Glass Works would lose some time, but save a good deal of money, shipping their factory equipment by canal.

*Barges loaded up at Brooklyn were towed up the Hudson to Albany, then transitioned into the Erie Canal as far as Montezuma, and junction with the Cayuga and Seneca Canal. Thence they made their way to Geneva and up Seneca Lake to Watkins, into the Chemung Canal, then a few rods on the Chemung River itself to Monkey Run and their new home along the waterfront of the Southside… just where so many of us recall the Glass Works always being.

*And that was in 1868 – exactly 150 years ago! Brooklyn Flint Glass Works became Corning Flint Glass Works, then Corning Glass Works, the Corning Incorporated (but still CGW on the stock exchange).

*To celebrate the sesquicentennial, GlassBarge (from Corning Musuem of Glass) and canal schooner Lois McClure (from Lake Champlain Maritime Museum) set out from Brooklyn back in May, accompanied by 1930 tug W. O. Ecker and 1964 tug C. L. Churchill. Like their predecessors they traveled up to Albany, but this time went the enture length of the Erie Canal to Buffalo, before reversing course to pick up the Cayuga-Seneca Canal, heading for Geneva, Seneca Lake, and Watkins Glen – as far as you can get, nowadays, by barge – to complete their odyssey.

*Art Cohn of Lake Champlain Maritime Museum observes that the new company’s arrival by a line of barges apparently didn’t attract much attention in Corning, though of course we now know that it was a historical thunderbolt. But this year’s little flotilla should get more notice as it opens to the public, at Watkins, from 11 to 6 on Friday through Sunday, September 14-16. I wouldn’t miss it. Maybe I’ll see you there.

Color Quest — Fall in the Finger Lakes

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Fall in the northeast… fall in the Finger Lakes, no less! Take it from a guy who used to live in Vermont, and loved it; our autumn colors are just as good as theirs.
It’s always hard to recommend good places for peeping at leaves, because the vista varies from day to day, even hour to hour. It even depends on how the sun is shining (or isn’t).
I’m hearing that our “peak” this year was a week or so back. But some trees are still green today! So peak even varies from tree to tree. You never know what you’re going to find, or where you’re going to find it. Some residential streets in Bath and Dansville are gorgeous just now. And one of the most spectacular displays I’ve EVER seen was on Victor Road near Fairport, right by Lollypop Farms – and that, as I recall, was mostly because of the brush, not the trees.
So what the heck, I’ll take the plunge, and suggest some places where I’ve found terrific foliage over the years.

Foliage Villages
In our region, I’ve found two villages where a stroll can deliver really memorable foliage – Hammondsport, and Honeoye Falls. In both places you can wander around on sidewalks, at your own pace, without worrying about you or somebody else being a distracted driver. Hammondsport, of course, gives you the great wall of that wooded cliff looming over town – a gigantic palette – plus the lake, and the colors of the distant shore. But Honeoye Falls also has that wonderful waterfall on the Honeoye Creek, right in the heart of the village. Both places are worth a walk.

View From a Height
At least three high places in our region offer breathtaking views regardless of season, made more magnificent in the fall.
*Mossy Bank Park, near Bath. The lookout here gives a great vista of the village right below, of miles along the Conhocton River and its surroundings to the west, and for a good distance northward to the heights that hide Keuka Lake. And once you’ve surfeited yourself at the lookout, you can walk along the trails in the park.
*Harris Hill, outside Big Flats. At the lookout here you get a great view for several miles of the Chemung River, and the Flats, plus there’s always the chance a sailplane will take off or land right over you. Then you can walk in Harris Hill Park, or in nearby Tanglewood Nature Center.
*Ontario County Park, outside Naples. The lookout at the dramatic “jump off” point gives a staggering view. Add fall colors, and it’s especially impressive. Once again, you’ve then got the park trails to pursue, including the Bristol Hills Trail.

State Parks
I’ve found three of our area state parks to be especially fruitful for fall foliage.
*Stony Brook Park, near Dansville. For some unfathomable reason this park is overlooked and underappreciated. Sometimes you’ll find a yellow wood as you make your way along the brook.
*Watkins Glen State Park in Watkins Glen. If you haven’t been for a while – what’s keeping you? I can almost guarantee you’ll experience parts of it that you’ll swear you’ve never seen before.
*Letchworth State Park, near Mount Morris. To all those fall colors add that great cleft in the earth, and the spectacular falls. What more needs to be said?Top that, Vermont.

A Walk in the Woods
I’ve had really good fall experiences in three places that stand out in my memory.
*Sanford Lake in Moss Hill State Forest, near Savona. Fall brings a lovely bleak beauty to the lake, with its few odd restless waterfowl taking suspicious wing. One trail crosses a little tributary to Mud Creek right by an old beaver dam. I’ve often got the place to myself this time of year.
*Bully Hill State Forest, near Almond. One sunny October afternoon I enjoyed a wonderful walk from Karr Road to Bully Hill Road and back, along the Finger Lakes Trail. The dry leaves crunched deliciously beneath my feet, and birds clicked and twittered along the way.
*Interloken Trail, outside Burdett. Last fall I walked this entire trail in five out-and-back stages. I walked from north to south, and so walked along with autumn. Every hike brought forth a new experience of fall.

Feed the Birds
Mendon Ponds Park, south of Pittsford can be glorious when you catch it right. Walking along a lane shadowed on both sides by long rows of maples, planted in days long gone by someone with confidence in the future, can be like walking through an explosion in the paint factory – or like walking in a stained-glass window. Bring some sunflower seeds along, and the songbirds will eat from your hand.

Any of these I’ve found to be great. But to be perfectly honest, all you’ve got to do for a great fall is to look out your window, or wander your neighborhood. Just really look, and you’re bound to be overwhelmed.