Introduction
State park in Castile, New York state, United States
Letchworth State Park
Waterfalls inside Letchworth state parkView of the Upper Falls and the Genesee Arch Bridge at Letchworth State ParkLocation of Letchworth State Park within New York StateTypeState parkLocationLivingston and Wyoming counties, New York, United StatesCoordinates42°38′5″N 77°59′0″W / 42.63472°N 77.98333°W / 42.63472; -77.98333Area14,427 acres (58.4 km2)Created1906; 120 years ago (1906)OperatorNew York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic PreservationVisitors644,441 (in 2014)OpenAll yearWebsiteLetchworth State Park
Letchworth State ParkU.S. National Register of Historic Places
ArchitectLetchworth, William P.; et al.; Bryant FlemingArchitectural styleGreek Revival, ItalianateNRHP reference No.03000718Added to NRHPNovember 4, 2005
Letchworth State Park is a 14,427-acre (5,838 ha) New York State Park located in Livingston and Wyoming Counties in western Upstate New York. The park is roughly 17 miles (27 km) long, following the course of the Genesee River as it flows north through a deep gorge and over several large waterfalls. It is located 35 miles (56 km) southwest of Rochester and 60 miles (97 km) southeast of Buffalo, and spans portions of the Livingston County towns of Leicester, Mount Morris and Portage, as well as the Wyoming County towns of Castile and Genesee Falls.
In 1859, Buffalo industrialist William Pryor Letchworth (1823–1910) began purchasing land near the Middle Falls, and started construction of his Glen Iris Estate. In 1906 he bequeathed the 1,000-acre (4 km2) estate to New York, which soon after became the core of the newly created Letchworth State Park. The park prominently features three large waterfalls – the Upper, Middle, and Lower Falls – on the Genesee River, which flows within a deep gorge that winds through the park. The rock walls of the gorge, which rise up to 550 feet (170 m) in places, prompted the area's reputation as the "Grand Canyon of the East".
Features and activities
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View of Middle Falls at Letchworth State Park
Map of Letchworth State Park and surrounding area.
Park entrances are located near Mount Morris, Perry, Castile and Portageville. A paved two or three-lane road follows the west side of the gorge, allowing many scenic viewpoints for the geologic features.
The park includes pavilions, picnic tables, playgrounds, 66 miles (106 km) of hiking trails, two large swimming pools, cabins, campsites for tents, trailer sites with dumping stations, and horse-riding trails. Activities within the park include hiking, biking, fishing, whitewater rafting and kayaking, geocaching, and hunting (wild turkey and deer when in season). During the winter, the park facilitates snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, snow tubing, and horse-drawn sleighs. Hot air ballooning is available at the park, weather permitting.
In 2015, Letchworth State Park won USA Today's Reader's Choice competition as the best state park in the United States. In 2020 the park topped a similar list.
Waterfalls and geology[edit]
Lower Falls and stone footbridge at Letchworth State Park
Within the park, there are three large waterfalls on the Genesee River and as many as 50 waterfalls found on tributaries that flow into it; the deep gorge formed by the river, with rock walls rising up to 550 feet (170 m) in places and which narrow to 400 feet (120 m) across above the middle of the three falls, prompted the area's reputation as the "Grand Canyon of the East". The three major waterfalls — called the Upper, Middle, and Lower Falls — are located in Portage Canyon, the southern section of the park. The only trail bridging the Genesee River in the park crosses a stone bridge just below the Lower Falls. The Middle Falls is the highest, and the Upper Falls has a recently built (2017) active Norfolk Southern Railway arch bridge crossing immediately above it, replacing a historic 1875 Erie Railroad bridge.
The park also contains Inspiration Falls, a ribbon waterfall that is located on a tributary creek a short distance east of the Inspiration Point Overlook, 0.4 miles (640 m) west of the park visitor center. It has a total drop of 350 feet (110 m). While impressive in its height, it is seasonal and often appears as only a water stain on the cliff. The falls faces to the south-southwest and has a crest that is one foot (300 mm) wide.
View of the Genesee River and gorge
The bedrock exposed in the gorge is Devonian in age, mostly shales, with some layers of limestone and sandstone. The rock was laid down in an ancient inland sea, and it holds many marine fossils. The landform of the section of the Genesee River valley represented by the park is geologically very young, caused by a diversion of the river from the old valley by the last continental glacier, which forced the river to cut a new section of valley.
Historic sites and museums[edit]
The historic, restored Glen Iris Inn, William Pryor Letchworth's former residence adapted for use as a hotel, is located on the top of a cliff overlooking Middle Falls and offers in-season meals and overnight accommodations. It is open to the public for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The park is the present-day site of the grave of Mary Jemison, a Scots-Irish immigrant pioneer who was captured at the age of 12 from central Pennsylvania by a French and Shawnee raiding party during the French and Indian War. She was soon adopted by a family of Seneca people, and eventually lived in western New York on the Genesee River. She became thoroughly assimilated and chose to live with the Seneca for the rest of her long life, having a total of seven children by two successive husbands. Her remains were exhumed from the Buffalo Creek Reservation and reinterred on the grounds of a Seneca Council House, relocated to the site by Letchworth and rededicated in 1872.
The park also features the William Pryor Letchworth Museum, which was founded with the collections of the park's founder. The exhibits focus on the natural and cultural history of the Genesee Valley, and include archaeological artifacts of the Seneca nation, and displays on Mary Jemison, early pioneers, the Genesee Valley Canal and William Pryor Letchworth.
The Humphrey Nature Center opened in 2016. Operated year-round by New York State, the 5,000-square-foot (460 m2) sustainable building features classrooms and meeting rooms, a research lab, a butterfly garden, and connections to various trails.
Mount Morris Dam[edit]
Mount Morris Dam
Main article: Mount Morris Dam
Construction of the Mount Morris Dam, at the north end of the park, was begun in 1948 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers under the Flood Control Act of 1944, and completed in 1954. The Genesee River became wider and deeper immediately upstream as a result, but areas downstream were spared yearly flooding which destroyed valuable farmland.
The Mount Morris Dam is the largest flood control device of its kind (concrete gravity) east of the Mississippi River. It is 1,028 feet (313 m) in length and rises 230 feet (70 m) from the riverbed. The dam proved its worth during the Flood of 1972, saving thousands of acres of farmland and the city of Rochester from flooding.
Portage Viaduct[edit]
Upper Falls with a train passing over the old Portage Viaduct
Main article: Portage Viaduct
The Portage Viaduct (1875) was an iron Erie Railroad bridge located upstream and within view of the park's Upper Falls. The bridge was 820 feet (250 m) long and 240 feet (73 m) high. Although walking on the structure was considered trespassing, visitors to the park commonly disregarded warning signs in order to view the gorge from the bridge, despite the safety concerns associated with walking on an active railroad bridge.
On November 29, 2011, Norfolk Southern Railway announced plans to demolish the Portage Viaduct and build a new bridge approximately 75 feet (23 m) to the south of the 1875 structure. Norfolk Southern had offered the old bridge to the State of New York, but the offer was declined due to a lack of available funds to convert the bridge into an observation platform. A steel arch design was approved for the bridge's replacement in late 2014, at an estimated cost of $71 million. The project was completed in late 2017. New train-activated gates at both ends of the new bridge now keep trespassing tourists off it when no approaching freight train is present.
