Long
Weekend Getaway
Located in Central New York State, there are 29
parks stretching around the Finger Lakes. The most popular are the ones in the
Ithaca area. The town of Ithaca is a good central point for staying overnight.
There are plenty of lodgings and restaurants along the Route 13. There are over
100 waterfalls within 10 square miles of downtown. To see the parks listed below, at least a three day weekend is recommended.
The Finger
Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow roughly east-west lakes. The
lakes’ shapes reminded early map-makers of human fingers, and the name stuck.
Cayuga and Seneca lakes are among the deepest in the US, with their bottoms
well below sea level. Cayuga Lake is the longest and Seneca Lake (middle
finger) is the largest in total area.
The Finger Lakes Region is dominated by sparkling
lakes, breathtaking waterfalls and rolling pastoral land. Over thousands of
years, gigantic glaciers and coursing streams carved this landscape.
Located a short distance southwest of Cayuga Lake, Robert H. Treman State Park is one of
29 facilities of the Finger Lakes State Parks Region. This
park features a spectacular gorge with rocky and wooded sections, home to the
115-foot (35m) Lucifer Falls.
The Nature of the surrounding parks.
Water has shaped the natural landscape of the park. During the past million
years, water in the form of giant sheets of ice, or glaciers, covered New York
State several times, dramatically transforming the land in its path. In this
region, the most recent glacier moved through shallow river valleys leaving in
its place deep, steep-sided troughs. When the glacier receded north about
10,000 years ago, water filled these new troughs, creating the 11 Finger Lakes
which include Cayuga Lake. (Continue at the nature of each individual park).
The Nature of Robert H. Treman Park.
Since then, water in the form of Enfield Creek has poured down the
glacially-steepened hillside, cutting away its soft sedimentary rock. This
on-going process has formed the park’s gorge and spectacular waterfalls. This
park’s gorge landscape is unique among State Parks. It is actually a
combination of an ‘old’ and ‘new’ gorge. At the end of the most recent ice age,
debris from the melting glacier filled in a pre-existing gorge. As you hike
through the wide and wooded two-mile section of the lower gorge trail, you will
be in the ‘old’ gorge, unearthed by Enfield Creek since the end of the last ice
age. As you reach the narrow, rocky ¼ mile (0.4 km) section near the upper
park, you will be in the ‘new’ gorge. The ‘new’ gorge was created when the
creek rerouted its path and carved through hillside bedrock, instead of
continuing to unearth the ‘old’ gorge. The cool, moist and shaded environment
of the glen supports a rich variety of ferns, mosses and wildflowers as well as
trees and shrubs.
People and Robert H. Treman.
The park’s scenic landscape and access to water power have attracted people for
over 300 years. Before the coming of the European settlers, the area around
Cayuga Lake was inhabited by Cayuga Indians, one of the Six Nations of the
Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) in New York. During the Revolutionary War, the
Cayugas, allies of the British, were partially driven from the area by the
Continental Army. Indian trails once crossed through the park in several
places. White settlers moved into the area during the 1790’s and began farming.
Many of the gorges had suitable sites for water mills. In this park, Isaac
Rumsey built a water-powered gristmill and adjoining home in 1839. Corn and
wheat were ground at the mill until 1917. Restored in the mid-1920’s, you can
visit the ‘Old Mill’ in the upper section of the park. Interpretive panels
alongside its original machinery explain the workings of the mill. The mill
spurred the growth of an agricultural hamlet known as Enfield Falls. Displays
in the mill along with a brochure tell the story of the hamlet. In 1920, Robert
and Laura Treman donated 387 acres in Enfield Glen to the State, which
established the Enfield Glen Reservation. In 1924, the reservation came under
the newly formed Finger Lakes State Parks Commission. Robert Treman was the
first chairman of the commission. Upon his death in 1938, the park was remaned
in his memory. Since then, the park’s area has increased to 1074 acres (435
ha).
Located a short distance southwest of Cayuga Lake,
there is another breath-taking park – Buttermilk
Falls State Park. This park features five trails that wander through a
remarkable variety of landscapes. Gorge Trail takes you along spectacular
Buttermilk Creek, dropping from 1000 to 400 feet above sea level and plunging
through a gorge down the eastern slope of the Cayuga Valley at the southern
edge of the City of Ithaca.
The Nature of Buttermilk Falls.
Since then, water in the form of Buttermilk Creek has poured down the
glacially-steepened hillside, cutting away its soft sedimentary rock. This
on-going process has formed the park’s gorge and spectacular waterfalls.
People and Buttermilk Falls. During the 1700’s
Tutelo Indians lived in the Cayuga Valley in a village called Coreorgonel, not
far from Buttermilk Falls, where cultivated fields and plum and apple orchards
surrounded twenty-five log cabins. The inhabitants of Coreorgonel fled before the
Continental Army burned the town on September 4, 1779, during the Revolutionary
War. A number of water-powered mills existed along Buttermilk Creek in the
early settlement years. In the 1800’s, there was a mill near Buttermilk Falls.
Van Orman’s Dam was built in the gorge in 1878 and supplied water to the city
of Ithaca until 1903. In the upper park, Scott’s Dam was built in 1875 for a
flour mill. The dam and the mill’s foundation still exist today. Between 1912
and 1920, the movie industry flourished in Ithaca. The area’s gorges were
backdrops for many films. Segments of Perils
of Pauline were filmed in Buttermilk Glen. In 1924, Robert and Laura Treman
donated 154 acres in Buttermilk Glen to the State of New York for a state park.
Since then, the park has grown to 792 acres.
Located on Cayuga Lake’s western shore, spreads
impressive Taughannock Falls State Park.
This park features a 215-foot vertical waterfall (65m) at the end of a wide and
wooded ¾ mile (1.2 km) gorge, scenic woodland and a large span of shoreline
along Cayuga Lake.
The Nature of Taughannock Falls. Since then, water
in the form of Taughannock Creek has poured down Cayuga Lake’s glacially-steepened
hillside, cutting away its soft sedimentary rock. This on-going process has
formed Taughannock’s ¾ mile gorge and spectacular waterfall.
People and Taughannock Falls. The first known people
to experience Taughannock were the Cayuga Indians. The name they gave the
falls, Taughannock is believed to mean ‘great falls in the woods.’ Records note
the Cayugas grew corn, beans, apples and peaches in a village on Taughannock
Point, the day-use area of the park today. In the late 1770’s, American Revolutionary
War soldiers marched through the area on a campaign to destroy villages of the
Cayugas, allies to the British. The settlement on Taughannock Point apparently
escaped detection, although its inhabitants fled before the soldiers arrived.
As payment for his service in the Revolutionary War, Samuel Wayburn was given
the land of Taughannock Point. Shortly after building himself a log cabin, a
distillery, grist mill and successful general store were built. This community
became the most frequent stop for steamboats on Cayuga Lake and flourished
until the late 1830’s. There was another industrial center at the park’s west
end. Over time, a stone quarry, planning mill, hydroelectric plant, gun
factory, oil mill, flax mill and tobacco house were located there. Starting in
1873, the railroad ran through Taughannock, sparking the tourism era. Summer
vacationers disembarked at the station located at the west end of the gorge
tostay at one of two resort hotels. The Taughannock House was located wehre the
Falls Overlook parking lot is today. Directly across the gorge from there was
the Cataract House. By 1905, the two hotels declined in use. The Taughannock
House burned in 1922, and three years later the property was purchased for use
as a public park. Most of the structures in the park today were built during
the 1930’s when park staff had help from the Civilian Conservation Corps.
Located short distance southwest of Seneca Lake (at
Route 14), Watkins Glen State Park
is the most famous of the Finger Lakes State Parks, with a reputation for
leaving visitors spellbound. Within two miles, the glen’s stream descends 400
feet past 200-foot cliffs, generating 19 waterfalls along its course. The gorge
path winds over and under waterfalls and through the spray of Cavern Cascade.
Rim trails overlook the gorge.
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