Watkins Glen State Park is in the village of Watkins Glen, south of Seneca Lake in Schuyler County in New York's Finger Lakes region. The park's lower part is near the village, while the upper part is open woodland. It was first opened to the public in 1863 and has been a public park since 1906.

The centerpiece of the park is a narrow gorge cut through rock by Glen Creek, a stream that was left hanging when glaciers of the Ice age deepened the Seneca valley, increasing the tributary stream gradient to create rapids and waterfalls wherever there were layers of hard rock. In addition to the gorge itself, the park is widely known for the manmade stone walls and arched bridges spanning the length of the glen.

History

Private attraction

left|thumb|[[Stereoscope image showing an early staircase at Watkins Glen]]

Prior to the late 19th century, Watkins Glen had been best known locally, with little outside awareness. That changed in 1863, when Morvalden Ells, a Vermont newspaper editor, opened the site to the public. Ells had crude wooden bridges, stairs, and railings built to make the gorge navigable for middle-class tourists. He also named the various sections of the gorge to help market the varying views found within.

Activities and services

The park features three trails, open from mid-May to early November, by which one can climb or descend the gorge. The Southern Rim and Indian Trails run along the gorge's wooded rim, while the Gorge Trail is closest to the stream and runs over, under and along the park's 19 waterfalls by way of stone bridges and more than 800 stone steps. The trails connect to the Finger Lakes Trail, an system of trails within New York state.

The park has camping sites, as well as picnic tables and pavilions, food, playground, a gift shop, pool, dump stations, showers, recreation programs, tent and trailer sites, fishing, hiking, hunting and cross-country skiing. The daily parking fee is $10 per car. The park is open year-round, but not all facilities are available at all times.

Facilities and structures

The state park has featured numerous structures since its founding. In 1912, the Entrance Pavilion was constructed near the north entrance. This Arts and Crafts-style building features embedded glazed tiles and terracotta ornamentation, and was originally roofed with red Ludowici clay tiles. It has undergone extensive renovations and currently houses restrooms and a gift shop.

A 1923 restroom and picnic shelter called the South Pavilion was designed in the "parkitecture" style, and featured a split-faced limestone façade with minimal ornamentation compared to the Entrance Pavilion. Unlike the earlier structures at the park, which incorporated natural materials, this building was designed in a modern style primarily using glass and metal. The movement of glaciers from the Laurentide and Wisconsin ice sheets shaped the Finger Lakes region. The lakes originated as a series of northward-flowing streams. Around two million years ago the first of many continental glaciers of the Laurentide Ice Sheet moved southward from the Hudson Bay area, initiating the Pleistocene glaciation. These glaciers widened, deepened and accentuated the existing river valleys. Glacial debris, possibly including terminal moraines, left behind by the receding ice acted as dams, allowing lakes to form. Despite the deep erosion of the valleys, the surrounding uplands show little evidence of glaciation, suggesting that the ice was thin, or at least unable to cause much erosion at these higher altitudes. The deep cutting of the valleys by the ice left some tributaries hanging high above the lakes: both Seneca and Cayuga have tributaries hanging as much as above the valley floors.

One such hanging valley, overlooking the south end of the Seneca Lake valley, evolved into the deep gorge of Watkins Glen. The steep drop of Glen Creek into Seneca Valley created a powerful torrent that eroded the underlying rock, cutting further and further back towards the stream's headwaters. This erosion was not a uniform process: the rock here includes shale, limestone, and sandstone, and these types of rock erode at different rates, leaving behind a staircase of waterfalls, cascades, plunge pools, and potholes. Watkins Glen State Park now encompasses nineteen waterfalls spaced along a trail roughly long.

See also

  • List of New York state parks

References

  • New York State Parks: Watkins Glen State Park
  • Watkins Glen