Genesee Valley Greenway

On Sunday, April 8,2018, eleven hikers enjoyed a hike on the Genesee Valley Greenway into Letchworth Park. Although we had blowing snow both when we left home and when we returned home after the hike, the hike itself was snow free, with mostly draw trail, and lots of interesting things to obverse along the route.

There were several placards providing the history of the Genesee Valley Canal and Railroad.

Starting at Oakland Road, there were two trails. We took the canal’s old towpath. The railroad bed was a few hundred feet farther up the hill at this point. And the road is right next to the old canal.

After a few locks, the trail rejoined the railroad bed. Here we all are at the top of the ramp from the canal towpath to the rail bed.

Look at the stone work in this lock. Remember, this was built between 1850 and 1862.

Sometimes it’s the natural world that catches the camera.

Canal history article (Westside News, June 3, 2002)

Friends of Genesee Valley Greenway (FOGVG) some years back (June 15, 2002) sponsored two guided interpretive hikes of eastern Letchworth State Park, including some info about the geology of the area and info about Genesee Valley Canal of long ago.  A June 3, 2002 article about these hikes ran in the Westside News (a newspaper of Spencerport and perhaps some other outlying western suburbs of Rochester).  The article contents are here:

Canal history focus of two Greenway Walks

Two of the area’s most well known and respected canal historians will both be leading walks on the Genesee Valley Greenway within Letchworth State Park on the afternoon of Saturday, June 15. Each event will focus on a separate aspect of the history of the Genesee Valley Canal which played a major role in the development of western New York and transported passengers, agricultural products, gypsum, lumber, and manufactured goods from 1840 to 1878 between the Erie Canal in Rochester and the Allegany River near Olean.

At 2 p.m., Dave Kipp, Genesee Valley Canal historian, and author of Locking the Heights: The Rise and Demise of the Genesee Valley Canal, will share his extensive knowledge of the canal’s history during a walk along the canal towpath next to stone canal locks #54 to 60. The locks are located within the one-mile section of Genesee Valley Greenway between Oakland and Short Tract Roads in the Town of Portage and are visible from Route 436 between Nunda and Portageville . This series of seven locks is the best preserved of 17 locks built to negotiate the change in elevation between the Keshequa Creek Valley in Nunda and the glacial moraine in Portage. This walk will begin at the Greenway’s Oakland Road parking area, located at the intersection of Oakland Road and Route 436, 1.5 miles west of Nunda .

At 3:30 p.m., Tom Grasso , Genesee Valley Canal historian and lecturer and president of the Canal Society of New York State, will lead a two-mile walk along the former canal towpath (now Genesee Valley Greenway ) from the Letchworth State Park Parade Grounds to the famous Slide Area and Portage Hill Tunnel. Grasso , a geologist, will explain how the land forms and geology of the area challenged and directed the efforts of canal builders. Grasso will describe how the Slide Area was formed and why it created never-ending maintenance expenditures for canal and railroad operators. Grasso will also discuss the tunnels envisioned and started by the canal builders, the pinning of the canal to the top of the gorge walls, and the means chosen to cross an ancient river bed. The walk will begin at the Letchworth State Park Parade Grounds parking lot on the east side of the park.

After the walks, the Friends of the Genesee Valley Greenway will host a silent auction, chicken barbecue and barn dance at Ravenwood Farms, located one-half mile north of Route 436 at 9174 Short Tract Road in the Town of Portage. Short Tract Road is 2.5 miles west of Nunda . 

An historic 1919 report of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, transmitted to the NYS Legislature in April 1920.

Each year the Society published an annual report reviewing activities in each of the parks and historical sites they oversaw.  One such report was the 25th annual report, which contains a interesting look at the young Letchworth State Park.  The Society operated Letchworth State Park from the time of William Prior Letchworth’s death, (December 1, 1910) until 1930.  Letchworth had gifted the park in 1907 to NYS, subject only to his life use and tenancy.

You and Membership in Springwater Trails

Updated May 29, 2017

On June 2013, Springwater Trails was officially incorporated in New York State. With guidance from John Vogel, our lawyer in Dansville, and the cooperation of the 2012 and 2013 board members, this process turned out to be quite easy.

Our primary mission as a corporation is to create, identify, protect and promote hiking trails in the Springwater area. 

If you would like to make a cash contribution to Springwater Trails, please purchase a Membership in Springwater Trails today. For a contribution of $20 ($30 for a family) you will know you are supporting the blazing of the Springwater Trail and the publishing of our seasonal Hiking brochure. To buy a membership for 2019, please complete the form below and mail it and a check payable to Springwater Trails, to

Springwater Trails, Inc
Membership 2020
PO Box 162
Springwater, NY 14560

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Contributing Member*     ____________ $100
* Contributing Members are listed on our website.  Please write the name to appear if different from the name above.
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