Posing at Frowning Cliff

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Tony

Compare these two photos of Frowning Cliff and Glen Arcadia in Watkins Glen, taken at similar times in the 1800s, long before the state park was established (1906).

A man stands by Frowning Cliff with people on footbridges in the background in Glen Arcadia in the 1800s. Image courtesy of Bill Hecht.

Man at Frowning Cliff. Watkins Glen, historic

A man exhibits some mild machismo standing outside a railing similar to the one in the picture above, in the nearly the same location. Image courtesy of Bill Hecht

In the image below, you can see a wooden bridge, stairs, and railing in “Shadow Gorge,” just upstream from Rainbow Falls and downstream from Frowning Cliff. The current trail is on the opposite side of the gorge, cut into the cliff more than 100 years ago.

A huge hemlock tree has fallen across Shadow Gorge. Notice the other much larger tree standing at the upper right. These were undoubtedly old-growth timber at the time, very little of which survives today. Image courtesy of Bill Hecht.

Thanks again to Bill Hecht for these amazing old photos from stereographs!

George Washington and the Finger Lakes

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Tony

Though George Washington may never have visited the Finger Lakes region, he had great impact here.

Like many Indian nations along the colonial frontier, most of the Iroquois, who call themselves Haudenosaunee, ended up supporting the British during the Revolutionary War. Britain had made peace with many Indian nations following their victory in the French and Indian War. In addition, the Iroquois had been long-time, well-established allies of the British during the colonial period. And to many Iroquois, the presence of the British government was perceived as the only restraint on large numbers of illegal white settlers encroaching on Iroquois territory that spanned across what is now New York State.

Joseph Brant, Mohawk political and military leader during and after the Revolution

Though the Six Nations Confederacy of the Iroquois was officially neutral, those who chose to oppose the Americans, along with their British and Loyalist allies, carried out very effective attacks on the frontier in the Mohawk Valley and in Pennsylvania. They became such a drain on the Continental Army’s resources that George Washington sent an army under Generals John Sullivan and James Clinton to carry out a scorched earth policy in the Finger Lakes region and areas nearby.

Thousands of troops burned perhaps more than fifty Haudenosaunee towns and destroyed enormous stores of grain, orchards, and standing crops in the late summer of 1779. Though few had been killed outright, this devastation caused terrible hardship and starvation for the Haudenosaunee people. It is said that the invasion earned George Washington the nickname among the Iroquois as the “Town Destroyer” (though this term for him may have originated earlier).

The Continental Army burns the village of Coreorgonel in what is now Ithaca in September 1779. The town was occupied by Tutelo people, who had fled the British in Virginia in the 1750s and were taken in by the Cayugas of the Six Nations. Coreorgonel is now commemorated in the Town of Ithaca in Tutelo Park. Painting by Glenn Norris; image provided by the History Center of Tompkins County.

During Washington’s presidency in the 1790s, however, his image was rehabilitated among the Haudenosaunee. He was perceived as unusual among American leaders in taking stands to honor Iroquois territorial and national sovereignty. This culminated in the Treaty of Canandaigua in 1794, which gave official mutual recognition of national sovereignty between the Six Nations and the United States; a treaty, which, though violated at times, is still honored by both governments.

Boardwalk Bypass into the Glen

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Tony

In the 1800s, there were no tunnels in the gorge at Watkins Glen, before the state park. Instead, walkways made of wood were slung around cliff barriers. Today, you enter the Gorge Trail via the Entrance Tunnel, but long ago, this staircase (of which there were a number of editions over the years) bypassed the big stone buttress barring the way.

This wooden staircase led into Watkins Glen in the old days. Photo by William T. Purviance.

Although the scene changed over the years, when you looked back when this picture was taken you would have seen the little ticket house in the center of the picture. At one time, the fee was fifty cents, not much in today’s money but a lot for the average wage earner in those days.

Looking back from the Entrance Stairs at Watkins Glen

Looking back from the Entrance Stairs into the Entrance Amphitheatre in Watkins Glen in the 1800s. Photo by William T. Purviance

Wooden Stairs and Luxury in Watkins Glen

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Tony

Climbing up out of Watkins Glen over Cavern Cascade

Cover from a 19th century brochure about Watkins Glen

This illustration (scanned and provided by Bill Hecht; thank you, Bill!) provides us a look at the luxurious facilities at the scenic resort called Watkins Glen in the late 1800s. The only features that remain today are the waterfalls and the bridge across the gorge in the upper part of the picture. Built in the early 1870s, it was called the Iron Bridge, and is now called the Suspension Bridge, and is the only footbridge from rim to rim over the glen. On its right end is the “Swiss Chalet,” where meals and snacks were served and souvenirs were sold.

On the left, south, side of the bridge was the Glen Mountain House, a three-story hotel which is pictured in the inset. The long, tall waterfall on the right is Cavern Cascade. Today, you can walk behind this falls and ascend above via the Spiral Tunnel. Back then, you climbed the Long Stairs.

The path did not pass through the next section of the glen between the top of Cavern Cascade and the Glen Cathedral. Instead, it went to the Swiss Chalet and the hotel, passed along the gorge rim above “Glen Obscura,” and descended to Sylvan Gorge (now known as The Narrows).

I’m not sure of the location of the scene on the left side of the panel. Perhaps it is at the east end of Glen Cathedral where it enters The Narrows or Sylvan Gorge.

The photo below shows the Long Stairs and Cavern Cascade. You could walk behind the waterfall, but no farther as the tunnel had yet to be built. The nook behind the falls was known as “The Grotto.” The gorge here, now known as Cavern Gorge, was called Whirlwind Gorge back then.

This staircase bypassed Cavern Cascade in Watkins Glen.

The Long Stairs climbed past Cavern Cascade before the Spiral Tunnel was constructed by Watkins Glen State Park in the early 1900s.

Watkins Glen Then and Now: Frowning Cliff

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Tony

When the gorge now known as Watkins Glen first opened to the public in the 1860s, it was known as Freer’s Glen. Local judge George Freer acquired the glen when he married Samuel Watkins’s widow. It was renamed Watkins Glen by new owners by the 1870s. Photographer G. F. Gates began making stereographic photo cards of the glen even in those early days. In this photo from one such stereograph, we are looking at what is now known as the Frowning Cliff and Pluto Falls area, but had a number of names in the 1800s, including the Narrow Pass, Glen Difficulty, Spiral Gorge, and then Glen Arcadia, which seems to have persisted for a long time.

Notice the narrow footpath along the cliff on the right; and in the center is a log footbridge across Pluto Falls, only the top of which is barely visible. Image courtesy of Bill Hecht

Today, the viewing bridge over Pluto Falls is long gone, and a safe walled path and steps long ago replaced the narrow, treacherous route.

The same part of the glen today

When our Finger Lakes region was under the sea

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Tony

Most of our rocks in the Finger Lakes are sedimentary, or formed from sediments that, in our case, accumulated on the bottom of a sea. North America was very different when these rocks were mud. In fact, there was very little that was north about us then at all, as what is now the Finger Lakes was below the equator (my how things move around given 400 million years.).

What is now the Finger Lakes region was a sea basin collecting clay, silt, sand, gravel, salt, gypsum, and lime derived from ancient mountains to what is now our east. (Image from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eastern_North_American_Paleogeograpy_Middle_Devonian.png)

The Acadian Mountains, now almost completely gone, eroded into our sea and filled it up about 385 million years ago. Eventually the layers of clay, silt, sand, and lime solidified under pressure and became our rock layers of shale, siltstone, sandstone, and limestone.

New Title for this Blog!

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Tony

After giving a very satisfying illustrated talk at the Montour Falls Memorial Library this week about the geologic origins of the region, I have decided to expand the title of this blog. Though I live in Ithaca, my focus really is much broader, particularly ranging from Watkins Glen to Fillmore Glen. And I know and love all the Finger Lakes. So you will be seeing more about places outside of the Cayuga watershed here and about the region as a whole.
~Tony

Seeing Lucifer Falls in Winter

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Tony

Most big waterfalls in the Ithaca area are easy to see. You can marvel at Ithaca Falls from Lake Street or walk the short path into the gorge. You can drive to Taughannock Falls Overlook, and drive into the entrance of Buttermilk Falls State Park with the falls on your right. But 115-feet-high Lucifer Falls in Robert H. Treman State Park requires a walk along a trail, and in winter the Gorge Trail is closed due to ice and rockfall hazards. And in the past, the Rim Trail was closed in winter as well, so it was impossible to go see the big waterfall for several months of the year without trespassing on a closed trail.

Lucifer Falls in Robert H. Treman State Park near Ithaca, NY, in the Finger Lakes region during winter.

By walking a few hundred yards along the Rim Trail in upper Robert H. Treman State Park, you can see Lucifer Falls in the winter.

In recent years, however, the park has kept open the Rim Trail from its start in the upper park to the view of Lucifer. (From there on, from the top of Cliff Staircase the trail is closed.) And park staff recently constructed a new wooden footbridge over a spot that has iced up along the trail in the past.

Trail map for upper Robert H. Treman State Park

The Gorge Trail and the Red Pine Trail are closed, but the Rim Trail (yellow) is open from its beginning at the east end of the parking lot to the top of Cliff Staircase. (Map courtesy of Finger Lakes State Parks)

Check out my latest short episode ( 3 1/2 minutes) of Gorges TV to see and learn more about Lucifer Falls and the trails this time of year.

Ithaca College’s New Year’s Lights

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Tony

“Every New Year’s Eve, Ithaca College gives its neighbors the gift of a light show. In late December each year since 1965, 100-foot-high numerals in the Ithaca College East and West Towers have spelled out the last two digits of that year’s number in lights visible for miles around. At the stroke of midnight marking the new year, the lights change to that year’s numerals.” ~Ithaca College Quarterly, 2000.

From just about anywhere in ithaca, you can see the tall dormitory towers on the Ithaca College campus on South Hill.

Ithaca College dormitory towers from Cayuga Inlet

One of the most prominent landmarks in Ithaca is the pair of dormitory towers on the Ithaca College campus on South Hill.

Ithaca College's Towers as seen from behind

In years past when the Towers Restaurant was open, you could go have a meal while admiring one of the most impressive views of Cayuga Lake in the area, looking north from the top of one of the towers.

View of Ithaca and Cayuga Lake from the Towers Restaurant

In the week between Christmas and New Year’s, while the students are out of town, the college lights up dorm rooms to form the last two numerals of the year that is ending. These can be seen from all over town.

Ithaca College Towers just before New Years seen from Cass Park

Large lamps light up the windows of the Ithaca College dorm towers before New Years each year.

Up close, you can see that huge lamps are placed in each room.

At midnight, the lights change!

Ithaca College dorm towers on New Year's night, seen from Cornell.

The view of the IC Towers on January 1 from a parking garage at Cornell

Last year, I went onto campus just before midnight and videotaped the changing of the lights at midnight. As I was waiting, a group of Japanese students showed up to enjoy the show, and you can hear their conversation and exclamations in the soundtrack.

And now the current New Year has come!

Ithaca College Towers seen from Cornell New Year's

Ithaca College Towers seen from Cornell on January 1, 2012

Ithaca College Towers New Year lights seen from the IC campus

Winter Water

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Tony

Ice builds up at the base of the waterfall at Taughannock Falls State Park, near Ithaca, NY in the Finger Lakes region.

Taughannock Falls and its ice dome

In spite of the weird late October noreaster blizzard that swamped New England in the cold and dark for a week or more, this has been a warm year, according to the National Climate Data Center, with the seventh warmest land temperatures worldwide. Fortunately. here in the Finger Lakes, we were spared the blizzard (and Hurricane Irene, but not T.S. Lee). But winter is now officially starting. Most public gorge paths are closed now as long, thick icicles grow like stalactites on dripping cliffs and ice forms glassy flows over trail surfaces.

In the video below, that I made two winters ago, I take you into the gorges and to Cayuga Lake as winter progresses. See Buttermilk Falls covered with ice, ducks huddling among ice floes on Cayuga Lake, the huge ice dome at the base of Taughannock Falls, and the roar of a flood during a thaw in the gorge at Watkins Glen.

Gorge Guy

Exploring gorges and waterfalls in the Finger Lakes of New York