Catharine Valley Trail is a
state park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...
and recreation trail located in
Schuyler Schuyler may refer to:
Places United States
* Schuyler County, Illinois
* Schuyler County, Missouri
* Schuyler, Nebraska, a city
* Schuyler County, New York
* Schuyler, New York, a town
* Schuyler Island, Lake Champlain, New York
* Schuyler Creek ...
and
Chemung counties,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
.
The park is located near
Watkins Glen State Park
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 opened to the public ...
and maintained by its staff,
as well as by volunteers.
[
]
Description
The park encompasses a recreation trail that follows abandoned railroad grade
Grading in civil engineering and landscape architectural construction is the work of ensuring a level base, or one with a specified slope, for a construction work such as a foundation, the base course for a road or a railway, or landscape and ga ...
s and canal towpath
A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport ...
s between Watkins Glen and Horseheads
Horseheads is a town in Chemung County, New York, United States. The population was 19,412 at the 2020 census. The name of the town is derived from the number of bleached horses' skulls once found there.
Horseheads is north of the city of Elmi ...
. The trail is level and finished with crushed limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
, and is wheelchair-accessible.[ The trail is open year-round, and allows for walking, biking, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing.][
As of 2016, of the trail are open to the public, with plans for the trail to grow to in length.][
]
History
Catharine Valley is named for Catherine Montour Catharine Montour, also known as Queen Catharine (died after 1791), was a prominent Iroquois leader living in ''Queanettquaga,'' a Seneca village of ''Sheaquaga'', informally called Catharine's Town, in western New York. She has often been confused ...
, a prominent Seneca
Seneca may refer to:
People and language
* Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname
* Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America
** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people
Places Extrat ...
leader who died in the late eighteenth century.Chemung Canal
The Chemung Canal is a former canal in New York, United States. The canal connected Seneca Lake at Watkins Glen to the Chemung River at Elmira, New York. It was planned to connect the Finger Lakes region and Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River wat ...
, which was completed in 1830 and closed in 1878. Much of the trail's remainder follows the defunct Chemung Railroad Chemung may refer to places in the United States:
;Illinois
*Chemung, Illinois
*Chemung Township, McHenry County, Illinois
;New York
*Chemung Canal, a former canal connecting Seneca Lake at Watkins Glen to the Chemung River at Elmira
*Chemung Cana ...
, which was built parallel to the canal in 1850. The land that became the park was donated to the in 1997 by Ed Hoffman, a local resident who had worked toward the creation of the park since the 1970s.[
The first mile of the trail was opened in 2000.]
See also
* Catharine Creek
Catharine Creek is a roughly stream that flows through Chemung and Schuyler counties in New York. The creek, named after Catharine Montour, is a major tributary to Seneca Lake.
Course
While the other waterways of Chemung County are part of ...
* List of New York state parks
This is a list of state parks in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Also listed are state golf courses, seasonal hunting areas, and ''former'' state parks.
In New York, state parks are managed by the New York State Office of Parks, Re ...
* Rail trail
A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...
References
External links
New York State Parks: Catharine Valley Trail
Catharine Valley Trail map
State parks of New York (state)
Parks in Chemung County, New York
Parks in Schuyler County, New York
{{SchuylerCountyNY-geo-stub