Southern Tier Driving - what did we miss? (Buffalo, Rochester: low income, mortgages)

[marence]

My husband & I took a driving trip this weekend, partially following the route we found in an old 1939 Triptik. We drove a crazy backroads route from Dunkirk to Olean, paralleled 86/17 on other backroads, and then followed 417, our actual intended route, which was old 17 in 1939.
We're actually scouting locations for a documentary on old highways and will be doing more traveling in the spring in NY state.
We're looking specifically for towns or attractions that were impacted by the interstates - places that closed because travelers used the interstates instead of highways, towns where the lack of tourism caused the local economy to dry up, or places that haven't felt the stamp of progress (strip malls, Walmarts, and chain fast food).
We found Salamanca, Olean, Angelica (really charming! has it changed since 1939?), and numerous towns that were seemingly just a handful of trailers; what did we miss in the Southern Tier?

[ckhthankgod]

Another Route to take is Route 20. It has nice towns like Cazenovia, Hamilton(nearby), Morrisville, Skaneateles, Seneca Falls, Waterloo, Richfield Springs and West Winfield, among others.

[ki0eh]

US 20 in eastern upstate, perhaps most notably from east of Cazenovia to around Duanesburg, seems to have had quite a number of early auto-era attractions that survived barely into the 1970's or early 80's but then closed up - like the Auto Museum in Bridgewater - without sprawl to replace them. Passes through Richfield Springs and near Sharon Springs that hearken back to the pre-auto tourist era. I haven't seen near as much nostalgia for US 20 as for the Lincoln Highway, but in a search right now I see at least one person is trying: usroute20ny.com

But moving back to the Western Southern Tier of NY, Avoca is twice bypassed by US-now-NY 15 and I-309 just north of the 17and seemingly surviving in a time warp, just a little far enough from both Elmira and Rochester to keep some of its local trade.

Possibly an illustration of this process beginning is along US 15 through Tioga County, PA and extending a bit into NY. Lawrenceville, at the PA/NY border, just had its bypass open. Tioga (speaking here of the Borough of Tioga) has been bypassed longer and much more dried up. Covington hasn't been bypassed as long as Tioga but longer than Lawrenceville.

[ckhthankgod]

Routes 11, 9, 15, 5, 12, 8, 104, 31 and 26, among others in the state probably have a similar situation in parts of those routes.

[Minathebrat]

Wellsville gives me the impression of a town that is too far off the current interstate to really thrive today, but you can tell that it wasn't always so. You say that the 417 used to be a more important road once upon a time? Wellsville is on the 417, so that makes sense.

[Krisps]

Route 394 parallels I86 from Jamestown to Steamburg. In between is the village of Randolph which has become pretty well isolated since I86. It's a nice little town, pretty much known now for its Amish population nearby. Head up north of Randolph into the Conewango Valley and it's Amish country... very much worth visiting. Not only a nice place to visit, but a great source of skilled craftsmen able to do custom work for very reasonable prices.

[marence]

Thanks for the replies.
We're already familiar with US 20 from Buffalo west to Chicago; our first trip from Cleveland to Chicago on 20 actually inspired the documentary, and we've done some filming runs along those parts.
The next segment of the triptik takes us up 14 to US 20 east to Boston, and I'm aware of the string of towns on 20 north of the Finger Lakes - I hear there's lots of abandoned structures like auto courts and roadside attractions. We're planning that part of the trip for spring.
My husband wants to take another trip to Seneca Allegany, so we'll be driving the Southern Tier again before that, and I was hoping to scout some more areas near there. I'll be looking into your suggestions, and would appreciate any more, especially abandoned attractions or repurposed ones - like an old school being used as a theatre, or an abandoned depot being used as a museum. Thanks again.

[Finger Laker]

if you are looking at places along what is now I86 (formerly 17) I think most of the towns that were readily served by routes like 417 and 415 were services pretty well by 86/17

i don't know of many that dried up because of the freeway effect ... it's not like some of the old route 66 towns here in AZ that dried up as soon as I-40 came through

not sure how much traffic they get on those southern tier roads to really be impacted .... the towns that have truck stops, food and lodging are still servicing the new roads for the most part

maybe there would be more luck looking at towns along the 5 that were impacted by the thruway?!

if you pick up the 417 at Salamanca it pretty much hugs I86 through Allegheny and Olean ... as such I wouldn't expect much of an impact from the interstate there

i'm not super familiar with the area, but it seems like the best bet would be around portville, bolivar, richburg ..... i know wellsville a little bit and nothing stands out there

there are towns like woodhull which I don't think ever were that much

I don't think addison was ever really a roadstop type town either and it's still fairly well served to the 86/17 by the 15

I'm much more familiar with the 415, but that pretty much hugs the 390 and 86/17

what you'll find in places like bath and avoca are old motor lodges and roadside buildings that are now pretty much low income housing, abandoned or put to different use along with a lot of old gas stations (i still miss the hopkins dairy that used to be in bath, one of which was combined with a gas station on the 415 on the way to savona)

if you are looking for old depots, etc you may want to look into some of the old railroad towns and lines ... i know there are still the old stops in places like cohocton and atlanta .... baths is tucked away and still a little more active, but it's there

B&H Rail Corporation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

if you don't mind hiking the keuka lake outlet trail is kind of nice - there are some old buildings from when they used to run the lock systems out there

Keuka Lake Outlet Trail

[Krisps]

Other mentions... there's a "rock city" a little south of Olean, one of those sites with huge boulders which are pretty numerous in that part of NY and PA, I think it was a larger tourist attraction decades ago.... Cuba cheese shop is a big attraction, best quality cheddar I know of... there's a village on the banks of the Genesee river somewhere, it's called Genesee or Little Genesee, I can't remember. It's an interesting little village, looks like it was once a mini tourist spot but now looks nearly deserted.

[dcisive]

Oh you all are bringing back some real memories. My dad told me endless stories of growing up in Mt. Morris in the 30's and 40's. Having relatives in Dansville until their passing in the late 90's also involved many a trip until they all passed away in the late 90's. I remember a story regarding the passenger trains that ran between Buffalo and Dansville with a station at Groveland (still called Groveland Station but the station is long gone) along old Rte 63. It just feels historic when you're on that road. As a child I can still remember the old Rte. 36 that went from Mt. Morris to Dansville before I-390 was constructed. The stories about the Tuscarora Indian reservation and the Sonja (pronounced Sahn Yay) mental hospital. Or the big flood that occured in Mt. Morris causing them to build the now renowned Mt. Morris Dam prior to Letchworth State Park. The old Glen Iris Inn which as a child we had lunches there when visiting relatives in the area. I was always so in awe of the place. The stories how they held dances at Conesus Lake during the 30's and 40's. In Dansville there was a Coke bottling plant that used water from the lake, and I gotta tell ya, it was the best tasting Coke I ever drank.

No story was more profound than the one he told me how during the depression, when many were losing their homes, his uncle, a well known scrap iron business owner who was quite successful, bought the failing mortgages for a good number of homeowners he knew in Mt. Morris, and allowed them to remain in their homes paying back as they could in the future. My dad had many good friends back then in Mt. Morris which was virtually all Italian for the most part. Things of course are much changed now. But his stories of the area were priceless. He told me of a old fresh water spring that sprung from the hill from what is now SR36 just North of the river outside of town. It was called "White Woman Spring" and he said the water coming from it back then was amazingly pure and they often drank from it to refresh themselves in the summer. He also hung out with a guy that worked for a canning factory in town, and on lunch breaks would get all the fresh steamed corn on the cob they could eat. They just brought the stick of butter Indeed those must have been the days. I applaud your traveling the back roads trying to capture the essence of what once was. Glad I had a chance to see some of it before it changed as well.