Our award-winning book about Watkins Glen

  New and updated ebook on Ithaca, NY

"The next best thing to being there." That's how I describe my national-award-winning book, A Walk through Watkins Glen-Water's Sculpture in Stone, a product of my 24 years as regional naturalist for the Finger Lakes State Parks.

This armchair guidebook interprets the natural and cultural history of Watkins Glen State Park in the Finger Lakes region of central New York State.

In these pages, you will explore the glen as if you were hiking on the Gorge Trail one and a half miles from the Main Entrance to the Upper Entrance. Through words and pictures, you’ll deepen your understanding and appreciation of this remarkable little canyon as you discover secrets of its rocks, water, plants, animals, and people. You’ll take an imaginary walk under mossy cliffs, behind waterfalls, past deep rock pools, through tunnels, and up hundreds of stone steps by rugged walls. You will see the glen at different times of the year, at different times in human history, and at different times in the history of the earth. The story will reveal to you how water created this craggy ravine, from its Ice Age origins to its erosion by Glen Creek. And you’ll see how differing recipes of sun, shade, temperature, and moisture produce varied and unusual plant communities. 

Your imaginary walk will continue on the rims of the gorge and upstream to the site of an old Civilian Conservation Corps camp. A chapter discusses changes in people’s relationship to the glen from before the Revolutionary War, to a mill stream, to a Victorian resort, to the state park. A final section explores the animals that live in the park. 

This book is not intended to be read while you are walking the trails, though you may choose to do so. There are excellent trailside exhibits that tell much of the story included here. Rather, this is an armchair or camp chair book to be read before or after the experience (or to be read by those who cannot walk the trails), which complements an actual trip through Watkins Glen.

The book is available at the gift shop at the state park, at Capt. Bill's Seneca Lake Cruises gift shop in the village of Watkins Glen, at the Schuyler County Historical Museum in Montour Falls, and at several stores in Ithaca (Autumn Leaves, Buffalo Street Books, Museum of the Earth, The Cornell Store, and the Ithaca College Bookstore). The Ithaca College Bookstore sells the book online.
 

Ithaca, N.Y., stirs the hearts of people who know it, whether they are residents, college students, alumni, or visitors. This ebook is a new and updated e version of the popular print book, which is now sold out. More than 200 color photos paint a portrait of Ithaca's special character. Photos and descriptions of the city, the gorges and waterfalls, Cayuga Lake, Cornell University, Ithaca College, and historical highlights capture Ithaca's charms and tell stories of this wonderful place. The book has 128 appealingly designed pages, presented in two-page spreads in a 9MB PDF. Price is $4.99.

PREVIEW AND BUY BOOK: You can see a preview of several of the two-page spreads from different chapters and buy the book through the Payhip link on the menu at the top of this page. Or use the button  below: