Posted by Roadwolf on September 11, 2021
Adventures WNY Hwys
My journey down NY-60 took me from Dunkirk, NY near the shores of Lake Erie, to US-62 South of Jamestown, NY.
NY-60 is quite an important and well traveled route between I-90 and Jamestown, NY. Possibly the quickest way between Buffalo, NY and Jamestown, NY. But the Journey starts off in Dunkirk, NY as I mentioned. This is the first time I have been to Dunkirk, NY and my impressions of it, from my brief journey up and down NY-60 were that Dunkirk is a bit of a shithole. However this wasn't the first time I've mentioned Dunkirk, NY in my blog.
Near these Old Bells, which are placed on the ground for some strange reason, is a large industrial area which is served by a industrial rail spur line. I have indeed written about this spur line before on my blog. Feel free to check it out if you are into trains.
As NY-60 travels South, it passes over I-90 and many wind turbines can be seen to the South East, including NY Thruway Authorities own turbines where the old toll barriers used to be. With those new turbines generating a profit, and no toll collectors to pay, it makes me wonder why there are still tolls in a state with already high tax rates? Ah yes, corruption. I forgot.
NY-60 travels South and passes thru the outskirts of Fredonia, NY which in my opinion is a much nicer town than Dunkirk, NY. Here it intersects US-20 at a roundabout. Then NY-60 continues South into the rolling countryside.
The countryside is fairly uneventful with no locations of interest to mention. In fact even homes are scarce once you get into the rolling forested hills. The next village is Cassadaga, NY which has a lovely little lake. It is a very quiet place tho, and if you blink you may miss it.
NY-60 continues through countryside and barely passes by the village of Sinclairville, NY. You may not even notice it on NY-60 as there is very little built up around the highway in the village. The views along this part of the route are however pretty neat.
The next town to the South is Gerry, NY. Here NY-60 turns to the Right in the center of town. The Town of Gerry isn't any larger than the village of Cassadaga, NY. In fact, I would say it seems smaller.
But alas, Here is downtown Gerry, NY - right in front of the town hall.
NY-60 has an odd junction with Chautauqua County route 380 here, before climbing a hill and passing by some runway guidance strobe towers for the Chautauqua County Jamestown Airport.
I found the towers neat, and originally wondered if there were a phased FM tower array or something for a mine. But then realized what they were after seeing how they lined up, up close.
NY-60 then enters Jamestown, NY and travels through much of the Northern part of the city, before plunging into downtown Jamestown, NY.
Jamestown, NY is a cool little city, but like many in the Southern Tier, it is struggling. NY sadly funnels so much money to it's larger cities, that Jamestown doesn't have much in the way of an operating budget.
NY-60 crosses the Chadakoin River, and then travels South East terminating just outside of the city, at US-62 only miles from the PA border. Read more
Posted by Roadwolf on August 20, 2021
Adventures WNY Hwys
Welcome to one of Roadwolf's WNY highway journeys. I began my journey down NY-63 from NY-18 near Lake Ontario. Come along with me for the ride. Share the locations, and read about some stories of cool places to check out along the way.
I absolutely adore the Amish countryside in Western New York, and for that matter all through PA, and even into Ohio. I will say, those Amish ladies are attractive in their own way. But I also do like and respect the whole Amish lifestyle and culture.
The Hojack Ice Cream Shack is a great stop up near the North End of Hwy 63. It features Perry's Ice Cream, and numerous other summer treats including a Garbage Platter, Poutine Fries, Beef on Weck, Onion Blossoms and fruit smoothies. This is actually the best ice cream place to stop at, in my opinion, along all of NY-63.
Driving through Lyndonville, you will notice a historic mill pond off the West side of the highway. A lovely place to sit and enjoy the day. A local favorite, Bill's Sub Shop is also located in town, featuring some great hoagies.
NY Route 104 is the next major point of interest in Ridgeway, NY. The only thing that caught my eye in Ridgeway was a large military surplus tanker trailer parked in a gravel lot, and an old ladder platform fire truck sitting by the road. But there is a lovely Kayak Dock just South of NY-104 off of NY-63. Also of note, Ridgeway is a big Amish town too, with several of the houses in Ridgeway being Amish households.
A short journey South, brings you to Medina, NY. Crossing the beautiful lift bridge, you enter into a classic and charming town center.
Medina, NY is a town I do need to explore more. There are a number of restaurants and neat places to visit. One Place I have visited and wrote about, is the Medina Railway Museum. Another interesting place of note is the Mystic Dragons Lair. A supply store for alchemy and all things mystical.
Continuing South on NY-63, we eventually enter the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge. This expansive nature area, formerly known as the Alabama Swamps, is home to Bald Eagles, Deer, and many other varieties of wildlife. To the West along Bartel Road is a free public shooting range. However Lead rounds are not permitted.
And we enter Alabama, NY. Alabama Archery is a highly suggested place to go, if you are into Archery or bow hunting. Here NY-63 meets up with NY-77. NY-77 will take you West into the Swamps towards Bartel Road as I mentioned above. Alabama, NY also hosts Alabama Holley Farms, which is a full market store. Great place if you want fresh meats, produce or bread.
Following NY-63 South, the route diverts East a little and travels through some fairly flat farmland. We also pass a Gypsum Mine. The area has three registered underground mines for Gypsum / Plaster production - not all of which are active (but I would love to hear stories about these mines). We enter into Oakfield, NY.
After we pass through Oakfield, NY we cross Interstate 90, and enter Batavia, NY. NY-63 cuts straight through Batavia, NY and would of been one of the original trails in the area when Western Settlers first began traveling out this way. NY-63 seems to have followed one of the original trails between Oakfield, NY and Batavia, NY which once led to the Tonawanda Indian Village.
Batavia was the central hub of Western New York, for a while and existed as a settlement before the area now known as Buffalo, NY was tamed and settled. Below we see a closeup of one of the iconic historic buildings in Batavia, NY along with a traffic signal (likely with polarized lens due to the complex intersection) with my Reflective Border encircling it, making it easier to notice.
Batavia, NY is a huge agricultural center. Once the home of the Massey-Harris (aka Johnston Harvester Co.) Tractor factory. The Harry Ferguson/Massey-Harris merger took place in 1954 and the Batavia plant was mothballed. That being said, Batavia, NY is still a huge center of farming equipment. I count at least three large scale equipment suppliers in town. Batavia, NY is also known for it's Milk and Cheese production plants. The plants that produce cheese for the best pizza producing region in the world!
The Pok-a-Dot is a classic small greasy spoon in Batavia, NY along NY-63. You have to stop in for lunch!
Ny-63 continues south into the hills and famland. When I was maybe 12, my father and I utilized NY-63 as a shortcut between Interstate 390, and Interstate 90, to save some time during a bad snowstorm when we were returning home to Canada from a golfing trip to Maggie Valley, NC. I remember that I had a CB Radio, and was talking to the truck driver that we were following the whole time. The route intersects with US-20 here.
This route is heavily traveled, for the exact reason I mentioned above. It is a great shortcut and saves on a bit of toll money.
We pass a Genesee and Wyoming rail crossing in Pavilion, NY. It is kinda cool that G&W, a company which started in this area, grew so well, and has expanded across the country buying up smaller industrial lines.
In Pavilion we also intersect with NY-19. I am unsure of any local food establishments to recommend, so please let me know if I should.
We continue South-East through some serious farm country. Eventually reaching a reasonable downhill grade towards Greigsville, NY which is a small hamlet. Here we intersect with NY-36. An oddly numbered highway that strays from the common practice of keeping North South routes as Odd numbers and East West routes as Even numbers.
I don't know much about The Barn. It was closed when I came by. Online searches only label it as a Fuel Oil place. But the signage suggests that it is attempting to be an ice cream place, and restaurant. Any info on it would be great!
NY-63 continues through the Genesee River Valley and passes by a large chemical plant. The Arkema plant produces organic peroxide chemicals used in a variety of applications. They also may make Propyl Chloroformate.
The highway then rounds a wide turn and passes a cute traffic circle in front of the SUNY Geneseo College, before climbing back up the valley, and briefly merging with US-20A and NY-39. The views along here are very lovely.
We then head across Interstate 390 and pass the American Rock Salt Mine. This underground mine produces a lot of the Rock Salt used on our roads in the winter. Detroit also has a huge underground Salt Mine deep under the city.
We also pass by Livingston County's Emergency and Highway services campus. In front of which they have recently build a great memorial for fallen soldiers. It is so very unique and special and touching, I highly recommend that you stop there to admire it and pay respect.
NY-63 continues South along the eastern valley wall of the Genesee River Valley. Eventually we enter Dansville, and meet up with NY-36 again. Dansville, NY is a lovely town center, which carries a lot of old town appeal. I sadly haven't visited any of the establishments in town, but if anyone can suggest one, I would very much include it listed here and/or visit it myself.
We continue mostly Eastward now, up a steep grade climbing out of the valley. Passing a cute looking petting zoo called Dinky Doo Petting Zoo. There is also another ice cream store as we enter Wayland, NY. NY-63 terminates in Wayland, NY at NY-15 and NY-21.
Wayland also has a quaint little downtown district. Maybe worth checking out?
Well, I hope you enjoyed my journey down New York Highway 63. If you live or work along this route, I would be curious in hearing from ya. Maybe I shall link your story of business in this article. Read more
Posted by Roadwolf on July 12, 2021
WNY Hwys
NY-429 is a short NY State Hwy, which extends from North Tonawanda, thru Sanborn, and ends at NY-104 North of Sanborn near Ransomville.
The highway technically starts at NY-265 "River Road". It darts across Wheatfield, and then heads North along Oliver Street. This photo is actually fairly close to the author's home. An interesting urban legend about Oliver Street is that it once had the most bars per mile, on any street in the world. Was it true? Who knows at this point.
Buffalo Bolt was a large factory in North Tonawanda, NY. The remains of the factory grounds can be seen along this Route. Specifically the gates which still adorn the company crest.
NY-429 continues North thru the small suburban area on the outskirts of the City of North Tonawanda, and heads up into Wheatfield. It eventually junctions with US Hwy 62. US Hwy 62 is unique in that it is the only East-West US Hwy that connects Canada to Mexico. I will be covering Hwy 62 in a later post, as it is a very interesting Hwy in this area.
Continuing North, you soon reach Lockport Road. Heading East here will take you into South Lockport, and you will meet up with NY-93 which is a very useful highway. But NY-429 continues North.
Between here and Sanborn, NY, there is a discrete restaurant off to the side called Hoover's Restaurant. It is attached to Hoover's Dairy. I recommend stopping in and sampling some of their great selection. I especially love that they still sell their own milk, in old glass milk jars. They have some great sandwiches and other meals as well as a selection of local Ice Cream. They often host classic car meetups.
Sanborn, NY is a small hybrid community. It doesn't quite know what it wants to be, but it is a charming mix of a rural supply and services center, with a college town. Recently a new restaurant (TECLA) just opened up beside the Sommerset Railway tracks, and it looks fairly decent. This too I shall have to sample.
There are several Antiques shops in town, and a used Guitar center too!
Here NY-429 meets with NY-31. Continuing West on Ny-31 for a bit gets you to the Smokin Joe's Gas station and Smoke Shop. Always a good deal. However we are continuing North on NY-429. The route juts to the East a little here. There is a Tim Hortons and a Tops Market available here. Heading North of NY-31, NY-429 passes the Niagara County Community College (NCCC).
NY-429 then heads under Upper Mountain Road, and down the escarpment into the Lake Ontario Watershed. From here you can pretty much see the rest of the route. It ends at NY-104, which is another great NY route.
Read more
Posted by Roadwolf on May 3, 2021
WNY Hwys
(Continued from Buffalo Wagon Trails)
This trail is Eggert Road / Young Street!
Check this out! The 1800 map I got this from:
Current Day Eggert Road alignment has changed in some areas. Where Eggert meets Main Street (Hwy 5), exists St. Benedict's Roman Catholic Church. It is a beautiful structure erected in 1920. This is 120 years after the 1800 map. So I am unsure if Eggert was re-aligned before or during this St Benedict's construction.
But this does explain why Eggert is oddly positioned and slashes through the otherwise grid-like pattern of Tonawanda.
I found this post on Young Street, just across from Gene's Junkyard Bar and Grill.
Very cool. I would love to see pictures of how this trail looked back in the day. I imagine it was just bare wilderness in 1800. Kind of funny that Tonawanda grew up around it, and other than it's odd slash across the Town, there is no real old development along this trail aside from the Church and maybe some older landmarks near downtown City of Tonawanda.
I plan on doing more research and posting more about this stuff. But I will likely be featuring those posts more so on wnyhwy.com once I create a headend for that domain. :) Enjoy and stay tuned! Read more
Posted by Roadwolf on May 3, 2021
WNY Hwys
I have discovered an interest which I figured I could explore and write about. My interest stems from the idea of initial settling and growth of the area of Western New York. Being that I am the Baron of Western New York and all, I suppose I should educate myself with some of the history here.
This was also in part inspired by last weekends drive up Hwy 77, which inspired me to register the domain 'www.wnyhwy.com'. And also inspired in part by last years enjoyable time playing through Red Dead Redemption 2, which really intrigued me about the time before developed and civilized ways.
I often wondered, what was WNY like back in that time frame. Well, truth is in the 1900's WNY was already quite developed. But how about farther back? Which roads in the area were among the first wagon trails?
My research so far has gone back to 1800, where I found 4 wagon trails in the Buffalo and Niagara area. One of them, which I believe to be the first such trail, is Military road. This trail obviously served as a military portage between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.
The Second such trail, ended up becoming NY Hwy 5. The trail seems to follow about 100 to 200 feet South of the present day alignment of Hwy 5. But follows the route closely. This is likely also The Mohawk Trail.
The Third trail seems to follow the alignment of present day Transit Road, and runs South of the Hwy 5 trail, down towards present day West Falls.
The Fourth existing trail might surprise some people! Any guesses? Let's show some images of the present day alignment and see if this looks familiar. Read more
