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| Coodington Road Entrance |
Town of Ithaca
The South Hill Recreation Way is a trail system maintained by the Town of
Ithaca. Most of the trail is constructed on top of an old 19th century
railroad bed of the Ithaca & Owego Railroad.
This portion of the rail line includes a large railway 'switch-back' used
to scale South Hill (built 1851). Rail use of the
right-of-way ended in 1956, and the bulk of the rails and ties where
removed in the
1970's. The Town received grant funding from the State and in 1993
widened and made substantial improvements to the trail system.
Since it follows old railroad construction the bulk of the trail system is flat, with a slight 2-3% grade. The surface has been graded and improved with gravel where the old coal cinders where not adequate. There is a short steep paved section connecting segments of the railroad switch-back. The surface is generally hard packed and acceptable for touring bicycles.
All forms of non-motorized use are permitted hiking, biking, running, skiing, snowshoeing, etc. The wooded privacy, improved surface, and the length of the trail are major features. Few other trails is it possible to take a 10km run without once having to run alongside or cross vehicle traffic. In sufficient snow conditions the trail becomes one of the best cross country skiing trails available anywhere.
The Town of Ithaca deserves much credit for improving and making this right-of-way accessible. The Town provides clearing, mowing and surface repair to a width roughly 20 feet over the entire length.
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| Coodington Road Entrance |
The Official Trailmap (58K) is available at each major entrance. Note that the trail is adjacent to the Six Mile Creek gorge system. There are three connecting trails to the south side of the gorge (see map). Extreme care should be used as you approach the gorge as the slopes become very steep.
| Wildflowers | Birds | Mammals |
|---|---|---|
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White Trillium Painted Trillium Blood Root |
Peregrine Falcon Horned Owl Wood Trush |
White Tail Deer Red Fox Beaver Wood Chuck Cotton Tail Rabbit |
Many Remnants of the former railway still exist. Large fill, concrete and stone drainage structures are still in use. Some of these structures are quite large considering the horse power era they were built in. In fact the rail line itself was initially run by horsepower the entire length from Ithaca to Owego.
An example is the railroad switch-back. Many schemes to scale South Hill predated this construction including a gravity pulley inclined railroad. After several fatal accidents the large switchback was finally constructed (circa 1851). The scale of the total switch back was large and parts of this construction are visible on the Recreation Way, Rt. 96B at South Hill School, Stone Quarry Road and Buttermilk Falls at the southern end of the City of Ithaca.
This railroad was the second railroad to be authorized in New
York State by the NYS legislature (1828).
It was designed to connect Ithaca, with
transportation access via Cayuga Lake to the Erie Canal, to Owego via the Susquehanna
River South to points south such as Harrisburg and Baltimore.
When it opened in 1834 it was an horse drawn operation . However as one of the earliest and somewhat experimental rail lines it soon suffered from operational and maintenance problems. A series of fatal accidents and the depression of 1837 closed this early line and it was eventually sold.
The line was purchased and reorganized in 1842 as the Cayuga & Susquehanna Railroad. Re-engineering lead to the construction of the switch-back and was re-opened in 1851. Its connection with other rail lines in Owego (1855) made this Ithaca's main connection to the world for several decades and it operated very profitably. The line was eventually sold to the connecting railroad, the Delaware, Lackwana & Western which operated it until its closing.
In the 1870's competition from other rail lines such as the Ithaca & Athens, Geneva & Ithaca and Ithaca & Cortland and eventually undermined this rail line's preeminence. However it was the growing popularity of automotive transportation that finally drove the line out of business and the line was closed in 1956.
In the 1970's sections of the rails and ties were salvaged. The interesection at Burns Road was substantially regraded in 1978. While then neglected, most of the sections of the current trail were still accessible via a crude footpath. In 1993 the Town of Ithaca consolidated ownership and began development of the current trail. Construction took over a year and was done by the Town Highway Department with help from the Boys Scouts and other volunteers.
For an eye-witness account of this historic railway visit The First Passenger Railway in America
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| Hudson Street Entrance - near South Hill School |
