The new Farm Tools Exhibit on the second floor of the mill

Take a guided tour of the four-story grist mill; see the new Farm Tools Exhibit on the second floor; and find out about the Civilian Conservation Corps that was in the park in the 1930s in the special first floor exhibit room. Then walk across the park bridge over Enfield Creek nearby to participate in the ongoing archeology dig where Cornell archeologists are unearthing evidence of life in the 19th century Hamlet of Enfield Falls, expanding our understanding of rural life in those times.

Cornell archeology students unearth the Hamlet of Enfield Falls.

The days are shortening and the nights are nippy as we drift into October at the park. But our season is not over. The flood in the gorge during Tropical Storm Lee damaged trail stonework in the upper gorge, and the gorge mason is working hard to make repairs. But Park Manager Kathie Notarfonzo says that the Gorge Trail has been opened from the upper park to the brink of Lucifer Falls. The Rim Trail is still fully open and most of the rest of the Gorge Trail is still open.

Here is what the Friends of Treman are doing this month:

1. October 13, Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Sorting deposit cans and bottles in the old upper park maintenance building. This is a major fundraiser for the park and we can always use another pair of hands.
2. October 29, Saturday, 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. UPPER TREMAN HERITAGE DAY. The public is invited to come see archeology in action as well as go on a mill tour or a nature walk to the falls.

Our next meeting will take place on Wednesday, November 2 at 4:00 p.m., meeting at the Old Mill initially, before going back down to the lower park maintenance building for the rest of the agenda. All members are welcome.

For more information, contact Friends president Pauline Halpern at 607-257-0245 or Ptahalpern@earthlink.net.

Tony called the park  this morning to check on the status of the trails after the flood. As might be expected the upper section of the Gorge Trail is closed and stone masons will have to work on getting damage repaired. The Rim Trail and the rest of the Gorge Trail (from the wooden footbridge just downstream from Lucifer Falls) are open.  The Gorge Trail at Buttermilk Falls State Park is closed for the time being, but the Rim Trail and other trails in the park are open.

1. JUDY’S DAY: Cornell Plantations holds this annual fun event in their arboretum next Sunday from 1-5 p.m. . The Friends of Treman will have a presence there with a table and display. Why don’t you drop by?
2.  CAN DO! We will be sorting deposit beverage containers from area campgrounds in the upper park at the old maintenance barn on Wednesday, September 14, from 9 to 11 a.m. This effort is our big fundraiser each year. Please consider helping out. For more information, contact Friends president Pauline Halpern at 607-257-0245 or Pthalpern@earthlink.net.
3. CAN DO! We will be sorting deposit beverage containers at this second session in the upper park at the old maintenance barn on Wednesday, September 21, from 9 to 11 a.m. This effort is our big fundraiser each year. Please consider helping out. For more information, contact Friends president Pauline Halpern at 607-257-0245 or Pthalpern@earthlink.net.
4. OCTOBER MEETING, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 4:30 p.m. in the lunch room at the lower park maintenance building. All members are welcome. Help us plan our activities and projects! For more information, contact Pauline Halpern at at 607-257-0245 or Pthalpern@earthlink.net.
5. UPPER TREMAN HERITAGE DAY! Saturday, October 29, 1 – 4 p.m. Come participate in the ongoing archeology dig of the Hamlet of Enfield Falls, take a guided tour of the Old Mill, and enjoy other activities.

   

Friday, September 2, 8:00 P.M., Robert H. Treman State Park, Ithaca.

CATCH A MOVIE UNDER THE STARS.  Join us for a free screening of the 1917 silent film The Great White Trail. This film stars Doris Kenyon and is one of the many silent movies that were filmed right in Ithaca. There are even scenes that were filmed in the gorge at Robert H. Treman State park!
Presented by the Ithaca Motion Picture Project (www.ithacamotionpictureproject.org) in collaboration with Finger Lakes State Parks.  Live musical accompaniment by the Cloud Chamber Orkestra (Robby Aceto, Peter Dodge and Chris White). The screening will take place in the Old Mill parking lot, so please bring lawn chairs and a picnic. Rain date: Sept 3, 8:00P.M.  Meet at the Old Mill in the upper park off NYS Rt. 327.
For more information call 607-273-5092.

Click on the link below to see it.

Friends of Treman Summer 2011 Newsletter

In the first section of the upper gorge at Robert H. Treman State Park, this odd pool in the side of the gorge begs explanation.

When we walk by the beautiful waterfalls in our gorges, they seem as permanent as the rocks they pour over. I suppose that is true. But if you look closely at the formations in our gorges, you can see the ancient history of waterfalls long gone. The photo above is of a strange pool just down from the first little waterfall in the upper gorge at Robert H. Treman State Park. The pool clearly was worn out from the bedrock by some waterfall pouring there long ago, but is no longer there. Perhaps what is even more interesting are the scalloped marks in the rock wall above the pool. They are all that remains of the side of the ancient waterfall’s plunge pool cavity at a level above the remaining relic pool. If you mentally extrapolate the rest of the pothole that these marks were the side of, perhaps you can imagine the waterfall that was once there, maybe thousands of years ago! Enfield Creek long ago quarried out the rock over which the falls once poured, along pre-existing fractures called “joints.”

Our next Friends of Treman meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 3, at the picnic shelter at the end of the parking lot in the upper park at 4:30 p.m. Should the shelter be rented, look for us on the porch of the Old Mill. All members are welcome to attend.

Meanwhile, here is an old stereograph photo of the upper gorge taken from the top of Lucifer Falls, courtesy of Bill Hecht!

An old stereograph from the top of Lucifer Falls, courtesy Bill Hecht

A bulldozer makes way for heavy machinery to get into the Buttermilk Falls pool area to remove winter's deposit of sand and gravel.

It’s quite a job to get ready for swimming at parks that have gorge pool swimming areas. All winter long, high water has washed in sand and gravel at the base of the falls, filling the pool in. The park must remove all this debris and clear out the pool area. To do that, it has to build a temporary ramp for machinery to cross the dam to get at the pool. Now that Buttermilk Creek’s water level is a bit lower they can get access to the area.  Hopefully, another flood won’t undo their work this summer!

Winter floods can fill in the natural pool at the base of Buttermilk Falls with sand and gravel washed from far upstream.

You can see the gravel deposited in the pool by winter floods.

In the picture above, you can see gravel deposited by Buttermilk Creek in the pool area. On the left, the bulldozer prepares the ramp for equipment access to the pool. In the upper center in the distance you can make out an orange object to the left of shrubbery, which is all you can see of an enormous bucket machine that will be moved into the pool area over the ramp to scoop out the gravel and place it into a dump truck.

After missing it last year, it’ll be great to have swimming back at Treman’s sister park, Buttermilk Falls!

The next Friends of Treman meeting will be Wednesday, May 4, at 4:30 pm at the Lower Service Building.