Explore The Mid-Atlantic
However much exists to attract visitors, the vast state of NEW YORK stands inevitably in the shadow of America’s most celebrated city. The words “New York” bring to mind soaring skyscrapers and congested streets, not the beaches of Long Island to the east or 50,000 square miles of rolling dairy farmland, colonial villages, workaday towns, lakes, waterfalls and towering mountains that fan out north and west from New York City and constitute upstate New York. Just an hour’s drive north of Manhattan, the valley of the Hudson River, with the moody Catskill Mountains rising stealthily from the west bank, offers a respite from the intensity of the city. Much wilder and more rugged are the peaks of the vast Adirondack Mountains further north, which hold some of eastern America’s most enticing scenery. To the west, the slender Finger Lakes and endless miles of dairy farms and vineyards occupy the central portion of the state. Of the larger cities, only Buffalo and Rochester hold much of interest, but some of the smaller towns, like Ivy-League Ithaca and the venerable spa town of Saratoga Springs, can be quite captivating.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries semi-feudal Dutch landowning dynasties held sway upstate. Their control over tens of thousands of tenant farmers was barely affected by the transfer of colonial power from Holland to Britain or even by American independence. Only with the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, linking New York City with the Great Lakes, did the interior start to open up; improved opportunities for trade enabled canal-side cities like Syracuse, Rochester and especially Buffalo to undergo massive expansion.
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Long Island
Long Island
Just east of New York City, Long Island unfurls for 125 miles of lush farmland and broad sandy beaches, and is most often explored as an excursion from the metropolis. Its western end abuts the urban boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens but further east the settlements begin to thin out and the countryside gets surprisingly wild. The north and south shores differ greatly – the former more immediately beautiful, its cliffs topped with luxurious mansions and estates, while the South Shore is fringed by almost continuous sand, interspersed with vacation spots such as Jones Beach and Fire Island. At its far end, Long Island splits in two, the North Fork retaining a marked rural aspect while the South Fork includes the Hamptons, an enclave of New York’s richest and most famous.
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The Catskills
The Catskills
Rising above the west bank of the Hudson River, the magnificent crests of the Catskills, cloaked with maple and beech that turn orange, ochre and gold each autumn, have a rich and absorbing beauty. This dislocated branch of the Appalachians is inspiring country, filled with amenities – campgrounds, hiking, fishing and, especially, skiing.
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The Adirondacks
The Adirondacks
The Adirondacks, which cover an area larger than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined, are said by locals to be named after an Iroquois insult for enemies they’d driven into the forests and left to become “bark eaters”. Until recent decades the area was almost the exclusive preserve of loggers, fur trappers and a few select New York millionaires. For sheer grandeur, the region is hard to beat: 46 peaks reach to over 4000ft; in summer the purple-green mountains span far into the distance in shaggy tiers, in autumn the trees form a russet-red kaleidoscope.
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The Finger Lakes
The Finger Lakes
At the heart of the state, southwest of Syracuse on the far side of the Catskills from New York City, are the eleven Finger Lakes, narrow channels gouged out by glaciers that have left telltale signs in the form of drumlins, steep gorges and a number of waterfalls. With the exception of progressive, well-to-do Ithaca and tiny Skaneateles, few towns compete with the lakeshore scenery. That said, the area as a whole is relaxing and enjoys a growing reputation for quality wineries.
- The Erie Canal towns
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Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls
Every second almost three-quarters of a million gallons of water explode over the knife-edge NIAGARA FALLS, right on the border with Canada some twenty miles north of Buffalo on I-190. This awesome spectacle is made even more impressive by the variety of methods laid on to help you get closer to it. At night the falls are lit up and the coloured waters tumble dramatically into blackness, while in winter the whole scene changes as the fringes of the falls freeze to form gigantic razor-tipped icicles.
Some visitors will, no doubt, find the whole experience a bit too gimmicky, although the green fringes of the state park provide some bucolic getaways. Don’t expect too much from the touristy towns of Niagara Falls, New York or even more developed Niagara Falls, Ontario. Once you’ve seen the falls, from as many different angles as you can manage and traced the Niagara Gorge, you’ll have a better time heading back to Buffalo.
