Watkins Glen, NY

At the southern end of Seneca Lake, Watkins Glen is the Schuyler County seat where a village street grid runs into a gorge. The settlement began as Salubria in 1791, became Watkins in 1852 for Dr. Samuel Watkins, and added Glen in 1926 for the dramatic cut through the center of town. NY-14, NY-79, and NY-414 converge around the village, while the lake gives the county seat a broad waterfront edge.

Watkins Glen State Park is the physical signature. Glen Creek drops nearly 400 feet through a gorge with 19 waterfalls, stone steps, bridges, tunnels, rim trails, a pool, and camp facilities. The gorge is right inside the village, so a walk through the park and a turn through downtown belong to the same local map. Then there is the racing history. Cameron Argetsinger organized the first postwar road race through village streets in 1948; by 1950 the event had reached the international calendar. Watkins Glen International later carried that story beyond the village, while the International Motor Racing Research Center keeps the paper trail: its collection opened in 1999 after growing out of the Watkins Glen Public Library. Between the lake, the gorge, the county offices, and the track, Watkins Glen has several different reasons to be on the map, all packed into a small Finger Lakes village.