Allegany State Park Historical Society

10/16/2026

The weekend tours of the Summit Fire Tower and Red House Sawmill have ended and will resume the second weekend in May 2027.

The ASP Historical Society’s Heritage Scavenger Hunt continues and the drawing for the $200 prize will be on Nov 19th at their monthly meeting at 1 pm. More details to follow.

Join or donate to the ASP Historical Society at asphs.org

The Park events schedule.

The park Restaraunt is open Wed-Sun 11am to 6pm.

ASPHS koozies are available at ASPHS events!
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Have a great weekend folks!

10/15/2026

With the cold nights and the lake waters still warm, we have the opportunity to see amazing early morning fog at sunrise. Fall colors and beautiful days ahead. Please share any foggy pictures you have...

10/13/2026

Who remembers Dowd Trail?
It’s been a hot topic lately as the ASPHS has cleaned it up recently. The few signs of the trail’s existence are now easy to find.
Dowd Trail was a series of 13 cabins located on the hillside of the road going back to Beehunter Trail.
One can still see the railroad ties used as parking area stops while driving back. A closer look, especially with the foliage down, will reveal a couple of sets of concrete stairs, a couple of water hydrants and a couple of de-wired telephone poles.
I had the pleasure of staying on Dowd a little over 30 years ago with my very young family. My older son, maybe 5 at the time, took some video of the cabin. At that height, the video showed about the first three feet of the cabin and my kneecaps.
It was a very chilly Thanksgiving weekend and a light snow had fallen. The cabin was tough to get warm.
Below shows a photo of one of the cabins after it was abandoned and slated for demolition. courtesy of Rick Miller. The interior photos are from the early 1970’s recently donated by Karl & Monica Metzger.
When the cabins were built the trees were quite young. You could see your family on Red House Beach. Now brush and mature trees block the view.
Thanks Rick, Karl & Monica for your historic photo contributions.
If you have any old photos you’d like to contribute, we’d love to see them. A backstory on them would be even better. Message the page and we’d be happy to share them-we love keeping our Park’s 105year history alive!

10/12/2026

Ceck out tomorrow’s program at the park!

10/09/2026

Summit Fire Tower tour this Saturday from 11-1. Tours are cancelled if raining. Red House Sawmill tour Sundays from 10-noon rain or shine.

Just because the summer is over doesn’t mean there isn’t lots to do at the park. Check out the program schedule for October posted below.

Join or donate to the ASP Historical Society at www.asphs.org

The ASP Historical Society’s Heritage Scavenger Hunt is on. Don’t forget to send in your forms to qualify for the $200 prize in December!

Historical Society koozies still for sale at our meetings and events.

The Park Restaraunt’s new hours are Wed-Sun 11-6. Check out and follow their page!

Have a great weekend folks!

10/08/2026

Our first Fall time members retreat was amazing. The weather was perfect and the accommodations at Camp Allegany make for a comfortable stay. Special guest presenters this year included James Griffith and Rick Johnson from the Greater Salamanca Area Historical Society. The presentation about Judge Dowd, his career, life and influence in our park. The Dowd Cabin trails namesake; he was a close friend of President Roosevelt. John & Sheryl Mann lead us on a walking tour of the 2nd location of Camp Turner. Filled with original pictures, memories and stories. Their firsthand account of the history was very interesting. A special side trip hosted by member Tom Ball to an old oil drilling area off ASP #2 reveals some history of pre-park days. A morning history hike along the newly created Dowd Trail was led by Paul and Dave showing the unearthed remains. Fireside entertainment by Paul rounded off a great weekend. History, Food and good Fellowship made for a great weekend retreat. Thank you to Ruck Furz for being the coordinator and all of you who planned the meals, cooked and kept the facility clean.

10/06/2026

Quaker Lake was built in the early 1960’s around the same time the Allegany Reservoir was built. It replaced the original Quaker Lake, now known as Science Lake.
The first two photos are from one of several Salamanca Republican Press Vacation Guides given to me while volunteering at the Quaker Museum over a dozen years ago. They remain in the museum’s storage cube to the best of my knowledge.
The third photo shows the valley that was used to form the lake. Through it was the original Cain Hollow Road.
Lastly was a rendering of the lake and it’s proposed amenities as per the park’s & lake’s Master Plan of 1964. Notice that there was a proposed restaraunt and lodge roughly where the new(er) beach house is today and the original plan was to have the beach located roughly where the toll booth sits today. It also called for cabins overlooking the lake on the road going back to the current beach. There were more recent discussions of the cabins on that location. I believe they materialized as the newer Cain Hollow Cottages.

10/04/2026

10/02/2026

Summit Fire Tower tour this Saturday from 11-1. Tours are cancelled if raining. Red House Sawmill tour Sundays from 10-noon rain or shine.

Just because the summer is over doesn’t mean there isn’t lots to do at the park. Check out the program schedule for October posted below.

Join or donate to the ASP Historical Society at www.asphs.org

The ASP Historical Society’s Heritage Scavenger Hunt is on. Don’t forget to send in your forms to qualify for the $200 prize in December!

Historical Society koozies still for sale at our meetings and events.

The Park Restaraunt’s new hours are Wed-Sun 11-6. They will be showing the Buffalo Bills home game this Sunday on their large flat screen TV. Check out and follow their page!

Have a great weekend folks!

10/01/2026

The 2026 Annual Members Retreat is finally here. Thank you to all who have signed up. We are anticipating great Fall weather, amazing food and two very interesting guest speakers on Saturday.
Potluck dish to pass or bring a pizza Friday night. Arrive early Friday to hear all about Bob cats and Fishers, presented by ASP Environmental Education staff at 1pm. Also, Sunday after the retreat is over, spend the afternoon in the Red House Resturant for the Bills game at 1pm. See you all there...