No. 1
SMALL TOWN WNY
SILVER CREEK, NY
THE BEST
TOWN SQUARE IN
WESTERN NEW YORK
One of the things I started doing when I first moved away to New England in 1999, was to just get in the car and go. No map, no one else in the car, just drive. I would only take back roads and I'd be back when I was back...
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Sponsored by Visit Buffalo Niagara
& these Silver Creek businesses...
& these Silver Creek businesses...
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One of the things I started doing when I first moved away to New England in 1999, was to just get in the car and go. No map, no one else in the car, just drive. I would only take back roads and I'd be back when I was back.
Now, many years have passed since then and life happened as did this little career here, but I'm still just getting in the car and driving.
On one Sunday morning, I made my way south down to Irving and Silver Creek as I heard there was something I needed to see there.
Just a stone's throw from Lake Erie, within the town of Hanover, is the village of Silver Creek.
One of the things that struck me hard as soon as I saw the town, was the town square. Yes, some of the shops and buildings around it have seen slightly better days (although they are nowhere near unsalvageable) but the square is right out of an old-time Hollywood movie set.
It was so nice and perfect and perfectly situated that I spent a good deal of time in my car just staring at what I was seeing. I’m a complete sucker for a town square like this as they are getting almost impossible to find in this type of shape.
There’s a gorgeous gazebo, a new central fountain, a white-steepled church, thick and tall old trees, sidewalks criss-crossing the square, a kitty-corner town park, an appropriate memorial stone, cast-iron lights, new benches and a sense of something deeply special. How this town square isn’t more well known or hasn’t been used in a movie or TV series yet is beyond me. It’s that perfect.
If you’re into this sort of thing, then you owe it to yourself to take the drive to experience it for yourself. I’ve been to thousands of small towns all over New England, California and the mid-west and it’s simply one of the best laid out and appointed town squares I’ve ever come across.
If we go back far enough in history, we learn that Silver Creek was once a tiny milling town with just a few rows of homes, a general store and some taverns.
The first settlers came from New England and had fought in the Revolutionary War purchasing 600 acres after the war from the Holland Land Office and built the first gristmill for grinding corn in the area.
Both Walnut Creek and the town's namesake Silver Creek run right through the village and the town of Hanover's first settlement was right where the village sits now.
Incorporated in 1848, the town served as an important port on Lake Erie until the inevitability of the railroads. And speaking of railroads, the village is home to a rare, skew arch railway bridge. Built in 1869, the bridge is similar to only two others in the world as a skew arch differs from a regular arch in that the outside angles are parallel but not at right angles.
And to tell you the truth, one of the most beautiful things about the bridge here really wasn't the bridge itself, but the beach and the launch area I discovered when I drove through the tunnel underneath it.
I spent the better part of an hour filming there that afternoon and fell in love with the place. I even managed to capture a train shuffling over the arch bridge, a few local fisherman and a kayaker with a rather overly enthusiastic Golden Retriever joyfully paddling off the right-hand side of the craft as well as a mama goose who seemed to be keeping roost for not only her chicks but for every other bird in her vicinity that afternoon.
Oh, and that thing that I was tipped to make this trip in the first place? It was the arch bridge. And even though it was great to see it as it is quite impressive, I had no idea the beach and launch area were there.
I think I found a new, out of the way favorite place in WNY to visit every now and then at least when I'm down here. And that's why I do what I do. It's always an adventure! ~AA
Now, many years have passed since then and life happened as did this little career here, but I'm still just getting in the car and driving.
On one Sunday morning, I made my way south down to Irving and Silver Creek as I heard there was something I needed to see there.
Just a stone's throw from Lake Erie, within the town of Hanover, is the village of Silver Creek.
One of the things that struck me hard as soon as I saw the town, was the town square. Yes, some of the shops and buildings around it have seen slightly better days (although they are nowhere near unsalvageable) but the square is right out of an old-time Hollywood movie set.
It was so nice and perfect and perfectly situated that I spent a good deal of time in my car just staring at what I was seeing. I’m a complete sucker for a town square like this as they are getting almost impossible to find in this type of shape.
There’s a gorgeous gazebo, a new central fountain, a white-steepled church, thick and tall old trees, sidewalks criss-crossing the square, a kitty-corner town park, an appropriate memorial stone, cast-iron lights, new benches and a sense of something deeply special. How this town square isn’t more well known or hasn’t been used in a movie or TV series yet is beyond me. It’s that perfect.
If you’re into this sort of thing, then you owe it to yourself to take the drive to experience it for yourself. I’ve been to thousands of small towns all over New England, California and the mid-west and it’s simply one of the best laid out and appointed town squares I’ve ever come across.
If we go back far enough in history, we learn that Silver Creek was once a tiny milling town with just a few rows of homes, a general store and some taverns.
The first settlers came from New England and had fought in the Revolutionary War purchasing 600 acres after the war from the Holland Land Office and built the first gristmill for grinding corn in the area.
Both Walnut Creek and the town's namesake Silver Creek run right through the village and the town of Hanover's first settlement was right where the village sits now.
Incorporated in 1848, the town served as an important port on Lake Erie until the inevitability of the railroads. And speaking of railroads, the village is home to a rare, skew arch railway bridge. Built in 1869, the bridge is similar to only two others in the world as a skew arch differs from a regular arch in that the outside angles are parallel but not at right angles.
And to tell you the truth, one of the most beautiful things about the bridge here really wasn't the bridge itself, but the beach and the launch area I discovered when I drove through the tunnel underneath it.
I spent the better part of an hour filming there that afternoon and fell in love with the place. I even managed to capture a train shuffling over the arch bridge, a few local fisherman and a kayaker with a rather overly enthusiastic Golden Retriever joyfully paddling off the right-hand side of the craft as well as a mama goose who seemed to be keeping roost for not only her chicks but for every other bird in her vicinity that afternoon.
Oh, and that thing that I was tipped to make this trip in the first place? It was the arch bridge. And even though it was great to see it as it is quite impressive, I had no idea the beach and launch area were there.
I think I found a new, out of the way favorite place in WNY to visit every now and then at least when I'm down here. And that's why I do what I do. It's always an adventure! ~AA
Thanks for visiting!
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