Stone Table Restoration at Tea Table, Wolf Creek and Eddy’s
When the main park road between Perry and Castile reopens next spring, visitors to Letchworth State Park will see a new look at the Tea Table, Wolf Creek and Eddy’s picnic areas. The project funded by Friends of Letchworth State Park (Friends) to restore the iconic stone tables in those areas is complete. The tables, built almost 90 years ago by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), have served generations of picnickers since then. However, damage from time, the elements and inconsiderate humans were taking their toll. The Friends decided that historic restoration to return the tables to their original beauty and utility was the perfect next step in our efforts to preserve the CCC Legacy in Letchworth.
Working with Crawford and Stearns, restoration architects from Syracuse, New York, not only have the tables been returned to how they looked in the mid-1030’s but at Tea Table replica benches have been added. These were designed by Crawford and Stearns based on the research of Tom Cook, and were manufactured by Allegany Hardwoods of Fillmore, New York, from white pine logs. The actual restoration work was done by two contractors: Cornerstone Construction from Yonkers, NY, was responsible for the work at Wolf Creek and R.E. Kelly of Bowmansville did the work at Tea Table and Eddy’s picnic areas.
The Friends received partial funding for this undertaking from two major grants. The first for $50,000.00 from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr Legacy Funds administered by the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo helped fund work at Tea Table and Wolf Creek. The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Legacy Funds were established at the Community Foundation to provide support to four areas that were important to Mr. Wilson: caregivers, community assets, design and access and youth sports. Endowment funds, like these created to honor Mr. Wilson, are designed to grow over time and provide funding for charitable causes according to a client’s wishes. In the amount of $50,700.00 the restoration of the CCC-Built Stone Tables at Wolf Creek and Eddy’s project was supported with funding from the NYS Park and Trail Partnership Grants and New York’s Environmental Protection Fund. Park and Trail Partnership Grants are administered by Parks & Trails New York, in partnership with the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
As many readers may know, the Friends with the support of hundreds of generous donors and grants from NYS and private foundations have been restoring and preserving various CCC relics over the last seven years. These include a lean to on the gorge rim near the Hogsback Overlook, stone chimneys at Big Bend and Gibsonville, as well as ten stone tables on the hillside behind the Parade Grounds shelter on the eastside of the river. After the work at Tea Table, Wolf Creek and Eddy’s our next project will be restoration of stone tables at the Upper Falls. All these projects are part of the CCC-Legacy Pathway project which was dedicated at CCC-Legacy Day last August.
CCC Legacy Day 2021 – Saturday, August 7, 2021
If you have been to Letchworth State Park lately, you may have noticed some new road signs or little round medallions on some shelters and cabins. These are all part of the Friends of Letchworth initiative to develop a CCC Legacy Pathway through the Park. Formal dedication of this Pathway will be part of the Friends of Letchworth annual CCC Legacy Day scheduled this year for Saturday, August 7, 2021. A brief formal ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. near the CCC statue beside the Lower Falls parking lot. Following the formal events there will be the opportunity to independently view a CCC exhibit at the Letchworth Museum and visit many CCC sites throughout the park. (Maps and directions will be available at the event)
The signage for the CCC Legacy Pathway was funded through a Parks and Trails New York Partnership Grant and developed and built with the assistance of the staff and management of Letchworth State Park. The pathway signage is designed to allow visitors to independently locate CCC artifacts, learn their history, and understand more fully their significance. It is the latest step in the Friends of Letchworth effort to restore, preserve, and celebrate the achievements of the Civilian Conservation Corps.
This effort began with the erection of the CCC worker statue in 2003 and has been followed by the restoration of a CCC-built lean to close to the Hogsback, stone chimneys at Gibsonville and Big Bend camps, and restoration of stone picnic tables at the Parade Grounds. Currently, the Friends of Letchworth are seeking contractors to restore the stone tables at Wolf Creek and Tea Table to be funded in part by a $50,000 grant from the Ralph Wilson, Jr. Legacy Fund administered by the Greater Buffalo Community Foundation.
Achievements to date have been funded by multiple grants from the New York State Environmental Protection Fund and Parks and Trails New York. Single grants for specific projects have been received from the Rochester Area Community Foundation, the Landmark Society of Western New York, the National Environmental Education Foundation, and the aforementioned Ralph Wilson Jr. Legacy Fund. We are grateful for this substantial grant support as well as generous public donations and hundreds of hours of volunteer service.
We continue to seek funding for further development of the CCC Legacy Pathway and preservation of CCC artifacts. Our future hopes include restoration of all the remaining stone tables in the park, more interpretive signage, self-guided tour brochures, and CCC educational programming as funding and volunteers are available.