8 hidden gems in New York State

New York is best known for the towering skyscrapers and busy streets of New York City. However, there are plenty of hidden treasures across the state that await exploring. These destinations provide a quiet escape, historical touch, and natural beauty that can compete with any famous landmark. Here are ten little-known attractions in New York State that will charm and motivate you.

Storm King Art Center

Storm King Art Center, located in the region of the Hudson Valley, NYC, is the 500-acre landscape that unites art and nature. People are free to explore this rather mystical territory, experiencing open-air meadow sculptures and immersing themselves into the site-specific installations that seem to grow right out of the hills, meadows, and forests. Storm King was founded in 1960, and for many decades it has been the art and nature reserve that treats the surrounding environment with tender care, sheltering the creativity of artists. Being set up by visionaries themselves, Storm King supports art and allows for the creation of what could only be described as some of the grandest projects imaginable. Because of the constantly changing exhibitions, diverse programs, and the very changes of seasons, each time it is unique and has a deep meaning. The Storm King Art Center thus becomes a living fabric of art, nature, and people’s relations—a place where wonder is always around the corner.

Best Time to visit: late spring to early fall when the center truly comes alive.

Location: 1 Museum Rd, New Windsor, NY 12553, United States

Letchworth State Park

Letchworth State Park, also known as ‘The Grand Canyon of the East’, is a beautiful piece of nature that will surely leave you mesmerized. Located in upstate New York since 1906, it has three main beautiful waterfalls on the Genesee River with cliffs up to 600 feet tall. These are impressive falls whose beauty can be admired throughout the whole year, though it is much more impressive during the spring when the volume of the water is the largest. Letchworth is also a lover’s of walks, with many paths providing breathtaking perspectives and quiet corners to barbecue. Aerial tours by using hot air balloons seek to capture this impressing view of this great work of nature. Traveling in the autumn season so one can watch the trees change their clothes to the warmest of hues or travel in spring so as to be in a position to view the waterfalls, besides viewing the wild flowers.

Best time to visit: During the fall and spring seasons when nature reveals its most breathtaking beauty.

Location: 1 Letchworth State Park Castile, NY 14427

Watkins Glen State Park

Watkins Glen State Park is serene and picturesque and captures the visitor and pulls him/her into its bosom. The picturesque park was incepted back in 1863 and boasts of Snley and Ikedo gorges as well as 19 stunning waterfalls over a mile of trail. As you enter the park, the background music of nature that includes the sound of water falling over the authentic rocks creates a very calming and warm tone.

About this trail walking on beautiful streets, bridges made of stone, and the greenery as a floral trail, there is something different to explore around the corner. The park has an array of rock-crafted structures that have been shaped by time to offer a defensive stance over the park’s timeless beauty. The sun, which pierces through the trees, gives a beautiful glow to the water as well as the moss-laden stones in the water.

Best time to visit: Both summer and early autumn are considered the best to visit. During summer, the park can be lively, and there are flowers and beautiful green vegetation growing in the park. It becomes so beautiful in early autumn because of the beautiful gold, red, and orange leaves and the cooler air that follows.

Location: 1009 N Franklin St, Watkins Glen, NY 14891

Boldt Castle

The Boldt Castle located on Heart Island in the Thousand Islands is a magnificent and hopeless symbol of eternal passion. Construction started in 1900 and was financed by millionaire George C. Boldt as a gift to his dead wife, whom he loved immensely, Louise. Sadly, Louise died of the infectious disease in 1904, and George, devastated, stopped the construction of the castle, although it was far from complete until 1972.

Today, is it a monument of a love immortalized by being put on ice or pausing in its passion? With every step bringing you closer to the island, the sophisticated towers and the stony walls filled with elaborate carvings indeed do fill you with wonder and a weird sort of nostalgia. As a guest roams around the ornamented rooms and the well-trimmed garden, he or she feels the echoes of the past and the passion that George has for Louise.

Best time to visit: During summer

Location: 1 Heart Island, Alexandria Bay, NY 13607

Howe Caverns

Howe Caverns, situated in Central New York State, is an underground cave that will transport you to an amazing tour below the ground. These awe-inspiring limestone caves were discovered in the year 1842 and are a perfect amalgamation of what nature has to offer: the pleasures of geology and paleontology.

As you start descending into the caves, the air becomes rather cool and special, and the temperature goes down, giving it a somewhat magical feel. Walking-accompanied tours take visitors through a hall of enchanting structures; here the ceiling is decorated with gorgeous chandeliers, which are referred to as stalactites, while the floor has erect shoot-like structures known as stalagmites. The drip sound of water signifies the cave, which actually enhances the beauty of the place.

Another attraction of the tour is the silent boat ride on a lake located inside the cave. Here it is possible to see the reflections of the rocky walls of the cave and get the feeling of calm and almost enchanting experience.

Best time to visit: Any time of the year.

Location: 255 Discovery Dr, Howes Cave, NY 12092

The Wild Center

The Wild Center is a wonderful, inviting space located in the Adirondack region of New York that teaches people about nature at its most basic and pure. A natural history museum and outdoor education center, the objectives of this finished in 2006 facility are to interpret and protect the diverse species of the Adirondack Park.

When you enter the premises of The Wild Center, the feeling of calmness of forests and rivers unmistakably surrounds everyone. Indoor exhibits involve live animals and other innovatively presented teaching aids that give a clear insight on the ecology in Adirondacks. But it is outside where the real enchantment is to be had.

The Wild Walk—an adventurous aerial trail—takes the itinerant alongside the forest canopy, giving him/her a feeling of taking on an elevated walkway that opens breathtaking views of the undercanopies. It relates to the feeling when one is amongst the trees and it seems they are a part of the trees and the forest. The sound of leaves bubbling and the birds singing form a backdrop of music that has a very peaceful touch.

Best time to visit: During the summer, when the Adirondacks are at their most vibrant and alive.

Location: 45 Museum Dr, Tupper Lake, NY 12986

Minnewaska State Park Preserve

Minnewaska State Park Preserve is located in Ulster County, New York. This park is found at the highest part of the Shawangunk Mountain ridge that stretches more than 2,000 feet above sea level, and it features stiff, steep, and rocky landforms. There are many waterfalls, three clear sky lakes, large continuous hardwood timber areas, narrow and deep longitudinal valleys with incising steep rocks, crystal clear streams cutting through the valleys, thirty-five miles of carriageway for biking, thirty-five miles of trail for strolling, trekking, and walking, and many more. And all this in the vicinity of New York City—within one and a half hours drive.

Other activities that tourists can do include hiking, cycling, swimming, sporting, poultry tours, scuba diving, rock/boll climbing, boat cruises, and view points. Trotting and nature trails for cross-country skiing are also provided. Technical rock climbing is permitted.

Best time to visit: In the fall, when the park transforms into a breathtaking tapestry of vibrant colors.

Location: 5281 Route 44-55, Kerhonkson, NY 12446

Innisfree Garden

Innisfree Garden, incorporated as a rich and indeed very lovely conservative garden, did derive its outlook from a prospective Asian garden. Situated on 185 acres ninety miles north of New York City, Innisfree Garden is a typically American stroll garden. A unique mix of Modernist and Romantic visions with Chinese and Japanese paradigms of the garden—one can hardly ever enjoy the beauty of the garden’s nature without feeling the simplicity and sophistication of the design. For this reason, the environment of gardens has been designed with small feelings of harmony and chances for relaxation, while the general and specific designs of some plants, water bodies, or pathways bring visions of that scenery for reflection.

In addition, orientations of Chinese and Japanese style are also seen in techniques employed in the setting of stones, water, and plant aspects, including plants. The best time to visit the garden is regarded as from the last week of May till the month of September, as by then the whole garden is full of flowers and hence has this lively and calm look. Innisfree could of course be a place which garden lovers can go to, but what it can ingeniously be is a place where the souls of men can find solace.

Best time to visit: last week of May till September.

Location: 362 Tyrrel Rd, Millbrook, NY 12545

Conclusion

Traveling through the left-uncovered parts of New York State is an experience that travels through the hearts and souls. For every location starting from the fascinating Howe Caverns and ending up with The Wild Center, located in the treetops, you are going to experience an incredibly strong bond with nature. The Watkins Glen State Park takes your breath away with its water falling and beautiful gorges, while the Castle of Boldt is a real fairytale with two hearts enclosed in the stone walls. Autumn is the most beautiful season for hiking in Letchworth State Park because you can admire its beautiful views. This is Minnewaska State Park Preserve, situated in New York, with yellow and orange trees in autumn and the quiet lakes in the background.Exploring these offbeat attractions in their prime makes for even more immersion—the melodious hum of the tour guides conducting the Howe Caverns tour in summer or the active, warm feel of The Wild Center in summer. Every year those places are dressing up in different colors and are turning into beautiful and enchanting places.