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Tourists in Olean, NY, my historic home town, often visit Rock City.
Other popular activities include wading in the Allegany River
and counting road kill.
Olean NY
I went to Olean, New York last week to visit my best friend from high school. And had a nostalgia filled day. We went to dinner at the Beef and Barrel and the next morning I drove around my old haunts for a couple of hours. I was surprised how little things had changed. It was really great to see Dave and Kathy again after 45 or so years. We connected as if it had been weeks not decades.
They have put up squirrel art around town. This is the one in the park.
In 1940 Olean had about 40,000 people now it has about 13,000. Like so many of the small towns in the northeast there is a shabby, depressed feel to the downtown. But Houses are cheap and the infrastructure is paid for. Maybe as the baby boomers retire enough of them will move back to revitalize them. Dave and Kathy have and it is working well for them.
How lucky I was to move to California in the 1970’s when everything was growing.
This is the first house we lived in when we moved to Olean from England. It is now a lawyers office.