Panama Rocks!

Located in Panama NY, this private park is a wonder of New York. The rock formations are millions of years old.

416 million years old to be precise. At that time, America was a part of the Euramerica supercontinent and was rotated 90 degrees so that the north of Canada was facing east and Mexico was in the west. Euramerica was located on the equator and a vast sea covered the continent from Utah in the west to deep into what would become Southern Canada in the east. The formation called Panama Rocks was a shoreline of a rocky island in the southern reaches of this inland sea.

Euramerica

Plants (and fish) dominated the Earth in this era, to the point where plants completely changed the CO2 and O2 levels, resulting in an Ice Age. Euramerica drifted north and westward and the sea dried up. Drifting east over millions of years, great upheavals and earthquakes lifted the shoreline to its current height of 1500+ feet over current sea levels. By the time of dinosaurs, Euramerica was no more. It had broken in two and formed the continents of Europe and North America, with Greenland in the middle.

Within the last 20,000 years, the last ice age ended leaving New York and Panama Rocks in their current state. What a wonder!

In modern times, the park has been in the ownership of several private groups. Approximately 100 years ago, the park was a Honeymoon getaway spot. After a period of inactivity in WWII, the park buildings and environs were renovated and improved by a series of owners. The most recent improvements occurred in 2011.

Panama Rocks Gallery

Panama Rocks is a wonderful private park located in Panama NY. My wife and I were driving back from a wedding in Warren, PA with our three children bouncing around the back of the car. We desperately needed someplace to stop. We had no GPS, or maps, were slightly lost, and only intermittent cell phone service. I had been trying to get directions to anywhere on my phone but had little success.

In a frustrated flail, I accidentally logged into Google Plus and before I could close it, I saw a message under “Nearby”. It read – “Panama Rocks! The kids will love it!” Soon, I had directions but no description. We had no idea what to expect.

We pulled in and found a beautiful house and barn, some trails and a small parking lot. The kids (and Jen) were pleading with me “What is this place? Why are we here?” I answered honestly “All I know is ‘the kids will love it’.”

A man took our admission in a small office shed: $7 per adult and $5 per child. Jen wanted to know what we were paying for, and then she wanted to know why they needed to go through her purse. Fact: there are places in this park where no people can get to safely; anything dropped or worse thrown down there is there forever. So, the owner ensures no one is taking anything into the park that qualifies as “disposable”. You need to have a reusable water bottle. Having passed inspection, we were allowed to enter the park.

You know what? The kids loved it.

Next spring, you can grab a brass lantern, a water bottle, and the kids and check out Panama Rocks.

This was written in 2012. Rates have changed a bit, be sure to check out the official website in the first paragraph for updated rates.