Zoar Valley has been on my mind. It often is, in the way that Western New York’s truly mysterious places sporadically nudge for attention. Zoar is nature’s version of the H.
H. Richardson towers, but while Richardson’s spooky hospital has been at least partially tamed, Zoar is still renowned as one of the region’s wildest places – though it is only about a half hour's drive from Buffalo's City Hall. Zoar is on the border of Erie and Cattaraugus Counties near Gowanda, near another spooky – and long abandoned – hospital, J.
N. Adam near Perrysburg. Is anyone sure of the reason it is called Zoar? There are no municipalities by that name nearby, but credible sources reference a “city on the plain” called Zoar, from the book of Genesis (13:10).
It is a cool-sounding word – maybe some devout 19th century settler thought the same. The Zoar Valley Multiple Use Area in 2021 received more than 400 safety and informational signs to help hikers stay on marked trails. Whatever the origin, the word Zoar means one thing to local outdoors enthusiasts: a beautiful, largely unspoiled place to walk, hike, raft and canoe.
Some hunt and fish there. Many access the creek for swimming in summer, though that is not an officially listed activity. Zoar might be easier to define and use if it were a state park.
It’s not. The state Department of Environmental Conservation calls it a Multiple Use Area – 3,000 acres of state-protected land that is available for recreation, as parks a.