New Humphrey Nature Center Opens at Letchworth State Park

The Humphrey Nature Center has officially opened to the public and Letchworth State Park’s more than 650,000 annual visitors can now marvel at its beauty. The Humphrey Nature Center has much more to offer than its gorgeous exterior; inside visitors can enjoy new meeting space, interactive exhibits designed to engage visitors with the park, a butterfly garden sponsored by the Friends of Letchworth, and a central location connecting multi-use trails. Letchworth State Park has been nicknamed “Grand Canyon of the East,” and the Humphrey Nature Center’s 5,000 square foot, four-season facility compliments the grandeur of the park.

The new facility cost $6.75 million, of which $3.55 million was funded through Governor Cuomo's NY Parks 2020 initiative. The remaining $3.2 million was met with private commitments and grant funding. Fundraising efforts were led by Genesee Region State Park Commission Chair Peter G. Humphrey and the Humphrey family, which has a long history with Letchworth State Park, along with the Genesee Region State Park Commission, the Open Space Institute's Alliance for New York State Parks Program, the Natural Heritage Trust, and the Friends of Letchworth.

The Humphrey Nature Center has been designed to educate its visitors of all ages through technology and activities. The programs developed by the park will educate visitors on the park’s history, ecosystem, environment and geology. In an effort to ensure education is at the forefront, Letchworth State Park and the State University of New York (SUNY) at Geneseo have partnered in a 5-year agreement to continue to develop and strengthen the educational opportunities at the park. SUNY Geneseo will identify environmental restoration, research, preservation projects, programming and exhibits at the new nature center.

In 2015, Letchworth State Park won the USA Today’s Readers’ Choice Award for Best State Park. If you have ever visited Letchworth State Park, it will not surprise you that it won this award over 19 other state parks nominated, chosen from more than 6,000 parks across the nation. If you haven’t been to Letchworth State Park, there are more than 66 miles of trails that span across the 14,350 acres that are waiting for you to discover.



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