Buffalo Harbor State Park

Location: On the northeast end of Lake Erie; within the Buffalo Outer Harbor; City of Buffalo; Erie County; New York.

Maps: Google map;  Topographic; Interactive map

GPS Coordinates:

• North entrance: N 42.85269 / W 78.86469
• Main entrance: N 42.84597 / W 78.86199
• South entrance: N 42.84094 / W 78.85869
• Pier: N 42.84287 / W 78.86046

Directions: From Buffalo (north): Take the Buffalo Skyway (NY-5) south to Outer Harbor Drive/Fuhrmann Blvd. Head south about a mile on Fuhrmann. Three entrances are along Fuhrmann (on the right as you go south). We recommend the second (middle) one.

From Erie/Dunkirk (south): You can follow NY-5 (Lakeshore Rd.) north into Buffalo and straight to the Outer Harbor. This park is just north of Lackawanna. Three entrances are along Fuhrmann (on the left as you go north).  We recommend the second (middle) one.

Use Google Maps.

Parking: Roadside parking is available up and down Fuhrmann Blvd, but this park has ample parking for cars and trailers. Any entrance along Fuhrmann will get you to a parking lot. Parking is free, unless you are launching a boat.

Seasons/Hours: The harbor is open from mid-May to mid-October, although you may be able to stop in anytime throughout the year and walk the paths. It’s open daylight hours.

Admission: Free. $8 if you are using the boat launch.

Best time to visit: Summer.

Time: A walk from the marina at the restaurant to the other side of Gallagher Beach will take about 40 minutes at best. Bring binoculars for ship or bird-watching, a picnic lunch, and plan to walk through adjacent 264-acre Tifft Nature Preserve and you’ll spend several hours.

Handicap accessibility: Yes, the path around the harbor is paved. The beach is not accessible, but the pier is.

Pets: Allowed if kept on a leash, which is the law in Buffalo. Bring bags to clean up after. Not allowed on playgrounds, buildings, and boardwalks.

Swimming: Not allowed (but this may change in the future).

Boat launch: The harbor has 2 concrete ramps in the north end/marina area, and can handle up to 6 simultaneous launches. Near the beach is a concrete ramp specifically for launching personal watercraft.

Accommodations: Walking trails; full service marina with 1,005 slips; visitor slips; boat ramps; kayak rentals; personal and hand watercraft launching; ship shop; pavilions; snack shop; restaurant; ice cream; restrooms; showers; bait shop; fish cleaning station; personal watercraft dock; picnic tables; bicycling paths; bird watching; benches.

The first inhabitants of the eastern Erie shoreline were Native Americans, with the Seneca tribe of the Iroquois Confederacy controlling this “western door” of their territory. In 1797 the Holland Land Company purchased much of Western New York from the Seneca, and that block of land was divided and resold, with plans for the Village of Buffalo as a port city beginning as early as 1801. An 1805 act of Congress created the port at Buffalo, which initiated a long history of development along the Erie and Niagara shoreline. Little of what exists today is an original feature of the lake, but one thing we do know, is that much of this shoreline was originally a wetland and a critical stopover for migratory birds as they journeyed across the Great Lakes.

Buffalo’s Outer Harbor changed drastically while improvements to the Inner Harbor were made as the Erie Canal became the centerpiece of eastward shipping. The Buffalo River often filled with sediments making navigation in and out of it difficult. The river outlet was dredged and the south seawall was built in 1867. It prevented sand and mud from building up in the river, and instead it built up along the seawall, creating a beach. This new strip of land became a shanty-town known as “Seawall Beach”, inhabited by Irish and other immigrant port workers and their families. Records show it was a rowdy and nearly lawless neighborhood, with harsh living conditions and high death rates due to storm surges.The city was eager to get rid of it. With the Outer Harbor developing along with Buffalo’s growing shipping and grain industries, the shanty-town was dismantled and the space utilized for industry. A rail line was built along the sandbar in the 1920s to service grain elevators and docked ships along the seawall.

Although most of what is on the west side of Fuhrmann Blvd is sand deposits and landfill, to the east, where the Tifft Nature Preserve is, was originally the Tifft Dairy Farm. As the waterfront developed it became a hub for iron ore distribution and this harbor played a large role in the iron industry across the Great Lakes. The Cargill Pool Elevator / Saskatchewan Cooperative Elevator, built in 1925, used the adjacent slip, to transport grain and cereals. Being on the lake itself enabled the elevator to load large and deep vessels. Once the iron industry collapsed, the site was abandoned, and beginning in the 1950s it was used as a municipal waste dump for the city until the 1960s when it was abandoned. The city took interest in purchasing the site in 1972 to use it as a municipal landfill, but public pressure at the dawn of the environmental movement squashed those plans. In 1976, the landfill was capped and sealed and landscaping had begun to turn it into a nature preserve.  Around 1995, the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority took over control of some properties along the Outer Harbor, including this one, and began constructing the marina and park. Improvements were made to Gallagher Beach in 1998. In 2011, a pavilion was added along the bike path behind the beach.

In the Summer of  2013, New York State purchased the harbor to turn it into a state-run park. The Cargill elevator was demolished and turned into a parking area.

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