Luensman Overview Park

Visited May 22, 2021

Thayer Road, Portland, NY 14716

Paved parking for 30+ vehicles.

71 degrees Fahrenheit, overcast, humid

Toilet facility available during the tourist months.  Within sight of the parking lot.

Dogs must be leashed.  

There is a short section of paved trail that loops from the Trail Start marker back to the parking lot.  There is a longer, unpaved, approximately one-mile, path through the woods that passes a pretty little stream and loops back to the driveway.

No cost for parking or park access.

This park is known for its views; on a clear day visitors can see across Lake Erie to Canada and Buffalo.  It has a long sloping mowed area that coupled with the breeze made for some fun kite flying time for us when our daughter was much younger.  The slope also invites winter sledding but the sledding has been strongly discouraged during the past years.  If you do not want to walk the trail, there are picnic tables under a pavilion and near the parking lot where you can sit and enjoy the view.

We saw dandelions and white violets.  There were many birds singing when we first entered the wooded trail.  There is a variety of tree species to enjoy on the trail.

This is a dawn to dusk park.

There are geocaches in this park.  This is a fun hobby for the family. www.geocaching.com.

For more information about the park:

https://www.tourchautauqua.com/destinations/luensman-overview-park

NEARBY ITEMS OF INTEREST:

Brad Anderson & Marmaduke Statue, 87 West Main Street, Portland, NY 14716

For those of us old enough to have grown up with the big dog in the Sunday Comics.

The Brocton Arch, Route 20, Brocton, NY 14716 (22 East Main Street, Brocton, NY 14716)

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Burr Road Falls,  5673-5711 Burr Rd, Brocton, NY 14716

The area around it is not much to see, but the falls are pretty for a quick stop on your way to or from Luensman Overlook or The College Lodge.

The College Lodge

The College Lodge, 8067 Route 380, Brocton, NY 14716

I describe this nice location for bird watching and wooded hiking trails on one of my other Chautauqua County pages.  Please check it out.