Park Development Plans
In 2010, the Town was awarded an Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) grant through the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to create a plan for the park.
The planning project was directed by the Park Design Committee working with the consulting services of Doug Gerber, RLA and Jo Anne Gagliano, RLA of EDR Companies. Joining the project were Maren King, Assistant Director of the Center for Community Design & Research (CCDR), and students from the State University College of Environmental Science & Forestry School of Landscape Architecture. EDR, in concert with CCDR consulting performed an inventory and analysis, developed project goals, program options, and alternative conceptual approaches which were completed in 2013. A PDF file may be downloaded here
The Planning Grant project was completed in 2017 with the final phase of the project designing an Interpretive Plan. Eleven connecting trails were identified and are open to users in the park with several historic canal-related sites that will be interpreted as funding becomes available. Through funding from the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor and Cayuga County Health Network, twenty-six new trail markers have been installed by volunteers.
Three primary sites were identified by the Design Committee to be further developed in Park in this final phase:
1. Byron Lapp Memorial Trailhead & Butterfly Garden
This site is located on High Street and was designed to include additional parking areas with a landscaping layout including a walkway leading from parking and kiosk areas to the butterfly garden, gazebo, and the mural. The plan was created to make this site visible to the public with handicap accessibility for everyone to enjoy the butterfly garden entrance to the park, A brick walkway with donated memorial bricks has helped to raise funding for the project. Future plans include a model replica of the first canal boat built on the Erie Canal and launched from here in 1820, to feature the mural. A row of Norway Spruce trees has been installed by volunteers and funded by the historical society to create a borderline along the northern border.
2. Paper Mill and Trail Clearing
In 2017, the Park Design Committee coordinated working with Josh Lindstrom, to complete his Eagle Scout requirements. Twenty volunteers worked during Canal Clean Sweep to clear the site and create a walking trail around the mill for a better viewing visitor experience. The Montezuma Fiber Mill has an important unique story to tell about the use of cattails (flag) for making the paper from the surrounding swampland. Clearing this site and creating a trail make it visible to preserve the history of this site. An interpretive sign was installed to illustrate the papermaking process using flag (cattails) to produce the cardboard-like paper products.
3. Route 31 Entrance & Parking Lot
A site located east of the Seneca River Bridge on Route 31, was identified as an ideal location for a new parking lot that included a waterless bathroom facility to be constructed with a future phased-in canoe/kayak launching site on the Seneca River. The new parking lot project opened direct access to Montezuma Heritage Park from Route 31, and was completed in 2022, with convenient access to the park near the Empire State Trail. The Park offers 200 years of historically significant Erie Canal interpreted sites There is access to NYS Designated Birding Trail from the parking lot connecting to ten other trails. The Town’s newest mural, the “Richmond Aqueduct: Then and Now,” painted by muralist Dawn Jordan is located near here and highlights the remains of the second largest aqueduct built on the Enlarged Erie Canal located on the Seneca River in the Park. In 2018, the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation assisted with the funding of this project. A PowerPoint pdf describing this project may be downloaded HERE.