Bethlehem cuts the ribbon for Normans Kill Ravines Park
BETHLEHEM, N.Y. (NEWS10) - Bethlehem Town Supervisor David VanLuven officially unveiled the Town’s Normans Kill Ravines Park. This new 147-acre park was created by converting 78 acres of Town-owned property to parkland and by purchasing a 69-acre forested parcel from the Normanside Country Club.
The new Normans Kill Ravines Park is within walking and biking distance of residential neighborhoods, the Albany County rail trail, and the Four Corners commercial district in Delmar. It also borders the Normanside Country Club in Elsmere. The park is nature-focused and offers a landscape of forests, ravines, floodplains, and more than a half mile of Normans Kill shoreline.
“It took three years for us to create the new Normans Kill Ravines nature park, but it will be a wonderful community resource for generations. So many people came together to create this park, from Town employees to the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy, our hard-working mountain bike volunteers to the Normanside Country Club, and even an Eagle Scout. I’m so pleased that this beautiful landscape is now open for residents and visitors alike to enjoy before heading to the nearby Four Corners commercial district for food and something to drink,” said Bethlehem Supervisor David VanLuven.
To open more of the new park to residents and visitors, the Town is partnering with professional trail design company Pinnacle Trail Design and Construction, as well as a local mountain biking group, to help design and build walking and biking trails. The initial design is for a 3.5-mile walking and biking loop around the property, and about 3.5 miles of concentrated mountain biking trails in the Park’s center.