It’s long trip along winding country roads to get to Little Rock City. Try putting 7238 Hungry Hollow Road, Salamanca, New York into your GPS or Goggle maps app. That’s the last address I saw before making a right turn onto Little Rock City Road. There is no sign for Little Rock City Road. A state worker taking a break at the intersection assures me that I was headed in the right direction. At the end of the road is a cul-de-sac where you park. There is a DEC sign that indicates there are trails somewhere but it is not clear where. I follow the advice of that state worker and explore the right side of the cul-de-sac and discover a foot worn trail to the city.
I rather like that Little Rock City is a challenge to find. There is no one here. It’s very quiet, except for the soft music of birds and the rustling of the trees in the wind. Making my way through the streets and alleys of the city I marvel at its antiquity. These buildings are made of 350 million year old concrete a.k.a. Devonian Salamanca Conglomerate. Back then, the place where the city stands, a river flowed into a vast inland sea. This river deposited sand and pebbles. Over time minerals that precipitated out of the ground water cemented the sandy pebble-filled sediments together forming a layer of rock. Geologic events slowly pushed this rock layer up. The city’s location had apparently risen high enough so that the glacier of 15,000 years ago flowed around it. The glacial till that covers most of the surrounding area does not cover the city and the rock it is made of is exposed. The layer of conglomerate rock broke into huge chunks as softer shale and siltstone beneath it eroded away and the chunks are now the buildings of Little Rock City.
Tina Nelson-Scherman
Visitor Services/Educator
