Waterfall in an abandoned town.

Route 17, or “Quickway” as it is known to locals, is the longest New York State highway running from Mahwah in New Jersey all the way to the Great Lakes upstate. It is a major artery for people coming from New York City going to Binghamton, the Finger Lakes, Niagara Falls, and other points northwest. And so every town and village along Route 17 is primed for business luring travelers to sample food and hospitality in otherwise sparse and rural backcountry locales.

But when progress encroaches as what happened in the hamlet of Parksville, setbacks happen. In 2012, a bypass-expressway opened bypassing Parksville and its less than optimal main street—a section of Route 17—that will one day become part of Interstate 86.

Today, that old section of Route 17—now Parksville Road—is lined with abandoned diners, a gas station, a once mammoth souvenir shop, and other shuttered commercial buildings. It has acquired the looks of a deserted town.

But the hamlet is not fully dead. Robert Uccelli, a restaurateur who back in the day helped in my becoming an earning photographer, is now co-owner of a gas station there where “business has been good so far”. A decades old family-owned pharmacy has plans to reopen. Parksville is also entry point for area attractions like campgrounds, Willowemoc Creek, a covered bridge, and is home to a rail trail that is perfect for beginning hikers.

Which brings me to why I visited Parksville—a waterfall on Beaverskill Creek by the road on one side and the rail trail on the other.

A small, less-than-obvious waterfall would probably not resuscitate a dying hamlet on its own. But an easy-off-easy-on Exit 98 on Route 17 could serve as convenient food and gas stop the next time you travel northwest with the added attraction of setting off on an abandoned sites sightseeing tour along the way.