Did You Know Upstate New York Is Home to One of the World’s Oldest Rivers?

Were you aware that the Southern Tier of New York is where you can find one of the oldest rivers in the world?

It’s pretty amazing when you consider that most of us travel daily along what is the longest river on the East Coast without even realizing its significance. That river is the Susquehanna.

Geologists believe that the Susquehanna River is over 300 million years old and that it was formed during the Carboniferous Period.

In the Carboniferous Period, dense swampy forests covered the Earth, and as these forests turned to peat over time, they eventually transformed into coal. It was this coal that inspired the name of the Carboniferous Period.

An even more astounding fact is that the Susquehanna River predates both the Appalachian Mountains and the Bald Eagle Mountains. In reality, the river had been flowing long before these mountain ranges were even created.

While the 444-mile-long Susquehanna River is primarily located in Pennsylvania, it does flow through Binghamton where it picks up the Chenango River. The Susquehanna River is also the longest river in the United States that has no commercial boat traffic.

The City of Binghamton owes much of its growth and development to the Susquehanna River, which was leveraged for shipping goods and played a crucial role in the local industry boom.

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In 1997, the Susquehanna River was designated as one of the American Heritage Rivers by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. American Heritage Rivers receive special attention from government agencies in the areas of “natural resource and environmental protection, economic revitalization, and historic and cultural preservation.”