The concept for a Centennial Park grew out of a recognition that we would need a more permanent place for residents and visitors to learn about Greenwood Lake’s unique history. Part education and part information, the park setting, adjacent to Orange County’s largest fresh water lake, would maximize the potential for visitors to more easily become acquainted with the historical ingredients that have contributed to making Greenwood Lake the internationally known community it has become.
The past will meet the present when the park is completed. The venue will enable visitors to take in the vista that’s drawn boxers and baseball players, steamboats and celebrities, in a century’s worth of lake life.
Programs designed to help you discover all about Greenwood Lake’s fascinating history…
The Greenwood Lake Historical Society hosted a lively presentation at the Greenwood Lake Public Library, giving local history buffs a captivating look into the area’s railroad heritage, before a standing-room-only crowd on Sunday, April 26, 2026.
Historian and author Kevin K. Olsen, a Montclair State University chemistry professor and lifelong model railroader, drew from his extensive research and recent book (Rails to Sterling Forest) to trace the history of the Erie Railroad’s Greenwood Lake Branch. Olsen’s hour-long talk – part of the Historical Society’s free series of community programs – explored why the line was built, how it evolved over time, how it shaped life at Greenwood Lake, and why hardly any passenger train lines ever experience a positive cash flow.
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Watch latest video about the Greenwood Lake Railroad
learn about the fabulous grand hotels that once populated the lake shoreline
When Greenwood Lake’s Warwick’s Waterfront Playground Turned 100
