Donor: Joe Spezio, December 30, 2005, 25.090 acres
Primary entry points are denoted with a yellow dot (
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Directions to property
Livingston County Tax Map ID # 5.-1-13.113 & 5.-1-15.123
![[Caledonia Satellite View]](https://mendonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Caledonia-1024x807.png)
History of the property
As of 2006, The Mendon Foundation was a work in progress for almost fourteen years. The lifeblood of this incorporation is the fabulous collection of volunteers who have embraced its vision and fueled its successes in preservation, recreation and education. The level of altruism in this regard is best embodied by the contribution of Joe Spezio, owner of Elam Sand and Gravel and one of the few locally-owned mining operations in Upstate New York.
Joe was there virtually from the first day in the early 1980’s, when Monroe County hired his company to remove all salvageable materials from the abandoned Lehigh Valley Railroad right-of-way through Mendon and Rush and into the adjoining township of Caledonia. Rails, crossties, miscellaneous hardware and even the heavy stone ballast were gathered for resale for various uses, including other railroad applications. Once cleared, a sprout of hope amongst recreational enthusiasts was that the nation’s budding “Rails-to-Trails” movement might take root here.
In the family since the time when the Lehigh Valley Railroad quit in 1976, Mr. Spezio’s father started Elam with three employees, and the firm has grown to require a daily average of eighty workers. During the ’90’s, Mendon Foundation teamed with Monroe County to acquire Federal highway funding and Joe invested countless pro bono hours in feasibility and design studies, including the pricing of materials, labor and equipment. In 1999, the effort fashioned a successful $1,300,000 grant application that launched the Lehigh Valley Trail toward reality. An important feature of the trail lies just over the Genesee River, where the old LVRR intersected with a Pennsylvania Railroad branch into Rochester. Known to railroaders as “Wadsworth,” a 2,000-foot viaduct carried the Lehigh above the PRR and the river, with a short spur created to interchange rolling stock. Built on the towpath of the abandoned Genesee Valley Canal, the rails of the Pennsy were removed in the 1960’s and the Genesee Greenway Trail was eventually established. As it happened, Spezio’s company mined several acres in that area, so his first donation transferred eight acres bordering the river and ex-rail lines to the Greenway organization.
In December 2005, an additional twenty-six acres of the Elam sand and gravel pit were transferred to the Mendon Foundation, with the purpose of creating a “forever wild” state along the trails and the Genesee. That parcel included another key piece of real estate – a strip of land along Elam’s northern property line that would allow for the extension of the Lehigh Trail westward to West River Road, ultimately to the village of Caledonia and on to the popular Genesee Country Village and Museum near Mumford. As a result of this donation, the Mendon Foundation, under the sponsorship of Livingston County, was successful in winning a $20,000 feasibility grant for that project.
Needless to say, Joe Spezio (a.k.a. Elam Sand & Gravel), has been invaluable to the growing success of our trail system. At his inspiration, the route has a firm, handicapped accessible surface that is kept pristine through the diligent efforts of many volunteers. Thousands of users on foot, bike or horse have and will use this resource for years to come. Predictably, enormous praise has been heaped upon on the organization. Could anyone ask for more?
