Clarence (New York)



A second-ring suburb of Buffalo, New York, affluent Clarence is a haven for antique shopping. Main Street in Clarence Hollow, the town's adorable, quaint business district, is where you'll find many of the antique stores that draw visitors to Clarence from all over the region—as well as a wide range of other charming shops, restaurants, and other attractions.

Understand
At the 2010 census, Clarence had a population of 30,673 citizens living on 53.5 square miles (138.6 km²) of land that's mostly flat, but bisected by the Onondaga Escarpment (known locally as "the Ledge") which runs in a roughly west-to-east direction through the southern part of town. With a median household income of $83,281 per year (in that same census), Clarence is the wealthiest town in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area. In addition to its upper-middle-class and somewhat snobby reputation, Clarence is known as a town that is politically conservative and overwhelmingly white (the 3.6% of the population that is Asian represents by far the largest visible minority in Clarence, with other groups making up no more than 1% of the population each).

Clarence's development pattern is typical of Buffalo's second-ring suburbs: the parts of town nearest the city—principally Harris Hill and the Transit Road corridor—are fully suburbanized with (respectively) leafy residential subdivisions and a massive commercial strip of shopping centers, stores and restaurants, while its outer fringes are still largely rural and agricultural, looking much as they did a century ago. In the transition zone is found some of the toniest real estate in the Buffalo area, with McMansions in exclusive communities such as selling for $750,000 on average—and often much more. Like many second-ring suburbs, over the past few years Clarence has sought to impose limits on suburbanization and particularly on the encroachment of new development onto agricultural land.



History
Of all the cities, towns and villages in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metro area other than Buffalo itself, Clarence has the longest history. Like all of New York State west of the Genesee River, what is now called Clarence was, in 1793, purchased from the Seneca Indians and opened for settlement by the Holland Land Company, a syndicate of thirteen real estate investors from The Netherlands. Asa Ransom was the first white resident of what is now Clarence; he opened a tavern in 1799 in the southeast corner of the town, along the Great Iroquois Trail (today's Main Street) in an area first known as Pine Grove or Ransomville and which later came to be called Clarence Hollow. He was followed a few years later by Joseph Ellicott, a Holland Land Company agent who operated a branch office near the Ransom homestead beginning in 1801. Ellicott's presence encouraged more settlers to buy land in the vicinity; in 1808, the Town of Clarence—named after Prince William, Duke of Clarence, third son of Great Britain's King George III—was founded as one of the three original towns of Niagara County, of which Erie County was a part until 1821.

At the time of its foundation, Clarence—whose borders then also included all the land that today comprises Buffalo, Tonawanda, Grand Island, Amherst, Cheektowaga, Lancaster, West Seneca, Lackawanna, Newstead, Alden, and part of the towns of Elma and Marilla—had a population of perhaps 100 or 150 residents. Though Clarence's land area steadily decreased over the ensuing decades as new towns were cleaved off of it, its population increased steadily, particularly beginning in the second quarter of the 19th century as a considerable number of Germans settled on the fertile, loamy soil of Clarence. The industriousness of these Germans, part of a wave of emigration from Germany to North America that peaked around the 1840s, eventually made Clarence one of the most prosperous towns in the county. Aside from Clarence Hollow—then as now, the town's population center—several hamlets coalesced in Clarence during the 19th century:
 * Harris Hill, which was centered around Asa Harris' homestead in the southwest corner of the town;
 * Clarence Center, founded as Van Tine's Corners, it is near the geographic center of the town, adjacent to the New York Central Railroad's "Peanut Line";
 * a number of hamlets along Transit Road including Snearly's Corners, Swormville, Transit Station and Millersport; and
 * the hamlets of Wolcottsburg and Hunt's Corners in the north and northeast parts of the town, which remain rural today.



Over the course of the 20th century, Clarence remained predominantly farmland, with development limited almost exclusively to Main Street (a major route to Buffalo from points east in the days before the Interstate Highway System) and the aforementioned hamlets. However, a harbinger of the future for Clarence came in 1955, when construction began on the Transitown Plaza, a suburban-style shopping center at the southeast corner of Main Street and Transit Road in the area that had once been called Snearly's Corners. Ten years later, a considerable number of residential tracts had since sprouted in Harris Hill, and the Clarence Mall (now more properly known as the "Shops at Main & Transit") was under construction across Main Street from the Transitown Plaza. The Eastern Hills Mall, at that time the largest shopping center in the Buffalo area, followed in 1972.

Tragedy struck Clarence in the early morning hours of February 12, 2009 when Continental Connections Flight 3407, en route from Newark to Buffalo in icy conditions, stalled due to pilot error on its approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport. It crashed into a house in Clarence Center killing all 49 people on board and one person on the ground. The disaster inspired a rush of inquiries into the operation of regional air carriers in the United States, and spurred Congress to strengthen regulations affecting the airline industry.

Climate
Clarence's climate is similar to that of Buffalo and the rest of Western New York. Essentially the only variation within the Niagara Frontier region that is major enough to be notable to visitors is that northern Erie County, including Clarence, generally sees far less lake-effect snow than the hillier terrain of southern Erie County. But, of course, this is not to say that Clarence does not still see plenty of snow in the winter.

Visitor Information
The Clarence Hollow Association maintains a website that boasts up-to-date coverage of attractions, restaurants, antique shops, other business listings, events, a historic walking tour, and other items of note to visitors not only to Clarence Hollow, but also to other areas of Clarence and neighboring towns.

Get in
By car, Clarence can be accessed most easily by Exit 49 of the New York State Thruway (I-90). After exiting the highway, turn left on NY 78 (Transit Road) and proceed north to NY 5 (Main Street), then turn right. Clarence Hollow—the focus of most of the town's attractions—is along Main Street about 5½ miles (9 km) east of Transit Road.

As a suburb of Buffalo, travelers arriving from outside the immediate area via plane, train, or bus should follow the directions listed in the corresponding section of the Buffalo article. Specifically, train and bus passengers should opt for, respectively, the Buffalo-Depew Amtrak station (BUF) and the bus stop at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport terminal—both of which are relatively closer to Clarence than their counterparts in downtown Buffalo.

By car
For all practical purposes, a car is an absolute necessity for traveling around Clarence.

Clarence's main street is, appropriately enough, Main Street. Also known as NY 5, Main Street runs in a roughly east-to-west direction at the southern edge of the town, passing through the suburban neighborhood of Harris Hill and the quaint business district of Clarence Hollow.

The most important north-south route in Clarence is Transit Road, or NY 78, which serves as Clarence's western boundary with the Town of Amherst. Transit Road is the only place in town where large shopping malls and plazas, chain restaurants, and other large-scale suburban retail can be found.

Other major roads that run through Clarence include:

East-West Routes: From south to north: Wehrle Drive, Sheridan Drive (NY 324), Greiner Road, Roll Road, Clarence Center Road, County Road, Tonawanda Creek Road.

North-South Routes: From west to east: Harris Hill Road, Shimerville Road, Goodrich Road, Strickler Road, Salt Road.

Rental cars
Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National, and Thrifty have facilities at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. In addition, the following agencies also have offices directly in Clarence:



By public transportation
Buffalo and its surrounding area, including Clarence, is served by the NFTA Metro System, which comprises a network of buses and a light rail line. However, the affluence of the town's citizenry has meant that out of all Buffalo's major suburbs, Clarence is the least well-served by public transit. In fact, only three bus routes enter the Clarence town line—and these three buses only serve Transit Road!


 * NFTA Metro Bus #48 — Williamsville begins at the University Metro Rail station and runs along Main Street through Amherst and Williamsville. At Transit Road it turns northward, passing the Transitown Plaza and the Shops at Main & Transit before ending at the Eastern Hills Mall. Bus #48 makes 20 trips on weekdays, eleven on Saturdays and ten on Sundays and legal holidays.
 * NFTA Metro Bus #49 — Millard Suburban runs Monday through Friday eight times per day. Route #49 begins at the University Metro Rail station and runs through Amherst along Main Street, Bailey Avenue and Sheridan Drive. It then turns from Sheridan Drive onto Transit Road and continues northward, passing by the Eastern Hills Mall and the Eastgate Plaza, before turning westward at Maple Road back into Amherst and ending at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital.
 * NFTA Metro Bus #66 — Williamsville Express begins in downtown Buffalo, passing through Buffalo and Cheektowaga along the Kensington Expressway and I-90 without stopping. It exits the highway at Main Street in Williamsville and proceeds eastward to Transit Road, where it turns north, passing by the Transitown Plaza and the Shops at Main & Transit and servicing the Eastern Hills Mall. "B" buses end at Eastern Hills, while "A" buses continue further north along Transit Road, passing by the Eastgate Plaza before ending their run at Millersport Highway at Clarence's northern border. Three buses—one "A" trip and two "B" trips—depart daily Monday through Friday, but outbound trips (from Buffalo to Clarence) take place in the evening only, whereas inbound trips take place in the morning only.

By bike
There are many delightful opportunities in Clarence for fans of bicycling. Paramount among them are the Clarence Pathways, described more thoroughly below. In addition to the trails themselves, the Clarence Hollow business district—where the majority of the town's attractions are found—is compact and charming, and (leaving aside the sometimes heavy traffic on Main Street) quite amenable to bicyclists.

See




Do
As mentioned earlier, by far the most popular activity for visitors to Clarence is antique shopping. For a comprehensive list of antique shops in and around Clarence, please see the "Buy" section below.

There are about a dozen heritage buildings along Main Street, some of which are among the oldest existing buildings in Erie County.

Bike trails
As mentioned in the "Get Around" section above, Clarence boasts a robust network of bike trails that are popular during the warmer months with joggers, cyclists and other outdoorsy types. Namely, the Clarence Pathways is a network of four multi-use trails that traverse Clarence and the neighboring town of Newstead; they were developed in conjunction with the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and run along former railroad rights-of-way. Two of these trails are partially or entirely within Clarence:


 * The West Shore Trail runs for 3.5 miles (5.6 km) along the former West Shore Railroad through the southern portion of Clarence. Beginning at the town's southern border, on Wehrle Drive about half a mile (1 km) east of Shimerville Road, the trail proceeds in a northeastward direction through a mixture of landscapes including woods, fields and suburban residential areas before entering the business district of Clarence Hollow. Deviating slightly from the railroad right-of-way, bicycles are routed onto a dedicated bike lane on Main Street, from Sawmill Road eastward through the heart of the Hollow. The trail then turns north onto Salt Road for a few hundred feet (about 100m) and continues northeastward, again along the path of the railroad, through forests and farmland. After crossing the town line into Newstead, the trail becomes the Newstead Bike Path and continues onward to the small village of Akron—an additional 4.8 miles (7.7 km).
 * The Clarence Bike Path, also known as the Peanut Line Trail, bisects the town through the middle in a roughly east-west direction. It begins at Transit Road about half a mile (800 m) north of Clarence Center Road and proceeds slightly south of due east, following the former path of the Canandaigua and Niagara Falls Railroad (better known as the New York Central system's "Peanut Line") for a distance of 6.1 miles (9.8 km). The setting transitions from upscale suburb to rural farmland as you proceed eastward, passing Meadowlakes Park and the charming hamlet of Clarence Center before entering Newstead, where the trail proceeds through a rural milieu for an additional 2.3 miles (3.7 km) and ends at the Newstead Bike Path.

Festivals

 * The Great Pumpkin Farm Fall Festival, 11199 Main St., Newstead. The, just past the east end of Clarence Hollow adjacent to Antique World (which is in the town of Newstead), is the venue for Clarence's annual Fall Festival, which takes place each year from late September through the end of October. Festival organizers describe the event as "our way of celebrating the harvest of blessings we enjoy in our community and our nation" and as "by far the largest family event in the region" (though the latter claim is certainly debatable). In any event, a number of specially themed festival weekends are featured, kicking off in September with "Oinktoberfest", which bills itself as New York State's official barbeque cookoff and also features live music, and continuing into October with (among other events) the World Pumpkin Weigh-Off, the family-friendly Pumpkin Farm Olympics, the annual Pumpkin Drop, and a pumpkin pie-eating contest on various weekends. The pièce de résistance, however, is the final weekend of the festival, immediately before Halloween, when horse- and tractor-drawn hayrides, a petting zoo, a corn maze, and amusement rides are featured—and the admission fee is waived! All through the festival, pumpkins, apple cider, fresh baked goods, candy and other goodies are available at the festival store, and food, refreshments, and kids' activities can be had. $5, final weekend of festival free, extra charges for some individual attractions.
 * Taste of Clarence & Cruise Night. Since 2004, the Clarence Chamber of Commerce has been acquainting—and reacquainting—residents of Clarence and elsewhere in Western New York with the delicious offerings of the town's restaurants with the Taste of Clarence. The festival takes place at for one day, usually at the beginning of August. Participating restaurants from around Clarence sell samples of their most popular dishes to hungry attendees, with a vendor market, a Chinese auction, and live music on the soundstage. Awards are given for best appetizer, entrée and dessert. In addition, hundreds of classic cars are displayed by their proud owners as part of Cruise Night, which takes place concurrently with the Taste of Clarence.

Buy
Transit Road, which runs along Clarence's western town line, is the destination for suburban big-box retail in Clarence (indeed, it's possibly the busiest commercial strip in Erie County). In addition to the bevy of stand-alone big-box stores, chain restaurants, and other such establishments, there are four major shopping centers along this corridor:


 * The was the first suburban shopping center to be built in Clarence. It's in the extreme southwest corner of the town, on Transit Road south of Main Street. The Transitown Plaza's 40 stores and restaurants include anchor tenants such as, Aldi, and.
 * The, directly across Main Street from the Transitown Plaza, is a shopping center established in 2007 after the partial demolition of the old Clarence Mall, which had been at the same site since 1966. , , , , and are some of the major new tenants that have breathed new life into the formerly stagnant site, with Old Country Buffet and the ever-popular Brennan's Bowery Bar continuing on as holdovers from the old Clarence Mall days.
 * The is the largest retail development along Transit Road, and the only one that is an actual enclosed shopping mall. The Eastern Hills Mall is at the southeast corner of Transit Road and Sheridan Drive, and for a long time was the largest and busiest mall in the Buffalo area (a title now claimed by the Walden Galleria in Cheektowaga). Still a major shopping center for residents of northern Erie County, the stores and restaurants of the Eastern Hills Mall prominently include, , , , Dave & Buster's, , and the newest location of Duff's, the local chain that many say makes the best chicken wings in the area.
 * The is the newest of the foursome,  along the entirety of Transit Road's east side between Sheridan Drive and Greiner Road. Anchor tenants here include BJ's Wholesale Club,, , , , , and the Buffalo area's first.

In addition to shopping opportunities such as the above, a wide range of specialty stores are found throughout the town, catering to shoppers in search of a less mass-market sort of experience. The following sections list some of those options.

Antiques
As a destination for visitors, Clarence is perhaps best known for its large selection of antique shops. Most of these shops are in Clarence Hollow, more specifically clustered around the intersection of Main Street and Davison Road at its east end, straddling the Clarence/Newstead town line.





Farmers' markets
As one might expect from a place that is situated directly on the DMZ between farm country and the edges of upscale suburbia, Clarence is a place where fresh, locally-grown produce can be had throughout most of the year from an abundance of popular farmers' markets. Naturally, these establishments tend to be busiest from late spring through late autumn, but a few of the markets listed below are open year-round.



Miscellaneous




Splurge




Transit Road commercial strip
In addition to the restaurants listed here, locations of pretty much every national chain imaginable can be found on Transit Road.

Mid-range






Local chains
The following local chains have locations in Clarence. Descriptions of these restaurants can be found here.



Drink
In keeping with its reputation as a quiet, conservative, quaint, and largely rural town, Clarence is not exactly a hotbed of nightlife. Most of the places on this list are friendly, unpretentious neighborhood bars patronized mostly by long-time regulars. An exception is Brennan's, which attracts a somewhat more youthful and energetic crowd. In addition to the places listed here, many of the chain restaurants on Transit Road—Applebee's, Chili's, and so forth—have bars.

For more thorough descriptions of many of these places, see the "Eat" section, just above.



Sleep


In addition to the lodgings listed here, travelers—especially those interested in a conventional chain-hotel experience—should consider the large group of establishments clustered around Exit 49 of the New York State Thruway, along Transit Road. Though these hotels are not in Clarence, they are convenient to most major attractions in the town, and to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, the Interstate, and restaurants and shopping.

Also, travelers along Main Street (NY 5) will note a large concentration of 1950s-style motels between Transit Road and Clarence Hollow. These motels are vestiges of the days before the construction of the Thruway, when Route 5 was the main road out of Buffalo from the east. Many of these motels have since been demolished or converted into apartments or offices, but some still cling precariously to life under their original purpose. Though perhaps interesting from a historical perspective, one would be hard-pressed (to say the least) to recommend most of these establishments to visitors.

Connect
Like the rest of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area, the area code in Clarence is 716. It is not necessary to dial the area code for local calls.

There are two post offices in Clarence:
 * the (ZIP Code 14031) at 9845 Main St. in Clarence Hollow.
 * the (ZIP Code 14032) at 6045 Railroad St. in Clarence Center.

Additionally, many portions of western Clarence are served by ZIP Codes 14051 (East Amherst, NY) and 14221 (Williamsville, NY), whose post offices are in the neighboring town of Amherst.

Stay safe
Like anywhere else, common sense — lock up valuables, keep your wits about you, etc. — applies. However, the crime rate in Clarence is negligible, and realistically speaking, travelers have nothing to worry about in this regard.

Clarence is locally notorious as probably the only town in Erie County that actively enforces the "residents only" policy of its parks. Visitors to Clarence town parks who are neither residents of the town nor guests of a resident could theoretically face trespassing charges, though in nearly all cases police will send visitors on their way without incident. Of course, it is more likely that the police will not happen to be around at all. Still, visit town parks at your own risk.

Stay healthy
In case of medical emergency, Erie County, including Clarence, is well-served by a wide variety of hospitals and other medical facilities. The nearest major medical facility to Clarence is Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, at 1540 Maple Rd in the neighboring town of Amherst. For non-emergency situations, Western New York Immediate Care has a facility at 7616 Transit Rd, across from the Eastern Hills Mall.

Broadcast media
Being in Erie County, Clarence falls within Buffalo's sphere of influence in terms of radio and television.

Since June 2012, the business office and broadcast studios of WBBZ Channel 67 have been at the Eastern Hills Mall.

Newspapers
The weekly Clarence Bee has served the town since 1937, and is the most comprehensive source of local news specific to Clarence. Also, as above, Buffalo-based print media—especially the daily Buffalo News and the alternative weekly Artvoice—regularly cover Clarence news and events.

Places of worship
The population of Clarence is overwhelmingly white and Christian, and the range of places of worship there reflects those demographics to a great degree. South Asians, many of whom follow the Sikh religion, make up one of the largest visible minorities in Clarence.

Jewish
There are no synagogues within Clarence's borders, but the bulk of the Jewish population in Erie County—and their places of worship—are in the neighboring town of Amherst.

Go next
Buffalo is the nearest major city to Clarence, an easy 20- or 30-minute drive west along Main Street or the Thruway. Buffalo boasts a full range of cultural institutions, world-class architecture, professional sports, fine dining, trendy neighborhoods, and other attractions in an urban setting.

Niagara Falls—one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the most popular tourist attraction in the region by far, and a genuinely awe-inspiring place to see—is 40 minutes from Clarence by car.