A historically significant property in the Town of York has been permanently protected following its donation to the Genesee Valley Conservancy by longtime owners Mark Occhioni and Dave Nagel. The Conservancy has launched a public campaign to raise funds to maintain the land.
The property, known locally as Little Italy, was once a salt-mining company town that housed Italian immigrant workers employed at the nearby Retsof International Salt Company mine between 1890 and 1923. Today, the site contains the exposed brick foundations of former miners’ homes—some of the last physical remnants of Italian immigrant settlement in the region—along with some 60 acres of forestland, Bidwells Creek and a three-acre reservoir.
