Communities

Sour Spring Grove is a shoreline neighborhood on the southeast side of Grand Island, along East River Road near the South Bridge and Beaver Island State Park. Around 1900 it was a summer resort on the ferry circuit from Buffalo; the grove gave way to cottages and then to year-round homes after the bridges opened in 1935.

Sandy Beach sits on Grand Island’s northeast shore along East River Road, facing the east branch of the Niagara River toward the Tonawandas. It was one of the first subdivisions laid out after the Grand Island bridges opened in 1935, when the island changed from summer cottages and farms to a year-round town.

Edgewater is a riverfront neighborhood on Grand Island’s northeast shore along East River Road. The name goes back to one of the summer resorts that dotted the island around 1900, when Buffalo families came over by ferry for the season. Most of those resorts closed around the First World War, and the land was later platted for homes once the 1935 bridges made year-round living practical.

Spicer Creek Townhomes is a 54-home townhouse community off Whitehaven Road in the middle of Grand Island, set on about 185 acres of wooded, landscaped grounds with two entrances from Whitehaven. Homes run roughly 1,300 to 1,400-plus square feet. Every owner belongs to the Spicer Creek Association, which owns the common grounds and is run by an elected volunteer board.

Sheenwater is on Grand Island’s west shore, along West River Road and the west branch of the Niagara River, looking across to Canada. Like Edgewater, the name comes from a turn-of-the-century summer resort; the neighborhood that replaced it grew after the 1935 bridges. The west side is the quieter half of the island.

Grandyle Village is a residential neighborhood in the south-central part of Grand Island, developed mainly in the 1950s and 1960s along Grand Island Boulevard. It is close to the island’s schools, town hall and shopping, with the I-190 bridges to Buffalo and Niagara Falls a few minutes away.

East Riverside Woods is a planned subdivision on the east side of Grand Island, begun in 1987, with about 125 single-family homes that back onto roughly 12 acres of shared green space rather than onto each other. As one of the island’s later developments, its housing is newer and more consistent than the older river neighborhoods.

West Falls, New York, offers a distinctive blend of rural character, local history, and community spirit. Located in the Town of Aurora in Erie County, this established hamlet appeals to buyers who appreciate a quieter setting with access to the surrounding Western New York region. Its compact center and historic roots give West Falls a sense of place that is increasingly valued in a home search.

Griffins Mills is a 200-year-old mill hamlet on the West Branch of Cazenovia Creek, where Mill Road drops into the creek valley in the southwest part of the Town of Aurora. Humphrey Smith dammed the creek and built the first mill here in 1809; the Griffin family bought it a few years later and gave the place its name, and the Yaw brothers ran the grist and saw mills until 1959.

Blakeley is a crossroads hamlet in the southeast part of the Town of Aurora, along Route 16 (Olean Road) at the south end of Route 400, a few miles south of the village of East Aurora past the Gow School and Emery Park. It is where the village gives way to open country: large lots, farm fields, and houses set well back from the road.

Billington Heights is a residential area in the northern part of the Town of Aurora, between the Village of East Aurora and the Elma town line. Most homes are single-family houses built after World War II on quiet streets off Transit Road, with quick access to the Route 400 expressway and the shops and restaurants on Main Street in the village.

East Aurora is an incorporated village in the Town of Aurora, Erie County, about 20 miles southeast of downtown Buffalo. Main Street runs through a walkable business district of shops and restaurants, and the village is home to the Roycroft Campus, a National Historic Landmark of the Arts and Crafts movement, and to Fisher-Price. Knox Farm State Park sits at the western edge of the village.