diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegionFileSystem.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegionFileSystem.java
index ac7a5faa2745..beefa2fa6cde 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegionFileSystem.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegionFileSystem.java
@@ -78,12 +78,6 @@ public class HRegionFileSystem {
   /** Name of the region info file that resides just under the region directory. */
   public final static String REGION_INFO_FILE = ".regioninfo";
 
-  /** Temporary subdirectory of the region directory used for merges. */
-  public static final String REGION_MERGES_DIR = ".merges";
-
-  /** Temporary subdirectory of the region directory used for splits. */
-  public static final String REGION_SPLITS_DIR = ".splits";
-
   /** Temporary subdirectory of the region directory used for compaction output. */
   static final String REGION_TEMP_DIR = ".tmp";
 
@@ -1000,31 +994,6 @@ public static void deleteRegionFromFileSystem(final Configuration conf, final Fi
     }
   }
 
-  /**
-   * Retrieves the Region ID from the given HFile path.
-   * @param hFilePath The path of the HFile.
-   * @return The Region ID extracted from the HFile path.
-   * @throws IOException If an I/O error occurs or if the HFile path is incorrect.
-   */
-  public static String getRegionId(Path hFilePath) throws IOException {
-    if (hFilePath.getParent() == null || hFilePath.getParent().getParent() == null) {
-      throw new IOException("Incorrect HFile Path: " + hFilePath);
-    }
-    Path dir = hFilePath.getParent().getParent();
-    if (isTemporaryDirectoryName(dir.getName())) {
-      if (dir.getParent() == null) {
-        throw new IOException("Incorrect HFile Path: " + hFilePath);
-      }
-      return dir.getParent().getName();
-    }
-    return dir.getName();
-  }
-
-  private static boolean isTemporaryDirectoryName(String dirName) {
-    return REGION_MERGES_DIR.equals(dirName) || REGION_SPLITS_DIR.equals(dirName)
-      || REGION_TEMP_DIR.equals(dirName);
-  }
-
   /**
    * Creates a directory. Assumes the user has already checked for this directory existence.
    * @return the result of fs.mkdirs(). In case underlying fs throws an IOException, it checks
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestHdfsSnapshotHRegion.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestHdfsSnapshotHRegion.java
index 3c86d1069264..650cb24d59d0 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestHdfsSnapshotHRegion.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestHdfsSnapshotHRegion.java
@@ -92,10 +92,9 @@ public void testSnapshottingWithTmpSplitsAndMergeDirectoriesPresent() throws Exc
     Path regionDirectoryPath = new Path(tableDir, encodedName);
     TEST_UTIL.getTestFileSystem()
       .create(new Path(regionDirectoryPath, HRegionFileSystem.REGION_TEMP_DIR));
-    TEST_UTIL.getTestFileSystem()
-      .create(new Path(regionDirectoryPath, HRegionFileSystem.REGION_SPLITS_DIR));
-    TEST_UTIL.getTestFileSystem()
-      .create(new Path(regionDirectoryPath, HRegionFileSystem.REGION_MERGES_DIR));
+    // Legacy directories created by split/merge before HBASE-26187
+    TEST_UTIL.getTestFileSystem().create(new Path(regionDirectoryPath, ".splits"));
+    TEST_UTIL.getTestFileSystem().create(new Path(regionDirectoryPath, ".merges"));
     // now snapshot
     String snapshotDir = client.createSnapshot(baseDir, "foo_snapshot");
     // everything should still open just fine