Southwick Beach State Park

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Southwick Beach State Park is a New York State park along the eastern shore of Lake Ontario. The park is 500 acres (2.0 km²) in size; immediately to the south is the New York State Lakeview Wildlife Management Area, which is 3,461 acres (14.01 km²).[1] The park and management area lie within a rare, freshwater coastal barrier environment that consists of beaches, sand dunes, embayments and wetlands. They are in the Town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County, New York south of the lakeside community of Jefferson Park.

The park offers a sandy bathing beach, picnic tables, a playground and playing fields, recreation programs, a nature trail, hiking, an extensive campground with tent and trailer sites, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and a food concession.

The Lakeview Wildlife Management Area immediately to the south is also the Lakeview Marsh and Barrier Beach National Natural Landmark.[2] The Landmark was designated in 1973, and is cited as "One of the best and most extensive marshlands that lie in protected bays and behind barrier beaches along eastern Lake Ontario.

Some of the hiking and boating possibilities in Southwick Beach State Park and the Lakeview Wildlife Management Area are described at a website maintained by the New York Sea Grant Extension,[3] at a webpage created by Paul Duncan,[4] and in William P. Ehling's book, Fifty Hikes in Central New York.[5]

Southwick Beach State Park was named after the Southwick family, who owned the property from 1870 to 1960; the park is referred to as "Southwick's Beach State Park" on some maps. Starting in the 1920s, several promoters built entertainment facilities on the property. The most notable was Albert Ellis, who developed it as the "Coney Island" of Northern New York. In time, the beach boasted a roller coaster, bathhouses, a dance pavilion, merry go-round, and midway. Ellis also built a baseball field and organized the Jefferson County Amateur Baseball League, attracting large crowds. These businesses failed during the Great Depression. In 1960, the Leesi Management Corporation of Syracuse purchased the land from the Southwick family and operated the beach for five years. The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation purchased the 500-acre (2.0 km²) property (with a 3,500-foot (1,100 m) lakefront) in 1965 for $150,000; Southwick Beach State Park opened in May, 1966.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Eastern Lake Ontario Dunes and Wetlands," website maintained by the New York Sea Grant Extension, retrieved July 30, 2007.
  2. ^ "Lakeview Marsh and Barrier Beach" entry in registry of National Natural Landmarks. National Park Service website. Retrieved July 31, 2007.
  3. ^ "Lakeview Marsh Wildlife Management Area", webpage of the New York Sea Grant Extension. Retrieved April 21, 2008.
  4. ^ Duncan, Paul (2007). "Kayaking Lakeview Wildlife Management Area", webpage image from the Wayback Machine.
  5. ^ Ehling, William P. (1995). Fifty Hikes in Central New York: Hikes and Backpacking Trips from the Western Adirondacks to the Finger Lakes (Countryman Press). ISBN 978-0881503296.
  6. ^ "History of Southwick Beach State Park", webpage from a commercial website; no author, date, or primary references are provided. Archived 2008-02-29 by WebCite from this original URL.

[edit] External links