From the beautiful Seneca and
Highland Parks, both designed by 19th-century landscape genius Frederick Law
Olmsted, to Durand-Eastman Park, where you can feel the immensity of that Great
Lake, here is just a partial list of some of our favorite parks in the Monroe
County (256-4950, www.monroecounty.gov) and City of Rochester (428-6767 or
428-6755, www.cityofrochester.gov) systems.
Cobbs Hill Park Culver Road and Norris
Drive
As the highest publicly accessible point in Rochester,
this park offers one of the best views of the downtown skyline. Its circular
access road also makes it a popular destination for runners and walkers.
Durand-Eastman Park Lakeshore Boulevard
There’s an abundance of forest and wetlands to explore, and
there’s no better way to experience Rochester’s
LakeOntario
coastline.
EllisonPark and Wetlands Blossom and Landing
Roads, Brighton and Penfield
You’ll hear people call this “the dog park.” A pathed loop
along the creek makes a nice stroll, but the park has a lot more depth than
that.
GeneseeValleyPark (East) 200 Elmwood Avenue
Here, the GeneseeRiver
intersects with the state BargeCanal
(this is where they moved the Erie Canal after taking it
out of downtown) and Red Creek. Meanwhile, the Genesee Valley Greenway meets a
plethora of local trails, making this an ideal spot to start or end a journey
by foot or paddle.
Highland Park450
Highland Avenue
Famous for its signature local lilacs and their eponymous
festival each spring, there’s something to offer year-round at this hilly Rochester
arboretum. For an extra treat, track down the SunkenGarden.
Lehigh Valley Linear
Trail Park East River, Quaker Meeting House, West Bloomfield, and Mile
Square Roads, Rush and Mendon
This 15-mile long park is really a trail that wends its way
through the towns of Rush and Mendon in the southern end of the county, perfect
for walking, biking, or skiing.
Mendon Ponds Park Clover Street and Pittsford-Mendon
Center Road, Pittsford and Mendon
It’s been a National Natural Historic landmark for three and
a half decades while boasting 30 acres of trails and half a dozen ponds, all
set in a unique glacier-carved landscape.
OntarioBeachPark 4800 Lake
and Beach Avenues
The crown of Charlotte,
this park blends the energy of the city with the expansive presence of LakeOntario.
SenecaPark and Zoo St. Paul Street
Originally meant to bookend the city as the northern
counterpart to GeneseeValleyPark, this gem perched on the edge
of the GeneseeRiver
gorge is now home to the county zoo and a few miles of wooded trails.
WebsterParkLake
and Holt Roads, Webster
A popular destination for sledding and cross-country skiing,
there’s plenty to do year-round in this quintessential park.
Mt. Hope Cemetery Mt. Hope and Elmwood Avenues
OK, it’s not a park, per se, but it’s still definitely worth
visiting. In addition to the final resting places of some of our greatest local
luminaries, the cemetery contains steep hillsides, glacial eskers, and enough
trees to be a forest.
Further afield, here are a couple of regional parks that are
worth the drive. Find out more at www.nysparks.com.
HamlinBeachState ParkOne
Camp Road, Hamlin
HamlinBeach
makes for the perfect LakeOntario
daytrip. There are 10 miles of trails for hiking, biking, skiing, or
snowmobiling, plus launches for car-top boats and an environmental
interpretative center in the Yanty Creek marsh.
Chimney Bluffs Garner and EastBay
Roads, Sodus
When glaciers retreated from this part of the globe they
left deposits of earth and rock. When these meet the shore
of LakeOntario
and begin to erode, the result is a cluster of unique and fanciful shapes in
the cliff-like bluffs.
Letchworth
State Park One Letchworth State Park, Castile
Billed as the “Grand Canyon of the
East,” this destination lives up to the name. At just over 50 miles from Rochester
(about an hour’s drive) there’s no excuse not to visit.
Allegany State Park Allegany State Park Route
1, Salamanca
At 65,000 acres Allegany clocks in as the largest park in
the state system (the Adirondacks and Catskills are
preserves). It’s hard to imagine a better playground for all your outdoor
pursuits.
This article appears in Mar 22-28, 2006.
