Parks and Preserves

An array of public recreation places, nature preserves, and historic sites enrich life on the river. These resources vary from the extended St. Lawrence Islands National Park to many diminutive village parks. They range from large Ft. Henry at Kingston to little Rock Island Lighthouse off Fishers Landing. Some are on islands, accessible only by boat, whereas most are on the mainland shores.

Photo by Ian Coristine © www.1000IslandsPhotoArt.com

Camelot Island, part of Thousand Islands National Park of Canada which consists of more than 20 islands lying between Kingston and Brockville.

We also have fourteen New York State Parks in the region, a few of them on islands serving boaters, but most of them accessible by automobile.

Wellesely Island State Park in 2004 was named as one of the Top 100 Campgrounds in the nation. In 2005 it was as one of Reserve America's Top Outdoor Locations.

Photograph courtesy Bill Dillon and Pat Watt.

Public nature preserves are supplemented by private areas accessible to the public. The Minna Anthony Common Nature Center is the largest nature center not only in the region, but in any New York state park and in all of northern New York. With three miles of shoreline, its six-hundred acre preserve is within 2600-acre Wellesley Island State Park, the largest undeveloped parcel of land in the Thousand Islands. Accessible by automobile, the Nature Center offers a natural history museum, a butterfly house, eight miles of trails for hiking and skiing, and many activities--a 36-foot voyageur canoe program, for instance, and a Thursday evening summer concert series, as well as nature walks, crafts, and family programs daily in season. [Also see the Friends of the Nature Centre website for more information]

The Thousand Islands Land Trust (TILT, Clayton, NY) conserves land in the Thousand Islands region of New York State, which includes the islands in and the shoreline along the St. Lawrence River between Cape Vincent, NY and Oak Point, NY on the US side of the Canada/US border. The river drains the Great Lakes Basin, and thus, is a critical part of the largest supply of fresh water on the planet.

TILT conserves the land it owns which are called preserves.   While some have restricted use, many TILT preserves and trails are open to the public, including Potters Beach,Zenda  Farm Preserve, the Grindstone Island Nature Trail, the Sissy Danforth Rivergate Trail, the Macsherry Trail on the Crooked Creek Preserve, the S. Gerald Ingerson Preserve and our future Otter Creek Nature Trail on the Otter Creek Preserve. These preserves and trails offer recreational opportunities for visitors, as well as environmental protection. Other lands owned by TILT include rocks and shoals in the St. Lawrence River, the historic Fort Haldimand, grasslands and forest which preserve wildlife habitat, and land donated to TILT for its scenic qualities.