Point Au Roche State Park, Nature reserve on Lake Champlain in Clinton County, New York
Point Au Roche State Park is a nature reserve spanning about 850 acres of forests, wetlands, and shoreline along Lake Champlain's western edge. The site features hiking trails, swimming areas, and fishing locations accessible from the main entrance near Plattsburgh.
The area was originally Native American land before becoming a military site during World War One. In the 1950s it briefly hosted a theme park before transforming into a nature preserve.
The nature center offers educational programs about local ecosystems and wildlife that visitors experience throughout the year. These initiatives help people understand the environment around the lake and its conservation needs.
The park is easiest to explore on clear days, and visitors should wear appropriate footwear for trails. Each season brings different activities, so plan your visit based on what you want to do.
The park briefly operated as Fantasy Kingdom amusement park in the 1950s, and visitors sometimes find remnants of rides and structures from that era. This unusual past gives the landscape an interesting hidden history layered beneath its current natural state.
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