Fair Haven State Park
Photo(c)Brenda Potter Reynolds. Fair Haven State Park.
New Haven State Park is one of the loveliest of the Finger Lakes State Parks. It has awesome views of Lake Ontario; a shaded, grassy picnic area; and incredible, colorful sunsets.
I’ve camped at Fair Haven for several years now with my husband and son. We like to canoe Sterling Pond within the park and camp in the Lakeview Section, while my son and his friends would rather bike down to the beach and hang out at the park store. My husband Nate and I would always try to be at the campsite when the sun went down so we could catch those incredible sunsets.
I first visited Fair Haven State Park many years ago when some friends from Rochester suggested that we meet there for a picnic. I loved the picnic area and playground, watching the multi-colored sailboats head out to Lake Ontario, and walking out on the pier that reaches out into the lake.
The bluff isn’t the only nice camping area at Fair Haven, it’s just one of our favorites. There’s camping sites around the pond, on the bluff, and on a drumlin*. The park also has cabins available for rent.
*According to the Encyclopedia Britannica Online, a drumlin is an oval or elongated hill believed to have been formed by the streamlined movement of glacial ice sheets across rock debris, or till. The name is derived from the Gaelic word druim (“rounded hill,” or “mound”) and first appeared in 1833.
“drumlin.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 21 Aug. 2007 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9001619>.
If you’d like more information about New Haven State Park, their phone number is (315) 947-5205. If you’d like to camp there, the phone number for reservations is (800) 456-2267.