Our system of parks and historic sites was founded on the principle that everyone deserves affordable access to the outdoors. A century later, New York State Parks and Historic Sites is still helping New Yorkers reap the physical and mental benefits of connecting with nature and history. While our low fees for camping, park day-use, historic site admission, and golf are within the reach of most of our guests, there are always ways to save even more in every season. Read on to check out some pro tips!
Continue reading How to Save Money All Year at State Parks and Historic SitesTag Archives: Access Pass
By the Numbers: The Benefits of State Parks and Historic Sites
“This system was built for you.” Over the past 100 years, this ideal has driven our agency’s growth beyond its original visions. New York State’s parks and historic sites contribute to their communities’ sense of identity. Businesses thrive thanks to park and historic site visitors. Generations of New Yorkers have worked at our parks and sites, some for their entire career, others for a season.
New York’s historic preservation initiatives have also had a positive ripple effect. Designating heritage areas and preserving landmarks sparked community pride — and investment. Tax credits help both individual homeowners and commercial developers preserve and re-develop historic structures. The State and National Registers of Historic Places and the Historic Business Preservation Registry fosters connections with the past.
Throughout 2024, we celebrated the intangible benefits of our system by collecting your visitor memories and offering hundreds of special events and activities. As we look to 2025 and beyond, let’s explore the ways in which our agency benefits all New Yorkers, by the numbers.
Continue reading By the Numbers: The Benefits of State Parks and Historic Sites
State Parks’ 20th Century Evolution
Following our 2024 Centennial anniversary, we will continue to share the story of New York State’s park and historic site system through our interactive history timeline, Blazing a Trail: A History of NY State Parks and Historic Sites. In recent months, we have added two eras detailing the latter half of the 20th century. Starting in 1960 and spanning to the turn of the millennium, these stories outline some of the largest periods of expansion in the system’s history and explore radical changes which defined the modern-day mission of New York State Parks.
Continue reading State Parks’ 20th Century Evolution
Celebrating A Century Of Affordability At State Parks
If you’ve explored our Blazing A Trail Centennial timeline, you’ll know that the creation of New York’s state park system was influenced in part by two larger social movements: A new environmental conservation movement that sought to protect open spaces from development, and a growing social reform movement that sought to address the inequalities that arose during America’s Gilded Age of the late 1800s.
The state park system was founded on the value of the outdoors to public physical and mental health, and the pressing need to preserve land for public use. In a statement supportive of the 1924 State Park Plan, then-state senator Nathan Straus Jr. said:
Continue reading Celebrating A Century Of Affordability At State Parks“The city dweller often forgets that he is closely related to the other members of the animal kingdom. Like the other members, he loves the earth and the trees and craves contact with the soil. Sensing instinctively the need of the open country, the wealthy city man joins a golf club and organizes a fish and game reservation where he can enjoy camping and outdoor life. The city dweller of moderate means has the same cravings and the same needs. But when he takes his family out for a Sunday, or for a longer outing, he finds himself on a congested road hemmed in by private property, which is marked with the sign “No Trespassing.” Where is he to go? The answer is, the state park.”
New York State Parks and Historic Sites Blog 