Durand-Eastman Park
Encyclopedia
Durand-Eastman Park is a large park located partly in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...

, and partly in Irondequoit, New York
Irondequoit, New York
Irondequoit is a town in Monroe County, New York, USA. As of the 2010 census, the coterminous town-CDP had a total population of 51,692...

. It is administered by the Monroe County
Monroe County, New York
Monroe County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 744,344. It is named after James Monroe, fifth President of the United States of America. Its county seat is the city of Rochester....

 Parks Department under agreements with the City of Rochester and the Town of Irondequoit.

Geography

The park contains several lakes. The two largest are Durand Lake and Eastman Lake. The park's northern boundary is defined by 5,000 ft of Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...

 coastline. The most commonly used parts of the park are part of Rochester; the more remote areas are part of Irondequoit. The park is almost completely surrounded by Irondequoit, and is connected to Rochester by an easement.

History

Durand-Eastman Park was formally dedicated on May 22, 1909.
Historically, the beach at Durand-Eastman was much wider than it is today. In 1915, bath houses were built on the lakeshore. They became unusable in 1949 due to rising water levels. The building was eventually demolished.

At the turn of the century, Dr. Henry S. Durand owned a summer camp in Irondequoit. He and his friend George Eastman saw a need for a public park in the area, and towards this end, bought a number of farms around the Durand property. On January 28, 1907, they offered their land to the city of Rochester, "to be used as a public park forever, a tract of land of about 484 acres situate in the Town of Irondequoit on Lake Ontario," thus giving the common citizen rights to nearly a mile of public beach and adjacent lands on the Lake's shoreline. A year later the land was transferred to the city, and on May 22, 1909, Durand Eastman Park was formally dedicated.

In 1961, the City of Rochester made a 99-year agreement with the County of Monroe
Monroe County, New York
Monroe County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 744,344. It is named after James Monroe, fifth President of the United States of America. Its county seat is the city of Rochester....

 to maintain, administer and regulate Durand-Eastman Park. This agreement was later modified in 1975, but forms the basis for Durand-Eastman being a County Park. In 2001, the City of Rochester sold the 90.9 acres along the western edge of Durand-Eastman Park, commonly known as Camp Eastman, to the Town of Irondequoit.

Flora

Durand-Eastman School has a variety of trees and wildflowers. A 1937 source claims that the park "contains 395 varieties of native and foreign trees, shrubs, and plants."

The park's Slavin Arboretum contains an impressive collection of trees.

Fauna

Deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...

, raccoon
Raccoon
Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...

, Eastern Gray Squirrel
Eastern Gray Squirrel
The eastern gray squirrel is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus native to the eastern and midwestern United States, and to the southerly portions of the eastern provinces of Canada...

s, turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, and chipmunks are common animals in the park.

Recreation and facilities

The park has a municipal golf course, built as a 9 hole course in 1917, that was redesigned by Robert Trent Jones
Robert Trent Jones
Robert Trent Jones, Sr. was a golf course architect who designed about 500 golf courses in at least 40 US states and 35 other countries all around the world...

in 1933. Now it has 18 holes and a club house. There are hiking trails. Swimming was permitted at the park's Lake Ontario beach in 2006 for the first time in forty years. On May 26, 2007, the beach opened for the second straight season.The swimming area is slightly larger this year, extending an additional 25 yards west. The beach is staffed by lifeguards, groundspeople, and security personnel.

External links

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