Sunset Bay Park

SCRIBA WEATHER

Sunset Bay Park is a quaint lakeside park on the east end of the town of Scriba, situated right next to the the nuclear power plants there. Within the park itself, the plants cannot be seen and you’d never know they were there to begin with. The long park road takes visitors from the entrance, past a playground and small picnic area next to rows of apple trees, remnants of the privately owned orchards that once existed here.

A large open gravel and grass parking area, at first, led me to believe this park would get crowds in summer, but was nearly empty on the sunny August Saturday I visited. Apparently, its size is to accommodate trucks and trailers for the boat launch, which seems to be the major draw of the park. Aside from a few people enjoying walks on the length of the park road, the park was virtually empty, which I found enjoyable.

Lake views can be had from the shoreline, which is dominated by the large concrete launch, designated for town residents with permits only. A good deal of the rocky shores surrounding it, as well as any paths I could find leading up to the lake were marked with “no trespassing” signs. The Scriba parks department seems to be in the habit of plastering the park with unwelcoming signs that make visitors feel like children rather than guests. There is an unwelcoming vibe to some areas. The restrictions around the shoreline are perplexing, since that should be the draw for most guests. I get “no swimming,” but “no trespassing”? Alas, it looked like a fun beach to explore.

A nature trail runs up the west side of the park across old plots of land where 19th century orchards once stood. Along the way, you’ll encounter old foundations, walls, and even stone chimneys on land that was abandoned to make way for a proper buffer zone around the nuclear plants. There are a few playgrounds, an open field, pavilions, not much else.

The Town of Scriba was incorporated in 1811 from Scriba’s Patent, with settlement beginning in 1798. In 1848, the portion of the town known as East Oswego was split off to join the City of Oswego. In its early years, Scriba’s main industry was agriculture, particularly apple orchards and dairy farming. Strawberries were also produced and shipped elsewhere, and muck farming became more popular later on. The establishment of the railroad and roadways spurred further development within the town. During the 1960s/1970s, four industrial plants, including the county’s nuclear power plants, were established in the town. These facilities are the primary employers in Scriba today.

The plot of land the park now sits on was privately owned since up until the 1960s when many of the private lots were acquired by local governments to provide a buffer for the construction of the power plants. For a time the land alongside the lake was used as an apple orchard.

The west side of the park has a wooded nature trail that runs nearly the length of the park, beginning near the entrance and ending at the pavilion at the north side of the park. It is an easy dirt trail. Another similar trail can be found on the east side of the park, but it seemed pretty overgrown when I visited it. I did not map either trail while I was there.

While the park is plastered with rule signs, I did not see anything explicitly prohibiting fishing. Beach access is mostly prohibited, but the right side of the boat launch didn’t have any signs posted, so it seems like you could cast from there.

Nuclear Power Plants

The park is situated next to two nuclear power plants. The Nine Mile Point Clean Energy Center has been in operation since 1969. The plant contains two nuclear reactors housed in 2 units, capable of generating 1,907 megawatts of electricity. The James A. FitzPatrick Clean Energy Center, which went live in 1975, has one reactor capable of 842 megawatts.

Stone Walls

The wooded areas on the east and west sides of the park have a patchwork of stone walls. Two of these extend toward the park road south of the large parking area. More walls can be seen along the nature trail on the west side of the park. These stone walls date back to early settlers who would clear the land for farming, using the stones they removed from the fields to construct walls to separate plots of land. Some walls date back to the early 1800s. The layout of these walls is easily seen from satellite imagery.

Stones

• The shoreline is lined with large flat stones of interesting shapes and varieties. They make for good foreground material in lake landscape shots.

More tips

• See the Articles and Message Board sections for more photography tips.

Town of Scriba Parks & Recreation
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 315-207-2068