Roscoe Conkling Park: Features

The park consists of the following components:

• The Parkway Recreation Center, the Val Bialis Ski Center, the Parkway tennis courts, and the children’s play area, all located on the park’s lower level, adjacent to the intersection of the Parkway and Oneida Street (there are parking lots off Oneida Street and on Parkway near Elm Street for those who want to access these features).
• The plateau, which is located on the hill above the recreation center and tennis courts and offers beautiful vistas of Utica and the Mohawk Valley. It is also the location of the large “Eagle” statue (1929), the creation of the noted American artist Charles Keck (1875-1951).
• The Utica Zoo (1914), an autonomous organization within the park, one of the few urban zoos in Upstate New York.
• The Valley View Golf Course (1925), a municipal golf course expanded and redesigned by the WPA in 1938 according to a plan devised by the renowned American golf course architect, Robert Trent Jones (1906-2000).
• The South Woods, home to a large contemporary picnic pavilion and the Switchbacks, a series of beautiful, zigzagging pedestrianized roads and paths covered by a beautiful canopy of tall trees, where visitors might encounter some of the oldest trees in the system, some of which are as much as 300 years old. The large pavilion near the entrance to the South Woods, off Steele Hill Road can be reserved for a fee by contacting the Office of the City Clerk (for information, consult https://www.cityofutica.com/government/city-clerks-office/ or call 315-792-0113).

Boys hanging out roadside Conkling Park, around 1915.

Mayor Thomas Wheeler accepting Thomas R. Proctor’s donation of Roscoe Conkling Park on behalf of the people of Utica in July 1909.

The Plateau, showing the Eagle (right) and the 1909 park dedication boulder (left), with the view of the Mohawk Valley. Commemoration of the park’s donation in July 1909 took place on this spot.

The view of Utica from another promontory at Conkling Park.

You will know you are the South Woods when you find this unmistakable sign at its entrance.

The South Woods pavilion.

The Switchbacks, the zig-zagging pedestrianized roads in the South Woods, a popular spot for hikers, joggers, snowshoers, and cross-country skiers.

A scene from the Switchbacks.

Snowshoeing in the Switchbacks.

Cross-country skiers at Roscoe Conkling Park.

The Parkway tennis courts in Conkling Park.

The aptly named Valley View Golf Course. Trails starting in the Switchbacks swing around and through parts of the golf course, occasionally offering view like this.