Roscoe Conkling Park: Overview
Roscoe Conkling, the US Senator, Utica resident, and New York State Republican boss.
At 385 acres, it is by far the largest of the parks in Utica’s Olmsted parks and parkway system—fittingly, as it was named for a larger-than-life figure, Utica’s Roscoe Conkling (1829-88), a leading member of the United States Senate in the 1870s and “the power behind throne” in Washington during the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant.
This park was the Proctor family’s first collaboration with Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and their work together on this park initiated over three decades of engagement by Olmsted Brothers in the Utica area—in the design of parks and the Parkway, consulting with the City of Utica and other local institutions about the Parkway and other civic spaces, devising landscapes for private homes in and around Utica, and designing 5 neighborhoods in Utica and 1 in the adjacent suburban community New Hartford for local real estate developers.
Activities
This park is free and open to the public from dawn to dusk, 365 days annually. The park has two vehicular entrances: off Oneida Street (next to and not to be mistaken with the Forest Hill Cemetery gate) and off Valley View Road. These gates are open to cars during daylight from mid-April until early November.
When the gates are closed, even in winter, pedestrians can enter during daylight, but they should note that there is very limited parking adjacent to the Valley View gate (and parking there is permitted during the weekends only), and if you enter the park on foot by way of the Oneida Street gate, you will need to walk a half mile steeply uphill before you arrive at the summit and the Eagle monument.
The area around the Parkway Recreation Center, tennis courts, and Oneida Street playground are accessible during daylight hours. Parking lots located just off both Oneida Street and the Parkway are open year-round even when the park gates are closed; please note, though, that the interior of the park, which is at a higher elevation, is not easily accessible on foot from these areas.
There is also a parking lot, open year-round during daylight hours, adjacent to the Valley View Golf Course clubhouse, which is accessible by car or foot from the both the Parkway and Valley View Road; this offers easier options for hiking into the park interior. From the clubhouse lot, you can walk along a path to the east, between the golf course and Valley View Road, that can lead you to the entrance of the South Woods and the rest of the interior of the park. Another option is to walk west from the clubhouse parking lot to a road leading up and over the hill and into the interior (if you take this latter route, bear to the left at the fork at the top of the hill and then walk back downward to get to the South Woods, or to the right to go to the Eagle).
Finally, skiing and sledding are not formally permitted and done entirely at your own risk; the steepest hills can be very treacherous in winter.
Roscoe Conkling Park: Overview
Roscoe Conkling, the US Senator, Utica resident, and New York State Republican boss who was a kingmaker in Washington, DC, in the 1870s and early 1880s, widely seen as the power behind President Ulysses S. Grant.
At 385 acres, it is by far the largest of the parks in Utica’s Olmsted parks and parkway system—fittingly, as it was named for a larger-than-life figure, Utica’s Roscoe Conkling (1829-88), a leading member of the United States Senate in the 1870s and “the power behind throne” in Washington during the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant.
This park was the Proctor family’s first collaboration with Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and their work together on this park initiated over three decades of engagement by Olmsted Brothers in the Utica area—in the design of parks and the Parkway, consulting with the City of Utica and other local institutions about the Parkway and other civic spaces, devising landscapes for private homes in and around Utica, and designing 5 neighborhoods in Utica and 1 in the adjacent suburban community New Hartford for local real estate developers.
Activities
This park is free and open to the public from dawn to dusk, 365 days annually. The park has two vehicular entrances: off Oneida Street (next to and not to be mistaken with the Forest Hill Cemetery gate) and off Valley View Road. These gates are open to cars during daylight from mid-April until early November.
When the gates are closed, even in winter, pedestrians can enter during daylight, but they should note that there is very limited parking adjacent to the Valley View gate (and parking there is permitted during the weekends only), and if you enter the park on foot by way of the Oneida Street gate, you will need to walk a half mile steeply uphill before you arrive at the summit and the Eagle monument.
The area around the Parkway Recreation Center, tennis courts, and Oneida Street playground are accessible during daylight hours. Parking lots located just off both Oneida Street and the Parkway are open year-round even when the park gates are closed; please note, though, that the interior of the park, which is at a higher elevation, is not easily accessible on foot from these areas.
There is also a parking lot, open year-round during daylight hours, adjacent to the Valley View Golf Course clubhouse, which is accessible by car or foot from the both the Parkway and Valley View Road; this offers easier options for hiking into the park interior. From the clubhouse lot, you can walk along a path to the east, between the golf course and Valley View Road, that can lead you to the entrance of the South Woods and the rest of the interior of the park. Another option is to walk west from the clubhouse parking lot to a road leading up and over the hill and into the interior (if you take this latter route, bear to the left at the fork at the top of the hill and then walk back downward to get to the South Woods, or to the right to go to the Eagle).
Finally, skiing and sledding are not formally permitted and done entirely at your own risk; the steepest hills can be very treacherous in winter.