Mexico Point State Park is a park on the eastern shore of
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border ...
in the town of
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
in
Oswego County
Oswego County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 117,525. The county seat is Oswego. The county name is from a Mohawk-language word meaning "the pouring out place", referring to the point at ...
,
New York. The park is located at the mouth of the
Little Salmon River.
History
The property that was to become Mexico Point State Park previously featured summer resorts as early as the mid-1800s, including the Mexico Point Club that existed at the property from the early 1900s through the 1950s. During the 1940s and early 1950s,
professional boxing champions
Carmen Basilio
Carmen Basilio (born Carmine Basilio, April 2, 1927 – November 7, 2012) was an American professional boxer who was the world champion in both the welterweight and middleweight divisions, beating Sugar Ray Robinson for the latter title. An ir ...
and Joey DeJohn utilized the property as a summer training camp.
The property was acquired by the
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation in the early 1960s, and remained undeveloped for many years. However, since 1992 the park has been developed and operated by the
Town of Mexico after local residents encouraged the town to enter into a long-term lease of the property with New York State. The state retains ownership of the property.
Park facilities
The park features a swimming beach on Lake Ontario, bathhouse, picnic facilities and nature trails.
Casey's Cottage, originally built as horse stables during the park's days as a resort and later remodeled as a medieval-style manor house, is claimed to be the site of
paranormal
Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...
activity. Ghost tours are occasionally held at the cottage.
The state continues to operate the Mexico Point Boat Launch across the river from the town-operated park, which receives approximately 20,000 visitors annually.
See also
* List of New York state parks
References
External links
Friends of Mexico Point ParkNew York State Parks - Mexico Point Boat Launch
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State parks of New York (state)
Parks in Oswego County, New York
Lake Ontario