Boughton Park

West Pond from pavilion point. (Photo by the so-called “old guy” with the dreaded and utterly reprehensible Nikon D100 camera.)

My dog loves Boughton Park (“BOW-tin;” as in “wow”).
Boughton Park is special.
Not just anyone can use it.
You have to be a resident and/or taxpayer of the three rural Ontario County towns that own it: Victor, and East and West Bloomfield.
On top of that, you have to have a permit, signified by the parking-sticker on your car.
These are available free from the three town clerks.
Eons ago the area was just two deep creek defiles northwest of Bloomfield village.
The Monroe County town of Fairport decided to buy the area and dam both creek defiles for a water supply.
Large earthen dams were built, with concrete overflow spillways at one end of each.
Two ponds were formed, and concrete valve-boxes installed, to tap pond water into supply piping for Fairport.
The area remained that for a long time.
I remember riding bicycle on Stirnee (“Ster-nee”) Road, past the “Fairport Water Supply” — no trespassing.
Eventually, demand for water in Fairport outstripped the Fairport Water Supply, so Fairport switched to Monroe County Water Authority.
The water-supply was put up for sale.
It’s a beautiful area, and private developers were hot to snap it up.
But the three towns interceded, wanting to make the area a town park.
Their desire was to keep it what it is: beautiful.
The State of New York weighed in with grandiose plans to open swimming, and make it a public park.
But thankfully the three towns walked away, thereby refusing a large sum of money.
They wanted to keep it what it was: rustic and beautiful.
So swimming is not allowed.
About all you can do with the ponds is paddle your canoe or rowboat or kayak.
Powerboats are forbidden. The ponds are too small to stretch out a motorboat.
And there is outside storage in the park for your watercraft — although you have to register.
And you can fish. The ponds have been stocked.
What I do is walk my dog on the hiking trails.
The long trail circumnavigating the two ponds has bridges over wet spots, but most of the footing is difficult — all roots.
The road in is great, as is the trail north and northwest of the West Pond — the routes I run.
An inside trail is more rustic; no bridges over wet spots.
To my dog, this is hunting.
I keep her leashed because I have to. Without it she’d run away.
Squirrels and chipmunks abound, as do deer.
During deer-season, the deer hang out in the park.
There’s no hunting, and a dog chasing deer is illegal.


The park is within the roads surrounded by the red lines, although the eastern border is a golf-course, and the northern border pasture. (Screenshot of Google satellite image.)

About 15 years ago I joined the Boughton Park Commission, a volunteer board that oversees the park.
Its membership has at least two West Bloomfield members, and the other two towns have three and four, I think.
The number of members reflected each town’s financial participation in purchasing and maintaining the park.
Largest was Victor.
At that time, one West Bloomfield member was resigning, and they were fishing for another.
I thought I’d try it to see if I could do it, having just had a stroke.
I was on that commission for years, although I never did much. The extent of my participation seemed limited by my condition. My speech-center was effected by my stroke, so I avoid talking.
I also avoided volunteering for anything — although I wasn’t the only one. I helped the commission president survey our tools. I was the only one who did.
The one with the most work was always the commission president. People would call and threaten to sue.
To have a large group at the park you had to have permission; the prez usually got roped into this.
It was always the old waazoo: trying to keep the park rustic and beautiful, and not trashed by its users.
The main thing I did on the commission was a brochure for the park. Since I worked at Messenger newspaper, they thought I was eminently qualified to oversee this.
They wanted to xerox a scribbled drawing as a map of the park.
I would have none of it. If I was doing that brochure, it was going to be a class act.
We weren’t in a position to hire a public-relations guru, so I set about designing that brochure myself.
We also couldn’t afford a glitzy color brochure on expensive paper, but I thought we could produce a one-color (black) brochure that was really classy.
And so was produced brochure #1, black ink on yellow paper, 8&1/2 by 11, folded into three.

The infamous Boughton Park hamberger sticker. (This one expired a while ago.)

The cover had a black & white scan of the famous Boughton Park hamburger-sign, and a photo of canoists a board-member supplied.
Inside was a map a friend and I did in the Freehand® computer software — it looked much more professional than a scribbled xerox.
The rear cover was a history of that park I had written for the brochure, which they continue to use.
The inside fold had the park regulations.
I resigned the commission a while ago, mainly because attending the board meetings was becoming impossible. They were on the same day I was producing much of the Messenger-Post web-site. I wouldn’t get done until after six, and the board-meetings were at 7:30 or so. Forget supper!
Plus I wasn’t doing much of anything anyway — about all I had was that first brochure.
Still, I use that park almost every day of the week. I run there, and walk my dog.
Almost every dog we’ve ever had has thoroughly enjoyed that park. One is buried there.
Our current dog hits that park most every day. Mention that park, and ya got a dog in your face.

• RE: “‘Old guy’ with the dreaded and utterly reprehensible Nikon D100.......” —My macho, blowhard brother-from-Boston, who is 13 years younger than me, calls me “the old guy” as a put-down (I also am the oldest). I also am loudly excoriated by all my siblings for preferring a professional camera (like the Nikon D100) instead of a point-and-shoot. This is because I long ago sold photos to nationally published magazines.
• We live in the small rural town of West Bloomfield in Western N.Y. in “Ontario County.” Adjacent is the rural town of East Bloomfield, and to the north is the larger town of Victor. Rochester is in “Monroe County,” farther north, and “Fairport” is a suburb adjacent to Rochester to the east, along the Erie Canal.
• Most water in Monroe County is supplied by the “Monroe County Water Authority.”
• I had a stroke October 26, 1993, and it slightly compromised my speech. (Difficulty putting words together.)
• The “Messenger” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger newspaper, from where I retired almost four years ago. Best job I ever had. —In the end I was doing their Internet web-site; although iteration #3. By now they are probably over iteration #6.
• “Messenger-Post” is essentially MPNmedia. The Messenger bought the nine Post weekly newspapers when their publisher retired, becoming Messenger-Post. At first I was doing Post content for their web-site, but eventually ended up doing the Messenger.