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Grafton Lakes State Park is a day use park. It encompasses 2,545 acres in the Rensselaer County

town of Grafton, New York. The park was established in 1963 with the purchase of land and
lakes from the city of Troy which were no longer necessary for the city’s water supply. The park
was opened to the public in 1971.
The park is mostly forested and is within the Rensselaer Plateau Forest Legacy Area which was
established in 2011. With the recent addition of land to the east of the main body of the park,
including access to the White Lily Pond area, there are six lakes in the park, four of which are
man made and two are natural. The central recreation area of the park is at the south end of Long
Pond, the site of a beach and bath house complex. The park also has approximately 21 miles of
trails, five picnic areas, seven pavilion and tent sites, boat rentals, snowshoe rentals and an
environmental education & interpretation program. People also come to the park for fishing and
hunting and to enjoy scenic views and wildlife observation.
Recently the Dickinson Hill Fire Tower was added to the park. This structure was put on the
National Register of Historic Places in 2010. The park also has three local family cemeteries.
The park’s swimming beach has often been cited in local newspapers as the most popular beach
in the capital district (Albany, Schenectady and Troy, NY and the surrounding urban and
suburban areas). This popularity, combined with its proximity to Albany and Troy, and its lakes
and natural beauty, have made the park a prime location for urban dwellers to spend the day
swimming and picnicking.