Outdoorsman's home becomes newest state park

HENDERSON, N.Y. -- Sculptor, dog-breeder and outdoorsman Robert Wehle lived on a scenic hillside overlooking the entrance of Lake Ontario's Henderson Bay.

His landscaped home and studio is perched high up on 80-foot tall limestone cliffs, and sits amid open meadows and patches of red and white cedar stands. The kennels he used to raise and train his champion English pointers are preserved, inhabited now by the bronze dog statues he created.

On Sept. 17, this lakefront estate became New York's newest state park.

State parks commissioner Bernadette Castro said Wehle State Park "provides the public with access to a breathtaking spot. It helps tell the story of a great man. And it will generate ecotourism that will benefit the region economically."

The 1,067-acre park is located on Lake Ontario's Stony Point, about 65 miles north of Syracuse, just south of the mouth of the St. Lawrence River and the Thousand Islands region.

Wehle, who also headed Rochester-based Genesee Brewing Co. in the 1950s, died in July 2002.

Castro said the park has meadows, woods, wetlands and lawns and will offer fishing, hiking, bird-watching, biking, cross-country skiing and limited hunting.