Arrow Park
Old Orange Turnpike - Rte 19, Monroe, Orange County, NY
144 acres

Directions:

From the NY Thruway (I-87) heading north, take exit 15A and proceed north on Rt. 17 through the Village of Tuxedo to the Red Apple Rest. Just 0.3 mile north of the Red Apple Rest turn left onto Old Orange Turnpike (County Route 19), drive 3.0 miles and turn left into the entrance at the Arrow Park gate.

History:

Arrow Park is a partially protected segment of land adjacent to the newly preserved Sterling Forest near the Appalachian Trail in Orange County, NY.  The land was acquired by the Orange County Land Trust.  Arrow Lake is the gateway to the newly preserved 18,000 acre Sterling Forest on the New Jersey-New York border.

1948  --  Arrow Park is a 477-acre wooded resort with a recreational lake. It started as a family retreat. A group of Russian, Ukrainian and Polish families from New York City bought Arrow Park to use as a country retreat on weekends and in summer.

2002  --  the park association, finding it difficult to pay the property taxes, sold 125 acres to New York state, which made the land part of Sterling Forest State Park. And it's negotiating with the Orange County Land Trust to sell the rest.

There is an ongoing Sterling Forest project that combines an interest in forest restoration (with white pines planted in the understory to replace the dying hemlocks) and one in memorial services (namely, family bereavement). The plan at Sterling Forest is to integrate the restoration and planting and maintenance of the memorial forest lands with on-going pediatric and family bereavement and conservation volunteer programs.

Groups of people who have been subject to a family tragedy (as were the families of the victims of  the September 11, 2001 tragedy) are brought to the memorial site to help the healing process.

The memorial services are provided through a partnership between the Walt Disney Company, Cavalry Hospital, the Orange County Land Trust and the New York City Fire Department (after 9-11). 

2002  (September 7)   --  a ceremony “Common Ground is Sacred Ground” held here unveiled a one ton totem pole (a "healing pole") that was carved by the Lummi Native American master carvers from a sister forest 3,000 miles away in Bellingham, Washington.

Sources:

Sterling Forest Project: http://www.livingmemorialsproject.net/toolbox/people/forest.htm

Chris McKenna, September 4, 2004, "9/11 totem pole will stand tall in Monroe park" Times Herald-Record. http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2002/09/04/camtote0.htm

Facilities:

Beach stand, refreshments, rowboats, fishing and swimming in lake. Rooms for rent. Admission. Daily July–Labor Day. 11–5:30.

Arrow Park, with its former private mansion, offers simple accommodations in an Adirondack lake-like setting.

Trails:

Arrow Trail along Arrow Lake

12/11/2004.  We found the gate closed with a sign saying "Sorry, We're Closed."