Wonder Lake State Park

The park has wooded portions to the northwest and southeast, rugged topography and scattered ravines (just change the parking map tab format to “Terrain”). Most of the site is covered with mixed hardwood, ledges, seasonal streams, and rivulets.  Located in the southeastern portion of the property is a series of meadows surrounded by stone walls.

Acquired by New York State in 1998, this park remained almost unknown, or at least unused, because its location was landlocked by private property. The expansion in 2006 to 973 acres (from the original 794, and now even larger) provided critical public access to the property. The main parking area and entrance is on Ludingtonville Road with additional limited on-street parking on Mooney Hill Rd, near Manor Road, and near where the Highlands Trail enters the park (see Map Tab).

The site has a colorful history. The home of Sybil Ludington was in the vicinity. In 1777, at the age of 16, she rode a nighttime 40-mile loop to muster her father’s troops during the Revolutionary War. More recently, the land was a country estate and the summer home of actress Elizabeth Montgomery.

The park is administered by the Taconic Region office of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (although in 2011 it is not yet included on the park roster). Trail building is being conducted by the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference. Please check the East Hudson Trail Crew schedule for volunteer trail building opportunities.

GPS address: 380 Ludingtonville Road, Holmes, NY 12531

The park is located along Ludingtonville Road, which parallels I-84 between exits 17 and 18 in Putnam County. The signed parking area is on the east side of Ludingtonville Road.

• Exit 17 -- turn east off I-84 onto Ludingtonville Road (also called County Route 43).  Continue east as Loudingtonville Road curves around Stump Lake followed by other twists and turns leading, in approximately 1.5 miles, to the parking lot for Wonder Lake Park on the left. 
• Exit 18 -- turn east off I-84 onto Route 311.  In roughly 1,000 feet turn left onto Ludingtonville Road, head northwest to the parking area on the right.