LEWISTON — New York State Parks has completed another refurbishment effort at a Niagara County location, with Joseph Davis State Park getting a $3.4 million facelift.
“It was sometimes considered the lost child, It needed more love,” said Niagara Region Director Mark Mistretta Monday, noting it is hard to get around to the 21 sites they oversee. The last renovations Joseph Davis received took place 15 years ago.
When visitors come inside the park, they will see the former parking lot by its former Olympic-sized swimming pool removed and returned to green space, Park Road converted for pedestrian use, and a new all-inclusive playground at its main parking lot. Restrooms and concessions were restored, new signage was put in, and the disc golf course going through the park received some improvements.
Work officially finished a few weeks ago, but details still need to be added to some of the greenway signs throughout the park. Over the weekend, Buffalo Niagara Disc Golf hosted its tournament Spartan Discs Open which had around 144 players.
The park had 146,305 visitors in 2024, part of 88.3 million visitors that state parks tallied in 2024.
It’s the second such opening for state park improvements this spring season, the other being a new $12 million trail connector down the Niagara Escarpment at Artpark State Park.
The funding includes $1.3 million from New York Works, $700,000 from the Niagara River Greenway, $500,000 from the Environmental Protection Fund, and $900,000 from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The remaining amount comes from state parks.
Greenway Executive Director Greg Stevens said this park is also an important portion of the multi-use trail the Niagara River Greenway has planned between Old Fort Niagara and Buffalo Harbor State Park. The previous route would go into the park from the Niagara Scenic Parkway onto Pletcher Road, Park Road, and Lower River Road.
The Greenway Standing Committee approved funding for a Youngstown trail project that would travel between Fort Niagara and the Youngstown Estates neighborhood. There would need to be a separate project connecting Youngstown Estates to Joseph Davis State Park.
The greenway’s other role at the park is as a conservation space, with the nearly 400-acre park featuring habitats for migratory birds passing through the area.
As part of the signage showing people directions and the park’s history, it will also feature information about the Hopkins family. Farmland the family owned for generations became the basis for the state park.