Sampson State Park
Sampson State Park is a state park located in Seneca County, New York. The park is south of the city of Geneva in the Town of Romulus on the east shore of Seneca Lake, one of the Finger Lakes.
The park is located on the site of the former Sampson Naval Training Station, which later became the Sampson [Air Force Base].
History
During World War II, the site was the location of the Sampson Naval Training Station; during the Korean War, it became the Sampson Air Force Base, again providing basic training. It is also located next to the former Seneca Army Depot, a munitions storage site. Most buildings are gone leaving a network of of once-paved roads and trails in a wooded area. The surviving building housing the "brig" today hosts a museum featuring displays that depict the activities and lives of the hundreds of thousands of Navy and Air Force personnel as they trained to go to war at Sampson.After the United States declared the site as surplus, it was purchased in 1960 by the New York [State Council of Parks] for $500,000.
Both the state park and the former naval training station are named after Rear Admiral William T. Sampson, who was born in nearby Palmyra.