Hiking the Sampson State Park trail along Seneca Lake. See the photos

About this feature: This column features the trail treks of Rosie the redbone hound and her companion, Daily Messenger reporter Julie Sherwood.

The story of Sampson State Park goes back to 1942 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved construction of a naval base on Seneca Lake.

We headed to Sampson State Park this week to check out its walking trail and discovered much more of its history. 

The park on Route 96A in Romulus covers over 2,000 acres on the eastern shore of Seneca Lake. Camping and boating are prime recreational activities.

The park’s shoreline trail is noteworthy, as one of just a few walking trails that run along the shore of a Finger Lake. 

The 3.3-mile, out-and-back trail is wide and flat, so easy for walking, running and biking. We saw people doing all three, but not too many people. Benches along the way perched atop steep banks offered a view of Seneca Lake, the deepest of all the 11 Finger Lakes. On this day it looked mighty cold. 

A distinctive feature of the trail: You can take a phone-based guided tour by calling the numbers given on informational placards — topics cover everything from glaciers to the Seneca Nation, and note that it is the "Lake Trout Capital of the World."

The park museum pays tribute to the decades that Sampson State Park was a military training ground, first for World War II, and later during the Korean War as an airfield to train Air Force personnel. In all, over three quarters of a million airmen and sailors were trained at Sampson. A war memorial honors Sampson veterans who lost their lives in service to their country.

The land was transferred to New York state in the 1960s, and began its new life as a recreational park.

Learn more about the park at: https://parks.ny.gov/parks/154/ or at Go Finger Lakes, at https://www.gofingerlakes.org/locations/sampson-state-park/.

Email jsherwood@messengerpostmedia.com or find Julie on Twitter: @MPN_JSherwood