[Albany] Buckingham Lake (Comments: 0)
Author: Jason Crane
Date: 20 April, 2008
Category: Albany, Jason Crane, Road Stories, Xtracycles / Cargo Bikes
When I was at the Adirondack Sports & Fitness Expo yesterday, two NYBC folks — Amy and her daughter Laurel — told me about Buckingham Lake (also known as Buckingham Pond or Rafts Pond), an idyllic little spot right outside of downtown Albany. The lake is nestled at the end of several neighborhood streets. I rode down one of them and found Laurel in her front yard, picking lovely little blue flowers.
“I remember you from yesterday!” she said, and handed me a flower. We chatted for a minute, then I cycled off down the street to the lake.
A sign at the entrance had this bit of history:
This lake has been known by a number of different names. Among them were Raft’s Pond and Berkshire Pond. It is shown on an 1884 map as a portion of the westerly branch of the Beaver Creek. At that time it was just outside the city limits. This body is fed by a perched water table which surfaces in the area of the lake as well as from storm-water runoff. During 1931 the City of Albany acquired property around Buckingham Lake and ordered the grading of the land which continued through 1933. In 1977, the lake was dredged and in 1992 the stilling basic west of the lake was added. Aerators were added to improve water quality in 1997. The park and surrounding area are a part of the City of Albany park system.
Talk about an urban oasis! The lake was teeming with ducks, robins and other birds that someone smarter than I could probably identify. There were joggers, walkers, parents with strollers, adults with kids on trail-a-bikes, mountain bikers — you name it, someone was doing it at Buckingham Lake. I docked the Packet Boat on the shore of the lake and read for a while, stopping to take pictures of the cyclists as they passed.
After a while, I hopped on the Packet Boat, held my camera in one hand and shot a video of the trail ride around the lake. It’s about 4 and a half minutes long, and a little wobbly in some bits:
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