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Tug Hill Recreation Guide

This guide was created to promote visitation and non-motorized recreation on and around the Tug Hill

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Northern Edge

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The Jefferson County portion of Tug Hill is a mix of agricultural communities, the city of Watertown and the Fort Drum military installation. It’s a stark transition from the bustling activity of the city to the vast rural farmlands of southern Jefferson County as one makes their way toward the Tug Hill. What Watertown offers in chain hotels, a vibrant downtown and urban recreation is balanced with the quiet, country roads-style crop stands and accessible forests in places such as Champion, Lorraine, Rodman, Rutland and Worth.

While Watertown and its 26,000 residents is one of the largest population centers in Northern New York State, the rural communities are sparsely populated places that have leveraged their rich soil to support various agriculture ventures to be enjoyed including dairy and crop farms offering great products such as Great Lakes Cheese in Adams and crop stands sprinkled throughout.

The Northern Edge of the Tug Hill offers some perfect “base camps” for your Tug Hill adventure, with a mix of familiar chain hotels and restaurants in Watertown mixed with mom-and-pop eateries, shops and roadside inns throughout the region. The northern and Core Forest portions of the Tug Hill are easily accessible from here, making it an ideal starting point for your visit.

Nearby Fort Drum has a unique footprint on Northern New York’s geography. The base is comprised of more than 100,000 acres and while most is utilized for Army operations, a portion is open to public fishing and hunting access. Black Creek and Remington Pond are popular spots for brown and brook trout.

For decades, the military has kept certain portions of its lands open to the public for recreational fishing and hunting opportunities, including those within the Tug Hill region. Popular spots on the military post to catch brown and brook trout can be found at Black Creek and Remington Pond.

Did You Know?

  • Fort Drum is the largest single-site employer in New York State, with more than 19,000 military and civilian personnel, and an additional 6,458 jobs generated in the regional economy.
  • There are currently 275,000 dairy cows producing 5.9 billion pounds of milk in Jefferson County.
  • Adams native Melville Dewey created the Dewey Decimal System, a classification system adopted by libraries worldwide.
  • Thompson Park in Watertown was developed under the direction of John C. Olmstead, a noted Boston landscape architect whose family’s firm had also designed Central Park in New York City.

For more information:

  • 1000 Islands International Tourism Council | visit1000islands.com
  • Greater Watertown North Country Chamber of Commerce | watertownny.com
  • Black River Blueway Project | blackriverny.com
  • Jefferson County Government | co.jefferson.ny.us
  • Jefferson County Economic Development | comefarmwithus.com
  • Fort Drum Regional Liaison Organization | fdrlo.org
  • 1000 Islands Farms and Food | AgVisit.com
  • Department of Environmental Conservation | dec.ny.gov

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visittughill.com is owned by the Tug Hill Tomorrow Land Trust.

Partners in promoting Tug Hill recreation include the Tug Hill Commission, 1000 Islands International Tourism Council,
Lewis County Chamber of Commerce, Oneida County Tourism and Oswego County Tourism.

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