Sojourner Truth State Park
MASS
Sojourner Truth State Park, led by landscape architecture and urban design firm Field Operations, transforms an underutilized post-industrial landscape into a new local and regional recreation hub through a new swimming pavilion, comfort station, and adaptive reuse of a historic Mule Barn.
Named for 19th century African American abolitionist and suffragist Sojourner Truth, the park leverages the landscape’s rich cultural, industrial, historic, and geologic elements, repurposing the former industrial brownsite into an open community space.
Field Operations’ transformation of the new park reactivates a previously-underutilized 500 acre post-industrial landscape into a new local and regional swimming and recreation destination just outside Kingston, New York.
New York State Parks & Historic Sites
MASS, in partnership with Field Operations, helped to produce conceptual and interpretive documents exploring the site’s industrial and geological past, the ecological and environmental present, and the accessible future, leveraging community stakeholders and organizations to help envision the larger redesign of the park.
MASS designed a new swimming pavilion and restroom building, and are working to salvage an historic mule barn for future park use. Buildings are all electric from rooftop photovoltaics, and utilize materials sourced from the region and the site directly. Shade overhangs along the common areas offer visitors a place to rest, view nature and converse in comfort.
New gabion walls incorporate reclaimed concrete for the restroom building, and locally quarried stone for the swimming pavilion. Reclaimed brick, concrete, and stone are used for infill throughout the landscape and correspond to the local histories of the space, placing the materials near the original locations of the historic cement plant and brickyards.
MASS
The park will celebrate the spirit and legacy of Sojourner Truth at new sites of gathering, building upon the existing community spaces across the park to uplift contemporary truth-telling and community empowerment.
As visitors explore the park, they will be captivated by interpretive experiences that clarify the interconnections of natural and human histories on site, with a particular focus on shifting communities, land use, and impact, both in the past and looking towards the future.
New York State Parks & Historic Sites
New York State Parks & Historic Sites
The new pavilion and swimming area opened in the Summer of 2026, transforming an abandoned quarry into an accessible public asset. Featuring a swimming area larger than two Olympic-size swimming pools, Lake Sophia can accommodate hundreds of swimmers a day through an ADA-accessible swim crib designed by Field Operations, as well as an adjacent deep-water swimming zone within the lake itself.
The pavilion transforms the park’s spring-fed quarry lake, adjacent to the Hudson River, into a public swimming destination and place for Kingston-area residents and community to gather, relax and find reprieve from increased summer heat.
New York State Parks & Historic Sites
New York State Parks & Historic Sites
Field Operations
Field Operations
Future phases of the park are in active development and construction, planning for the full park to open in 2027 with additional common spaces, walking trails, and scenic overlooks for visitors to experience and enjoy.
