Location: Town of Sodus, Wayne County
Size: 627 acres
Description: This beautiful easement property contains forests, wetlands, working crop lands, and orchards. It has over 350 acres of woodlands, two creeks that feed Sodus Bay, marsh along the Bay, and rolling orchards on fields of fertile soil. The woods, fields, and wetlands of Alasa Farms provide resting areas for migrating songbirds on their journeys north to Canada and after their long flights from as far away as South America. The large wooded tracts of sugar maple, yellow birch, basswood, and hemlock found at Alasa Farms are home to forest-dwelling birds, a variety of mammals and amphibians, and a rich collection of native plants. The wooded creek corridors and the 30 acres of DEC Class II wetlands help to protect the water quality of the creeks on Alasa Farms and, subsequently, Sodus Bay.
Public Access: Cracker Box Palace owns the Alasa Farms property and invites all to be part of the farm operation through its festivals, activities, tours, camps, and opportunities to care for and love the animals. Cracker Box Palace is open for visitors to enjoy their farm and 7.5 miles of trails by appointment. For more information, contact Cracker Box Palace at 315-483-2493 or visit their website.
Visitors are also welcomed at Alasa Farms during scheduled walks led by Genesee Land Trust. Check the walks page to learn about upcoming walks.
Alasa Farms is featured as a Wayne County Trail Works Passport hiking trail. To learn more about the Trail Works Passport and hiking opportunities in Wayne County, visit https://trailworks.org.
Photos by John Griebsch, Nigel P. Kent, and Linda Clark
History: Alasa Farms has a rich history and has been home to a Shaker community and the Fourierist Utopian Society. Fourierism enjoyed a brief boom in the United States during the middle of the 1840s, and the Sodus Bay commune lasted just two years. Of the seventeen original buildings from the commune, only two frame houses still stand. Beginning in the 1920s, Alvah Griffen Strong made the farm the site of agricultural advancement with modern farming equipment and techniques.
Now, Alasa Farms is home to Cracker Box Palace, a farm animal rescue and rehabilitation sanctuary. The organization cares for over 150 farm animals, using the property’s historic barns. For more information, contact Cracker Box Palace at 315-483-2493 or visit their website.
Genesee Land Trust was granted a conservation easement in 2011 from property owner Alasa Farms, Inc. Genesee Land Trust has acquired the development rights to ensure that the property remains as open land “in perpetuity,” a natural oasis for wildlife, especially migratory birds, and a working farm. There are a few miles of hiking trails at Alasa Farms.
Getting There
Driving Directions: From Rochester, follow Route 104 East, just past the town of Alton. Turn left (north) on Route 14. Turn right at the T-intersection onto Ridge Road and take an immediate left onto Shaker Road. Cracker Box Palace at Alasa Farms is on the right, just before the intersection with Shaker Tract Road (Red Mill Road).
Approximate Address of Parking: 6450 Shaker Road, Town of Sodus, NY
GPS Coordinates: 43.233729,-76.97161