What do you and your family do to cool off here in the Hudson Valley? If you don’t have a pool, do you search for places to go, like a public pool? Maybe your town has a park with a lake and a beach. Or maybe you can enjoy both by heading to the plake. You read it correctly. A plake.

You’re probably wondering what the heck a plake is, and where can you find one. It’s the best of a pool and a lake, and you can find it right here in the Hudson Valley. The Dutchess County town of Beekman has announced the official opening of the Beekman Rec Plake on June 25.  The plake combines the best parts of a pool with the best parts of a lake. 

They’ve brought in sand from Long Island, so it’s definitely beachy. Fresh water is continually drawn from a creek into the swim area, and like a pool, the water is filtered and chlorinated. The bottom of the plake is bulldozed and cleaned each spring with new stone and sand spread eliminating muck and weeds. And there is a sand castle contest every weekday, plus you can rent boats. You can’t do that at a pool, but at a plake you can.

Plakes are pretty cool, aren’t they? And the only one I know of around here is the one in Beekman. If you are interested in learning more about the Beekman Rec Plake or you want to find out about beach memberships, visit the Beekman Recreation website.

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