I grew up on Rock Beach Rd. in the White City area of Summerville on Lake Ontario. It was (and is) a truly great area to be a kid with a big beach, the river, sailing, some woods and Durand Eastman Park only a half mile away. White City did not get its name from any racial overtone- it was an encampment of white tents that people rented as summer cottages at the turn of the last century. The encampment was run by the trolley company to encourage use of its line that ran from downtown to the north end of St. Paul Boulevard. They built dancehalls, amusement parks and hotels. Today the area is home to the Rochester Yacht Club, several restaurants on or near the river, marinas and the US Coast Guard and Homeland Security Border Patrol.
It is primarily a residential area and all homeowners have beach access rights in their deeds. The beach, known as Summerville Beach or Windsor Beach, is a wide sandy beach about a half mile long. Waterfront housing on the beach is on a bluff and there is a permanent right of way easement in front of most of the houses. This path, whose address is Lakefront, is a beautiful way to walk through this relatively unchanged waterfront neighborhood, with views of the lake, the Webster shoreline, the Genesee River Piers and summer sunsets.
Housing in Summerville ranges in value from simple cottages with beach access at less than $100,000 to multi-million dollar mansions with private waterfront. Because we are on a national border with Canada, no homeowners may block walking access to the beaches in front of their homes. As a result, when the water levels are low, it is possible to walk the beach from the river all the way to the Irondequoit Bay entrance in Seabreeze and see some spectacular properties along the way.