Albion Town Oswego's big attraction is the Salmon River fishing
Albion Town Oswego is a small Oswego County town situated along the Salmon River and amongst state forests. It includes smaller villages, with Altmar being the biggest and most prominent, though there’s also Albion Center and Howardville. While it only has a few restaurants and convenience stores, Altmar has made itself a fishing tourism hot spot. The state environmental department operates the Salmon River Fish Hatchery, where it harvests and raises salmon, steelhead and brown trout to stock Lake Ontario and other nearby waterways. “The fish are born in Altmar, they grow to a certain age, and then they are transported to Lake Ontario,” says town clerk Amy J. Ford with the Town of Albion. “When they are mature enough, they spawn, and they come back to Altmar.” Atlmar has a handful of hotels and Airbnbs to support the seasonal fishing tourism. Still, locals enjoy the small bar scene, access to the river and the quiet atmosphere throughout the community. Albion Town Oswego receives a 2 out of 10 Cap Index Crime Score, which is lower than the national average of 4.
Salmon River fishing spots and touring the Salmon River Fish Hatchery
The Salmon River brings local and visiting anglers to Albion Town Oswego. “The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has certain parking lots and holes that the fishermen can go to,” Ford says. One popular choice is North Trestle Pool, where fishers wade into the river to claim a good spot. The salmon, trout and steelhead swim up the river from Lake Ontario to Altmar during spawning season, where they are collected by the environmental department at the hatchery. The grounds and pools are big tourism attractions during the spawning seasons, where guides offer site tours to explain the space's importance and history. The hatchery contributes about 3.5 million fish to Lake Ontario and other nearby waterways.
There’s more in Albion Town Oswego and Altmar than just fishing. “We have ATV trails, and then in the winter, we have the snowmobile trails,” Ford says. Altmar State Forest has rustic dirt trails for hiking and ATVing across its 926 acres. Oswego County’s intense winters are caused by the proximity to Lake Ontario, but snowmobiling keeps locals outside and enjoying the fresh air.
Cabins, Colonials and ranch-style homes on multi-acre properties
In Altmar, narrow sidewalks line the streets, passing turn-of-the-century Nationals, Colonial Revivals and ranch-style homes. Properties here typically offer half an acre to 2 acres, with trees on lawns and between properties adding some privacy from neighbors and a pop of color in the summer and fall. Across the rest of Albion Town Oswego, manufactured homes, ranch-style homes and the occasional log cabin sit on anywhere from 5 to 45 acres. Properties throughout the town range from $100,000 to $330,000. While Altmar has a lot of hotels and lodges for tourists to stay at, Ford says that some people are buying homes in the town just to turn them into Airbnbs for the fishing season.
Albion Town Oswego's restaurants are all in Altmar
Because Altmar is the town's fishing tourism hub, it hosts Albion Town Oswego’s dining scene. Despite its name, Altmar Hotel doesn’t have any lodging. It’s a bar with a menu featuring sandwiches, spaghetti and chicken parmesan. Tailwater Lodge is part of a hotel, but anyone can dine there with a reservation. The dining room has a rustic feel, with lots of warm brown and paintings of local wildlife on the wall. The menu is mostly seafood, but there’s some steak as well. Altmar also has plenty of bait and tackle shops around the village. For groceries, Altmar has a Dollar General, but Ford says most residents will head to Pulaski for big grocery trips. Tops Market and Aldi are both about 7 miles away.
Students attend Altmar-Parish-Williamstown schools
Altmar-Parish-Williamstown Elementary School houses grades kindergarten through sixth, while the rest of the area’s students head to Altmar-Parish-Williamstown Junior-Senior High School. The junior-senior high school upholds the area’s outdoorsy lifestyle with skiing, trapping and archery clubs. Both schools receive C-minus ratings from Niche.
New York Route 13 into Pulaski and Interstate 81 into Syracuse
New York Route 13 runs through Altmar, linking it with Pulaski, about 8 miles west. In addition to the bigger grocery stores, the city is also home to Pulaski Urgent Care, about 7 miles from Altmar. The nearest big hospital is Oswego Hospital, about 29 miles away in Oswego . Interstate 81 is just west of the community, linking Albion Town Oswego with bigger cities like Syracuse , 38 miles away, and transportation hubs like Syracuse Hancock International Airport, about 33 miles south. Because the interstate doesn’t go through the community but is close by, residents benefit from the accessibility while maintaining a quiet atmosphere surrounded by nature.
Albion Town Oswego's fishing-centered festivals and traditions
Every January, Pulaski hosts the Salmon River Winter Festival, where local restaurants participate in food tasting competitions. Participants receive a ballot and try to taste as many chili, wings and mac and cheese dishes as possible, then vote on their favorites. The festival primarily centers in Pulaski, but restaurants in Sandy Creek , Richland and Altmar join in. Altmar Hotel was on the ballot for 2025. In Pulaski, there is also live music and a craft fair. The Salmon River Hatchery Open House is a 25-year September tradition, lining up with the salmon spawning. The environmental department invites locals and visitors for tours and activities, like teaching kids how to cast fishing rods.
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Written By
Caroline Ernst
