Seneca Army Depot The former Seneca Army Depot occupied 10 , 587 acres ( 43 km² ) between Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake in Seneca County , New York . It was used as a munitions storage and disposal facility by the United States Army from 1941 until the 1990s . The Depot was listed in the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission and formally shut down on September 30 , 2000 . The property has since been transferred to the Seneca County Industrial Development Agency , which leases it to Seneca County Economic Development Corp . Home to the world ' s largest herd of white deer , the base is in the towns of Varick and Romulus . Adjacent to the storage facility is the Seneca Army Airfield , whose long runway could handle large cargo aircraft ; it too has been closed . During the 1940s , the Army stored radioactive materials in connection with the Manhattan Project in igloos E0801 through E0811 , on the south end of the Depot . Despite no formal confirmation from the Department of Defense , it is known that during the cold war the depot held the largest stockpile of Army nuclear weapons in the country . The Army RADCON team performed a survey on these igloos during the week of 13 May 1985 . The depot was a major employer in the region . It was linked to the outside world by the airfield , railroad lines and highways ( NY - 96 and NY - 96A ) . Demonstrations to close the facility . Beginning July 4 , 1983 , and running for several years , antiwar and anti - nuclear activists mounted major protests at the facility , staging civil disobedience protests and establishing the Seneca Women ' s Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice . Major events in 1983 took place in August and October . During the October event , many people including Dr . Benjamin Spock climbed the fence surrounding the depot and were detained . Most fence climbers were released after being given " ban and bar letters " telling them they would be charged with trespass if they were apprehended inside the depot again . On three occasions — July 4 , August 1 , and November 3 — feminist artist Helene Aylon put pillowcases on the depot ' s fence that were filled with " rescued earth " from nuclear sites across the country during her 1982 " Earth Ambulance " voyage and sleep - out at the United Nations . Writer / activist Grace Paley was also among the demonstrators . Demonstrations continued for several years , mostly originating from within the Women ' s Peace Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice , which operated from an old farmhouse on Route 96 in Romulus . Current disposition of the depot land . The former depot property includes a maximum - security state prison , Five Points Correctional Facility . A Seneca County Law Enforcement Center was constructed on a portion of the site , opening in May 2007 . The depot ' s former airfield is slated for use as a New York State Police training center . In August 2002 , The Glen Region of the Sports Car Club of America ( SCCA ) began using the airfield for autocross racing competitions . Since then the site has also been used by the following SCCA regions : Finger Lakes , Western New York , Mohawk Hudson and Central New York . The Finger Lakes Region has used this site to host several major solo events at both the national and divisional level . Availability of the site for these purposes after August 2011 is not yet determined . Starting in early 2007 , the Cornell 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge Team began using the depot ' s private roads to test its autonomous vehicles . Some warehouses are leased to The Advantage Group , which runs a storage and shipping business . Much of the housing at the depot has been sold to private developers and is now available as part of the area ' s civilian housing stock . Much of the railroad track and outer yards are being used for railroad car storage . As of 2008 , no customers ship by rail . For a time , the depot housed a unit of Kid ' s Peace , but that has now been taken over by the Hillside Children ' s Center , a similar program for children which is headquartered in Rochester . The center provides institutional housing and treatment for troubled youth . In early 2007 , Cilion announced plans to build an ethanol plant on a portion of the former depot , but that project languished and appears to have died in the face of rising costs for corn and public concern about the wisdom of the project . An article dated July 20 , 2009 in the Watertown Daily Times stated that the Fort Drum - based 10th Mountain Division ( Light Infantry ) would soon start using the depot for combat training . Discussions continue regarding the use of the rest of the land , much of which is dotted with large , concrete munitions storage bunkers known as igloos which were built at the beginning of World War II . The deer herd . The white deer , long the symbol for the depot , began appearing after the fence was erected in 1941 . A handful of White - tailed deer that carried a recessive gene for all - white coats were isolated within the depot . ( They are not albinos , as is frequently assumed . White deer do occur naturally in the wild . ) The depot initially allowed only brown - coated deer to be killed , so the herd of white deer grew to more than 200 , although hunters are occasionally allowed inside to kill a white deer .