Sonnenberg Gardens occupies a 50-acre estate in the city of Canandaigua, built in the 1880s by Frederick and Mary Clark Thompson. The property centers on a 40-room Queen Anne-style mansion surrounded by nine distinct formal gardens—Japanese, Italian, Colonial, Rose, Rock, Pansy, Blue & White, Old-Fashioned, and Sub Rosa—each designed in a different style and maintained to a high standard. The property is now a state historic park and a National Historic Landmark.

The gardens are the primary attraction and are most impressive from late May through September, when the plantings are at their peak. The mansion interior is also open for tours and features original furnishings and decorative arts from the late Victorian period. A greenhouse complex, including a palm house and a conservatory, adds botanical interest beyond the outdoor gardens. Sonnenberg is one of the few Gilded Age estates in the Finger Lakes that remains substantially intact, and the combination of architecture, horticulture, and historical atmosphere makes it a distinctive stop on a Canandaigua Lake visit—particularly for visitors whose interests extend beyond wine and waterfalls.