These six locations, all with interesting histories, offer two to three miles of trails for enjoying the great outdoors.
Taxter Ridge Park Preserve
Tarrytown and Irvington
2.4 miles
199 acres
Open space in southern Westchester is a precious commodity, especially a piece as large and with a history as storied as Taxter Ridge. Its preservation is yet another example of how effective concerned citizens can be in rallying to protect open space. Their efforts led to the joint purchase of the property in 2004 from the Unification Church by New York State, Westchester County, and the Town of Greenburgh. The property was once owned by the Gould family; Jay Gould was a notorious Gilded Age robber baron.
There are four trailheads at Taxter Ridge—one on Sheldon Avenue, one on Taxter Road, and two on the top of the ridge at Mt. Pleasant Lane and Algonquin Drive. The .9-mile orange trail and 1.4-mile blue trail are out-and-back routes, but you can access the blue trail at the end of the orange trail. The blue trail passes through open woods, heads downhill into a valley, passes a vernal pool, and crosses a stone wall, ending on Mt. Pleasant Lane.
Getting there Take Route 9 to Sunnyside Lane (opposite the road to the Sunnyside historic site). Go about a mile and make a slight left onto Taxter Road. Drive .6 mile to the parking area.
Lenoir Preserve and Untermyer Park
Yonkers
2.9 miles
73 acres
Two former estates might seem too small for a lengthy walk but with a network of their own trails—and their connection to the Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Site—there are many options plus expansive river views. Portions of the circa 1850s Lenoir mansion’s formal gardens have been converted to a butterfly garden and community gardens. The former carriage house is a nature center and headquarters for the Hudson River Audubon Society. Untermyer Park is set high on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River and still bears the remnants of an 1892 estate. The park offers visitors a stroll through Grecian gardens of a Beaux Arts landscape design.
Lenoir Preserve
A .6-mile path connects the Hawk Watch, Dragonfly Pond, Butterfly Garden, and stone gazebo. From the gardens, an unmarked trail descends 68 steps to the Old Croton Aqueduct. Along the way the Copper Beech Trail connects to the Nature Center, from which you can access the blue-blazed, .4-mile Woodlands Trail.
Untermyer Park
Walk south from Aqueduct for .6 mile to reach the park. The Carriage Trail is a wide woods road; other paths connect to this main trail to form loops through the property.
Getting there From the Saw Mill River Parkway take Exit 9 (Executive Boulevard) and follow the road west to North Broadway. Turn right, continue .3 mile to Dudley Avenue, and turn left. The entrance to Lenoir Preserve is to the left shortly after the turn.
Open space in southern Westchester is a precious commodity, especially a piece as large and with a history as storied as Taxter Ridge.
Marshlands Conservancy (147 acres) & The Jay Estate (23 acres)
Rye
2.7 miles
170 acres
There are not many viewpoints in parks in Westchester where you can look deep into the horizon, but two adjacent parks—Marshlands Conservancy and the Jay Estate—have several. A mowed field, a deciduous forest, and a salt marsh allow visitors many opportunities to view wildlife, particularly along the spits jutting out into the Long Island Sound. The Jay Mansion is the large white house overlooking the meadow—the first chief justice John Jay grew up on the property, and visitors can take in a 10,000-year-old viewshed from the mansion veranda. Bring binoculars and look for red-tailed hawks and egrets.
Heading back to the Marshlands Nature Center, turn right and head along the orange trail at the edge of the meadow. At 0.5 miles and at post 6, take the red trail which forms a 0.5 mile loop with views out onto Milton Harbor. Retrace your steps back to the Nature Center. The hike takes you through four ecosystems: edge environment, meadow, salt marsh, and shoreline which offer opportunities to see different flora and fauna.
Getting there: From the New England Thruway, take Exit 19, Playland Parkway. Take the first right off the parkway, turn left, then right at the next intersection. In .3 mile, merge with Boston Post Road. Continue another .5 mile just past the Rye County Club to the conservancy entrance on the left. Visitors can also enter and park at the Jay Estate, one driveway over, for free.
Ruth Walgreen Franklin and Winifred Fels Memorial Sanctuary
North Salem
3 miles
204 acres
Tucked into a residential neighborhood, Franklin-Fels Sanctuary with its red maple swamp, shrub swamp, and deciduous woodlands, is the perfect place for morning birding or evening walks. Barred Owl, Chestnut-sided Warbler, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak, among others all call the sanctuary home. In 1974, Ruth Franklin’s bequest (Ruth Walgreen Franklin was a poet, author, editor and heir to the Walgreen drug store family) and Winifred Fels’ donation to the National Audubon Society established the sanctuary, which was subsequently deeded over to the Bedford Audubon Society.
The trail system consists of a main loop, a side loop, and a shortcut. A 1.6-mile white-blazed trail leads from the parking area off Lakeview Road into the sanctuary. A blue trail (.7 mile) is accessible from the west side of the white trail loop beside a stone wall. It crosses a stream and then a woods road which connects to the other leg of the blue trail. At the .3-mile point, the trail goes over a rock outcropping with views of the reservoir.
Getting there: From northbound I-684, take Exit 8 (Hardscrabble Road) and turn right. From southbound I-684, take Exit 8, turn right, cross over I-684 and head east. Follow Hardscrabble Road for 2.4 miles and turn right on Delancy Road. Continue about a half a mile and take a left onto the second Lakeview Drive. Go down the hill and park on the side of the road just before the hairpin turn. The trailhead is to your right.
Merestead
Mt. Kisco
2.4 miles
130 acres
An understated elegance defines Merestead. This Georgian Revival style brick mansion, built in the early 1900s and listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1984, was the working farm and country manor of William Sloane of W & J Sloane home furnishings store. The Sloane family helped found Northern Westchester Hospital in 1916 and were involved in philanthropic activities in the area. Tours of the 28-room home, which reflects affluent life in the early 20th century, are available by reservation.
The green trail is a .2-mile connection from the back of the mansion to the unmarked trails on the ridge, with sweeping views to the west. Chinese lanterns line the path through gardens. A .2-mile yellow trail connects to the .9-mile blue-blazed Long Trail. It passes several stone walls and crosses over three streams. At .7 mile at a Y junction, an unmarked trail goes left uphill to the gardens south of the main house. The trail ends at the paved driveway which goes downhill to Byram Lake Road and the parking lot.
Getting there: Take I-684 to Exit 4 and head west. In 1.5 miles, turn left onto Sarles Street. Continue 1.5 miles to the stop sign at Byram Lake Road, then turn left. Parking is across the street from the main driveway.
Pruyn Sanctuary
Millwood
3 miles
92 acres
Woodlands, wetlands, and hilltops make up this gentle terrain that is great for strolling as well as brisk walks. There are wooded roads, boardwalks, narrow trails, and gardens, including one that lures hummingbirds and butterflies. The sanctuary is named for Dr. F. Morgan Pruyn, one of the founding physicians of the former Mount Kisco Medical Group (now Optum), who donated 47 acres to the Saw Mill Audubon Society as well as their home and its property; the white house is now the Audubon Society’s office.
Walking options include the 1-mile Fern Trail, the main route into the sanctuary. It passes a kiosk and the junction with Ridge Walk (blue). Fern Trail leads to Pruyn Trail (green) which is on a boardwalk through most of the wetlands of Gedney Swamp. At .4 mile, the trail reaches a mowed area where there is a choice of several unmarked routes that lead through an arboretum with labeled trees.
Getting there: From the Taconic Parkway, take Exit 8, Route 100. Head north to the traffic light at Station Place and turn right. Continue to the next intersection and turn right where Route 133 joins Route 120. In .6 mile, when Rte. 120 bears right, stay straight. The Saw Mill Audubon headquarters is on the right.
Adapted from Walkable Westchester by Jane and Walt Daniels, published by the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference.
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