My name is Cat, I've lived on Long Island for most of my life, have traveled a ton, and want to share my favorite spots in downstate New York with you!
Should we talk about a place that I HATE and will not return to ever again?
I bet you weren’t expecting that, were you?
Would you also be surprised that it is a place that allegedly has buried treasure from a King of Albania?
💰: FREE (aren't the worst things in life always free?)
⏰: 9:30am to 4:30pm, 365 days
🌎: 34 Muttontown Lane, East Norwich, LI (Chelsea Mansion)
♿️: not really? The grounds around Chelsea Mansion are manageable but don’t go to Muttontown Preserve
🏃♀️: it’s 550 acres and a maze, but sure! call it beginner if you want.
🐶: No pets, but I’ve also seen people walking their dogs and maybe you need an animal to guide you out of this hellhole
🚗: park by Chelsea Mansion, if you read nothing else, just PARK BY CHELSEA MANSION
📸: high Instagramability by Chelsea Mansion
📍: ancestral land of the Matinecock chieftancy
Okay, TECHNICALLY, I DID return very briefly a few weeks ago BUT that was only to get pictures of WHERE NOT TO GO. And I did not step foot out of the parking lot. This place gave me PTSD.
Why create what will essentially equate to a “shitpost”, you may ask?
Why not just NOT include it?
Because people should be WARNED.
I looked at the google reviews recently and finally found out I was not alone. For years this place has haunted me.
How did my friend, @himynameisnotjoby and I get SO lost?
We literally had a paper map PROVIDED BY THE PRESERVE and we STILL got the kind of lost where we started to get legit worried and it was getting dark and we were only getting MORE lost. The kind of lost that involved scaling fences and bushwhacking and eventually listening for the sounds of cars and just following that and hoping it led us towards one of the main roads, which by the way IS how we got ourselves UN-lost eventually.
Muttontown Preserve deserves a post because it is a DANGER to Long Islanders.
The amount of reviews on Google that mention just how deeply lost people have gotten over the years was staggering, and also validating for Joby and I. One person even mentioned that you shouldn’t go there without a literal compass because THAT is how big the potential for getting hopelessly disoriented in this hellscape masquerading as a “Preserve” is.
According to the Nassau County website, Muttontown Preserve is 550! ACRES, making it the largest nature preserve on Long Island.
Those aren’t facts, THOSE ARE WARNINGS!
The same website also claims that “The preserve includes miles of marked nature trails with local wildflowers, trees, birds…” blah blah blah. MARKED TRAILS, MY ASS.
Allegedly, the trail markings HAVE been improved in very recent years, but I refuse to go back and see if that’s true for myself so if you decide to go, you are doing so of your own volition.
There are four things that lure people to the Muttontown Preserve (of Lost Souls):
equestrian trails
“safe” hiking for normal people WHO JUST WANTED TO ENJOY A NICE WALK AT A NEW PARK
Chelsea Mansion
The hidden treasures of the last King of Albanian
So, where does one start?
I guess, do you have a horse? No? Then don't come here!
I honestly think this place would’ve been less scary if at least I had been on a horse because also when you get lost for AS LONG as Joby and I did that ill-fated day, you start to get tired, which is also scary. My legs were TORN UP from bugs and thorny bushes. A horse would’ve, in theory, solved that. But we didn't have horses and unless you have one though, don’t come here. And even if you do... don't come here.
PARKING SITUATION (THIS IS IMPORTANT):
The problem for Joby and I that harrowing day, I think, was that I learned about Muttontown Preserve because I drove past it randomly (probably on the way back from a different park in the area) and drove past the Equestrian Parking entrance off of Jericho Oyster Bay Road/Route 106 and thought that was the only parking area.
DO NOT PARK AT THE EQUESTRIAN PARKING AREA OFF OF JERICHO OYSTER BAY ROAD/ROUTE 106! I DO NOT CARE THAT IT IS THE CLOSER PARKING AREA TO THE OLD KNOLLWOOD ESTATE AND KING ZOG’S TREASURE. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO FIND THE TREASURE ANYWAY, YOU WILL PROBABLY NEVER FIND YOUR WAY OUT OF THE PRESERVE IF YOU GO IN SEARCH OF IT. AGAIN, I WILL NOT BLAMED ON NEWS 12 FOR YOUR DISAPPEARANCE.
I’ll get back to King Zog and the alleged buried treasures and the burned down remains of Knollwood Estate in the next post.
IF YOU INSIST ON COMING TO THIS CURSED PLACE, here is my advice: SKIP MUTTONTOWN PRESERVE ALTOGETHER.
Okay, here is my ACTUAL ADVICE: drive up to Jericho Turnpike/Route 25A and park either at the parking lot next to Chelsea Mansion or you can find the entrance around the corner from the parking lot by Chelsea Mansion and park there because that is a trailhead that is usually supplied with maps.
If you want to hear about Chelsea Mansion and King Zog I of Albania's buried treasures, watch this space for a Chelsea Mansion post coming later this week.
and also, let me just reiterate, Muttontown Preserve makes my “RUN AWAY FROM” list. You have been thoroughly warned.
Should we talk about a place that I HATE and will not return to ever again?
I bet you weren’t expecting that, were you?
Would you also be surprised that it is a place that allegedly has buried treasure from a King of Albania?
💰: FREE (aren't the worst things in life always free?)
⏰: 9:30am to 4:30pm, 365 days
🌎: 34 Muttontown Lane, East Norwich, LI (Chelsea Mansion)
♿️: not really? The grounds around Chelsea Mansion are manageable but don’t go to Muttontown Preserve
🏃♀️: it’s 550 acres and a maze, but sure! call it beginner if you want.
🐶: No pets, but I’ve also seen people walking their dogs and maybe you need an animal to guide you out of this hellhole
🚗: park by Chelsea Mansion, if you read nothing else, just PARK BY CHELSEA MANSION
📸: high Instagramability by Chelsea Mansion
📍: ancestral land of the Matinecock chieftancy
Okay, TECHNICALLY, I DID return very briefly a few weeks ago BUT that was only to get pictures of WHERE NOT TO GO. And I did not step foot out of the parking lot. This place gave me PTSD.
Why create what will essentially equate to a “shitpost”, you may ask?
Why not just NOT include it?
Because people should be WARNED.
I looked at the google reviews recently and finally found out I was not alone. For years this place has haunted me.
How did my friend, @himynameisnotjoby and I get SO lost?
We literally had a paper map PROVIDED BY THE PRESERVE and we STILL got the kind of lost where we started to get legit worried and it was getting dark and we were only getting MORE lost. The kind of lost that involved scaling fences and bushwhacking and eventually listening for the sounds of cars and just following that and hoping it led us towards one of the main roads, which by the way IS how we got ourselves UN-lost eventually.
Muttontown Preserve deserves a post because it is a DANGER to Long Islanders.
The amount of reviews on Google that mention just how deeply lost people have gotten over the years was staggering, and also validating for Joby and I. One person even mentioned that you shouldn’t go there without a literal compass because THAT is how big the potential for getting hopelessly disoriented in this hellscape masquerading as a “Preserve” is.
According to the Nassau County website, Muttontown Preserve is 550! ACRES, making it the largest nature preserve on Long Island.
Those aren’t facts, THOSE ARE WARNINGS!
The same website also claims that “The preserve includes miles of marked nature trails with local wildflowers, trees, birds…” blah blah blah. MARKED TRAILS, MY ASS.
Allegedly, the trail markings HAVE been improved in very recent years, but I refuse to go back and see if that’s true for myself so if you decide to go, you are doing so of your own volition.
There are four things that lure people to the Muttontown Preserve (of Lost Souls):
equestrian trails
“safe” hiking for normal people WHO JUST WANTED TO ENJOY A NICE WALK AT A NEW PARK
Chelsea Mansion
The hidden treasures of the last King of Albanian
So, where does one start?
I guess, do you have a horse? No? Then don't come here!
I honestly think this place would’ve been less scary if at least I had been on a horse because also when you get lost for AS LONG as Joby and I did that ill-fated day, you start to get tired, which is also scary. My legs were TORN UP from bugs and thorny bushes. A horse would’ve, in theory, solved that. But we didn't have horses and unless you have one though, don’t come here. And even if you do... don't come here.
PARKING SITUATION (THIS IS IMPORTANT):
The problem for Joby and I that harrowing day, I think, was that I learned about Muttontown Preserve because I drove past it randomly (probably on the way back from a different park in the area) and drove past the Equestrian Parking entrance off of Jericho Oyster Bay Road/Route 106 and thought that was the only parking area.
DO NOT PARK AT THE EQUESTRIAN PARKING AREA OFF OF JERICHO OYSTER BAY ROAD/ROUTE 106! I DO NOT CARE THAT IT IS THE CLOSER PARKING AREA TO THE OLD KNOLLWOOD ESTATE AND KING ZOG’S TREASURE. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO FIND THE TREASURE ANYWAY, YOU WILL PROBABLY NEVER FIND YOUR WAY OUT OF THE PRESERVE IF YOU GO IN SEARCH OF IT. AGAIN, I WILL NOT BLAMED ON NEWS 12 FOR YOUR DISAPPEARANCE.
I’ll get back to King Zog and the alleged buried treasures and the burned down remains of Knollwood Estate in the next post.
IF YOU INSIST ON COMING TO THIS CURSED PLACE, here is my advice: SKIP MUTTONTOWN PRESERVE ALTOGETHER.
Okay, here is my ACTUAL ADVICE: drive up to Jericho Turnpike/Route 25A and park either at the parking lot next to Chelsea Mansion or you can find the entrance around the corner from the parking lot by Chelsea Mansion and park there because that is a trailhead that is usually supplied with maps.
If you want to hear about Chelsea Mansion and King Zog I of Albania's buried treasures, watch this space for a Chelsea Mansion post coming later this week.
and also, let me just reiterate, Muttontown Preserve makes my “RUN AWAY FROM” list. You have been thoroughly warned.
I feel like this is a really a hyper-local park, as in, not every park is worth coming in from out of town for and honestly, not every park has to be either. Some places are just meant for the locals. This park absolutely serves its purpose of being a lovely place to take a calm and easy walk on a paved loop-trail and to see some nice waterfowl if that’s something you’re into.
💰 : FREE
⏰ : Open from dusk to dawn, 365 days a year
📍 : 2935 Merrick Road, Wantagh, Long Island (sometimes listed as being in Bellmore.. it's very on the border of both towns)
♿️ : trail is completely paved, however there is NO designated handicapped parking spots
🏃♀️ : beginner intenstity
🐶 : dog are allowed but must remain on leash
🚗 : only unmetered street parking
📸 : moderate, high if you like ducks though..
In order to not accidentally end up hiking up to Twin Lakes, if you started the loop path by going to the right first, when looking at the pond, I tend to take the left turn at the bridge when you get near the Parkway, to remain inside the loop of Mill Pond Park.
Now, some parks, have old mansions or the ruins of old mansions, some have lots of features like bird sanctuary habitats or or even plaques explaining local wildlife scattered around the trails; this is NOT any of those things. Mill Pond is very no frills, but that’s fine. Preserves like these serve a real purpose and a real service to the local community they reside in. Communities, especially in the monotonous suburbs, are absolutely worthless without diversity of nature and ecology. Honestly, who wants to live in a place where the only trees are between the sidewalk and the street and have to be cut back so as to not mess with your cable lines? The only time that's acceptable is when you live in a big city, and Wantagh is NOT a big city.
Now, some parks, have old mansions or the ruins of old mansions, some have lots of features like bird sanctuary habitats or or even plaques explaining local wildlife scattered around the trails; this is NOT any of those things. Mill Pond is very no frills, but that’s fine. Preserves like these serve a real purpose and a real service to the local community they reside in. Communities, especially in the monotonous suburbs, are absolutely worthless without diversity of nature and ecology. Honestly, who wants to live in a place where the only trees are between the sidewalk and the street and have to be cut back so as to not mess with your cable lines? The only time that's acceptable is when you live in a big city, and Wantagh is NOT a big city.
Parks are necessary. People need nature.
Mill Pond really is nothing special. It has no discernible history that I could find and definitely no special features besides the beautiful pond that make it anymore exciting than its nearby counterparts, and yet, I come here often. I’ve seen some really cool birds here, the trees are really lovely and the paths are well maintained. I’m not sure what more you can ask for when you’re looking for just a simple and small dose of nature.
The uniqueness of this park lies in the micro-ecosystem of Mill Pond and its plethora of waterfowl, and also how dangerously close a person can get to just walking directly onto the Wantagh Parkway… There are so many parks like this up in Westchester too and they really baffle me every time. Not even a low fence to step over….
I digress… Mill Pond Preserve is a really well-maintained park, regardless of the time of year, and worth your time if you have a spare forty-five minutes and want to take in some easy and beautiful nature.
This does NOT make my “Run, Don’t Walk” list, but it’s being included so I obviously think it’s worth something.
Just a small and unusual P.S. for me:
I had to look this up, and I thought it would be nice to mention that Adam Rand was a local of Bellmore (the park is really on the border of the two towns) and a career firefighter who lost his life when the Twin Towers collapsed as he was trying to help evacuate people on September 11th and this park would be a fitting honor for anyone who was that much of a hero.
Alder Manor is what one might call an “addendum” to a park… a sort of illegal one but there aren’t “No Trespassing” signs EVERYWHERE so I like to think it’s a vague policy no one told me about...
Alder Manor is what resides on the other side of the brick wall that denotes the property line ending for Lenoir Preserve, and unfortunately, for the Wightman Mansion on Lenoir Preserve property, Alder Manor is the mansion and estate that really catch your eye as you walk through Lenoir. The brick wall has been vandalized enough over the years that you can pretty easily find a way over, around or literally through it and onto the Alder Manor property…. which again, I plead the Fifth if anyone comes asking…
The piece of land that Alder Manor resides on was the same ancestral home to the Weckquaesgeek, who were a part of the larger Wappinger chieftancy who generally lived in the Yonkers area as was the case for Lenoir Preserve. The informational plaques at Lenoir Preserve indicate that the land was originally inhabited by the Lenni Lenape tribe (translates to “true people”) and they called the area “Keskeskick”, which isn’t necessarily wrong as the Lenni Lenape is a broad name for any native who lived between essentially the Hudson Valley down to the area around modern-day Philadelphia. I don’t know the exact details, I’m sure they involved trickery, violence or misunderstandings, so I’ll put it in the nice way of saying, the Lenni Lenape were “pushed” out of the area in the 1600s and eventually a man named Frederick Philipse III, whose family had acquired the land two generations prior, then owned the property of what is now known as Lenoir Preserve and Alder Manor.
Fast forward to the 20th Century and Alder Manor is a little bit of a New York history geek’s dream come true. AKA, my dream come true.
Alder Manor is also sometimes known as the W.B. Thompson Mansion, named after William Boyce Thompson, a mining tycoon and later Wall Street financier in regards to mining who had intended to use this palatial estate as his weekend home…
This part though is roughly where I suddenly became DEEPLY obsessed with the history of Alder Manor.
Mr. W.B. Thompson, in all of his apparently ridiculous riches, commissioned the architecture firm of Carrere and Hastings, who are better known for being the architects of the NEW YORK FREAKING PUBLIC LIBRARY! YOU KNOW, THE ONE WITH THE LIONS AND BRYANT PARK OUT BACK AND THE BREATHTAKING OLD NEW YORK ARCHITECTURE?!!?!? You know which one I’m yelling about?
..... I'm assuming you're as stunned and excited as me...
Anyway, Thompson lived in the house until his death in 1930, when it then passed on to his wife who lived there until her death in 1950. (If you’d like to see his absurdly nice mausoleum by the way, you can OF COURSE find it at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, like everyone else famous from the area.) Upon her earthly demise, Mrs. Thompson legally willed the Manor and estate to the Archdiocese of New York and Alder Manor was converted into the first Catholic high school in Yonkers.
By 1989, the estate had switched hands again and was made a part of the Iona College campus due to space limitations in New Rochelle on the main campus. This was short lived, however, and the property began to be sold off to various developers.
The property has clearly been neglected and vandalized over the years, but since the late 1990s, the Irish Cultural Heritage Center, The Tara Circle, bought the manor and plan to revitalize it and turn it into their base of operations and an event venue.
Alder Manor has actually been used for scenes in movies such as A Beautiful Mind, The Royal Tenebaums and Mona Lisa Smile, which as a movie nerd, pleases me greatly.
BECAUSE OF COURSE, my favorite non-bird related part of Lenoir Preserve is NOT EVEN TECHNICALLY PART OF LENOIR PRESERVE. SOOOO, yes, I guess it is TECHNICALLY “trespa$$ing” but it’s owned by the Tara Circle, which is the Irish Cultural Heritage Center of Westchester and I’m Irish so I’m gonna say screw it. I get a free pass, and my free pass extends to my Italian boyfriend. LIVE LIFE ON THE EDGE (of a brick wall)! But also, don't vandalize things ever please.
GRAND ILLUMINATION OPENING NIGHT IS NEXT FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9TH, 2022 AT 5:30PM AND FREE ADMISSION DECEMBER 10TH, 2022 TO JANUARY 1ST, 2023 FROM 4:30-8PM.
Sometimes its really fun for me to introduce my boyfriend, Rob, who grew up in the area, to places in Westchester that he didn’t know existed previously. Lenoir Preserve is one of those places and I DO think passing by it in the car and saying “what was that?”, him shrugging and me saying “let’s check it out” absolutely counts.
💰 : FREE
⏰ : open dawn to dusk, 365 days a year
🌎 : 19 Dudley St, Yonkers, Westchester
♿️ : ADA accessible and handicap specific spots
🏃♀️: please see link in bio for trail recommendations and intensities
🐶: service animals only, no pets
🚗 : parking lot on North Broadway by the mansion, parking lot on Dudley Street (off N. Broadway), by the Nature Center
📸 : moderate Instagramability, depending on your willingness to “break rules”
📍: Weckquaesgeek, Wappinger, Lenni Lenape ancestral home
The most recent time I came here with Rob, after I had decided to make this account, I looked at him as we were walking through the park and said “I don’t know how to sell this place when Untermyer is right down the road.”
I still don’t really know how to sell it if you’re comparing it to Untermyer. Like, how do I convince someone who’s driving to the area to go here instead of Untermyer? The only mind-blowingly unique part about Lenoir Preserve is that Rob and I have seen a bald eagle there twice now.
Lenoir Preserve has a few dedicated paths, one of which is very easy and nicely paved, one mansion that’s on the property (and under restoration currently) and a second mansion (that’s under restoration) with beautiful and dilapidated gardens that’s not.. quite… ON…. The property…., (more about that to come next) and is a really spectacular place to see some great birds, year round. Lenoir also has a dedicated butterfly garden, but that’s only really worth the visit in the summer months. As a park that has access to the Old Croton Aqueduct, it obviously also has fantastic views of the Hudson River and the Palisades across the way.
BUT, it has none of the grandeur or maintained, manicured gardens of Untermyer.
The sell for Lenoir Preserve, that I’ve been able to come up with is the following:
Untermyer draws a lot of tourists and a lot of people taking professional photos and a lot of people taking pictures for their Instagrams, and Lenoir is not like that and sometimes that is SO REFRESHING.
Lenoir has really nice and well-maintained trails, that run the gamut of intensity from beginner to moderate
At least one bald eagle most definitely lives there, and I’m sorry, you don’t get how cool they are until you see them in person.
The bird feeders. We all know I’m a boring old person who loves me some birds but that’s a draw for me and if it’s not for you too, I don’t care. Let me love my birds, okay?
Lenoir Preserve is insanely steeped in history but really it’s the nature that makes this park so awesome. Every park is special because nature should be cherished and preserved every chance we can get. Lenoir wouldn’t be so spectacular if you weren’t able to “smresspass” onto the Alder Manor garden ruins, or if there weren’t freaking bald eagles and what feels like millions of woodpeckers, or it’s peacefulness compared to Untermyer, or its access to the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail, HOWEVER, Lenoir HAS all of those things, so it is 100000% as worth your time as its better known sibling down the road from it.
HISTORY:
Lenoir, as a piece of land, has an interesting history dating back to before the colonization of North America. The land was most likely originally home to the Weckquaesgeek, who were a part of the larger Wappinger tribe who generally lived in the Yonkers area. The informational plaques at Lenoir Preserve indicate that the land was originally inhabited by the Lenni Lenape tribe (translates to “true people”) and they called the area “Keskeskick”, which isn’t necessarily wrong as the Lenni Lenape is a broad name for any native who lived between essentially the Hudson Valley down to the area around modern-day Philadelphia.
I don’t know the exact details, I’m sure they involved trickery, violence or misunderstandings, so I’ll put it in the nice way of saying, the Lenni Lenape were “pushed” out of the area in the 1600s and eventually a man named Frederick Philipse III, whose family had acquired the land two generations prior, then owned the property of what is now known as Lenoir Preserve.
Frederick Philipse III was a loyalist and in 1776, he signed the “Declaration of Dependence”, pledging his loyalty to the King of England. And, I imagine if you have stumbled upon my blog and are from the New York area or even just have even a rudimentary knowledge of U.S. colonial history, you would understand that 1776 is when everyone was like, “fuck the King and fuck England.”…..
So, I think you can probably guess how things went for Mr. Philipse III since we, inhabitants of the future, know who won the American Revolutionary War…
As happened to many Loyalists in the Westchester area, Frederick Philipse III had his land and home stripped from him and it was sold off to two different families. In theory, according to the Lenoir historians, you can still see some of the ruins of the earliest stone homes built by the Philipse family and by the people who gained his property after him. I’ll admit though, I haven’t found those ruins yet as far as I’m aware.
Let me know if you do.
The mansion that sits on the property of Lenoir Preserve has been around since at least 1836, or at least that’s the first time it appears on any written record. It changed hands many times until Caleb C. Dula, a native of Lenoir, North Carolina, who amassed his wealth in the cigarette industry, bought the property in 1906. He named the mansion and property “Lenoir” after his hometown.
In 1939, the Lenoir property was inherited by Mr. Dula’s niece, Mrs. Purl Wightman, who renamed the mansion after her husband’s surname but allowed the property as a whole to retain its Lenoir identity. As goes everything in New York, it seems, real estate developers caught wind of an eventually empty estate and attempted to demolish the history and create apartments or a country club.
Thankfully, the city of Yonkers and Westchester County decided to intervene and bought the property instead, allowing it to be turned into a nature refuge and museum. The interiors of the mansion have also since been used as the setting for TV shows like The Knick and The Following.
TRAIL RECOMMENDATIONS:
My preferred trek (very beginner intensity): I advise parking in the lot located off Dudley Street. From there look for the trailhead sign for the Copper Beech Trail (0.2mi) straight from the parking lot (if you hit the Nature Center, you’ve missed the trailhead, turn around, it should be on your right if your back is facing the Nature Center). Take the Copper Beech Trail to the Meadow Loop paved path, which does in fact loop all the way back to the Dudley Street parking lot.
IF you are feeling a little dangerous, perhaps you might partake in some light adventuring (AKA a word that rhymes with smresspassing… I deny EVERYTHING!) into/over/around/through the brick wall that denotes the property line between Lenoir Preserve and the old Alder Manor estate property.
There ARE cameras so “smresspass” with caution… I feel like as long as you don’t vandalize anything, who cares if you take a little peek… right????
No?
Okay, well anyway….
Don’t forget to keep your eyes to the skies throughout your stroll, as this preserve is very well known to be frequented by red-tailed hawks and AT LEAST one bald eagle, and also like a million woodpeckers.
An important stop for Rob and I, or really just me, before we head back to the car is the bird feeders outside of the Nature Center, which is where Rob and I first spotted the bald eagle actually. He wasn’t eating bird seed… but we were sitting there and he flew over, and Rob saw him first, which I think he would want me to mention.
MEADOW LOOP TRAIL: The Meadow Loop Trail is easily accessible from both parking lots and is paved in its entirety making it beginner and ADA friendly.
WOODLAND TRAIL (0.4 mi): it’s a quarter of a mile, Cat, how bad could it be? Like I’ve said before, Rob and I are what you’d call “lazy active” people and this trail is STEEP… like REALLY REALLY STEEP. I was huffing and puffing and my old lady knees were HURTING by the time we got back up to the top. HOWEVER, if you’d like to partake in some of the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail or even walk down to Untermyer, that can be achieved by taking the Woodland Trail and going south (left, if you’re looking at the Hudson).
COPPER BEECH TRAIL (0.2mi): a wooded walk with very mediocre “elevation gain”. Also the place I suspect the eagle has his nest.
Lenoir does not necessarily make my "Run, Don't Walk" list. But that doesn't mean I don't love it and think it's worth a check out.
Alder Manor is what resides on the other side of the brick wall that denotes the property line ending for Lenoir Preserve, and unfortunately, for the Wightman Mansion on Lenoir Preserve property, Alder Manor is the mansion and estate that really catch your eye. The brick wall has been vandalized enough over the years that you can pretty easily find a way over, around or literally through it and onto the Alder Manor property…. which, I plead the Fifth if anyone comes asking… Alder Manor is a little bit of a New York history geek’s dream come true. AKA, my dream come true. It’s sometimes known as the W.B. Thompson Mansion, named after William Boyce Thompson, a mining tycoon and later Wall Street financier, who had intended to use this palatial estate as his weekend home… This part though is roughly where I suddenly became DEEPLY obsessed with the history of Alder Manor. Mr. W.B. Thompson, in all of his apparently ridiculous riches, commissioned the architecture firm of Carrere and Hastings, who are better known for being the architects of the NEW YORK FREAKING PUBLIC LIBRARY! YOU KNOW, THE ONE WITH THE LIONS AND BRYANT PARK OUT BACK AND THE BREATHTAKING OLD NEW YORK ARCHITECTURE?!!? Anyway, Thompson lived in the house until his death in 1930, when it then passed on to his wife who lived there until her death in 1950. Upon her earthly demise, Mrs. Thompson legally willed the Manor and estate to the Archdiocese of New York and Alder Manor was converted into the first Catholic high school in Yonkers. By 1989, the estate had switched hands again and was made a part of the Iona College campus due to space limitations in New Rochelle on the main campus. This was short lived, however, and the property began to be sold off to various developers. The property has clearly been neglected and vandalized over the years, but since the late 90s, a the Irish Cultural Heritage Center, The Tara Circle, bought the manor and plan to revitalize it and turn it into their base of operations and an event venue. The Alder Manor has actually been used for scenes in movies such as A Beautiful Mind, The Royal Tenebaums and Mona Lisa Smile. #AlderManor #LenoirPreserve #yonkers (at Alder Manor) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClmqoWsLRbm/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
The most recent time I came here with Rob, after I had decided to make this account, I looked at him as we were walking through the park and said “I don’t know how to sell this place when Untermyer is right down the road.” 💰 : FREE ⏰ : DAWN TO DUSK 🌎 : 19 Dudley St, Yonkers, Westchester ♿️ : ADA ACCESSIBLE AND SPECIFIC HANDICAPPED PARKING SPACES 🏃♀️: please see link in bio for trail recommendations and intensities 🐶: service animals only, no pets 🚗 : parking lot on North Broadway by the mansion, parking lot on Dudley Street (off N. Broadway), by the Nature Center 📸 : moderate Instagramability, depending on your willingness to “break rules” 📍: Weckquaesgeek, Wappinger, Lenni Lenape ancestral home I still don’t really know how to sell it if you’re comparing it to Untermyer. Like, how do I convince someone who’s driving to the area to go here instead of Untermyer? The only mind-blowingly unique part about Lenoir Preserve is that Rob and I have seen a bald eagle there twice now. The sell for Lenoir, that I’ve been able to come up with is the following: 1. Untermyer draws a lot of tourists and a lot of people taking professional photos and a lot of people taking pictures for their Instagrams, and Lenoir is not like that and sometimes that is SO REFRESHING. 2. Lenoir has really nice and well-maintained trails, that run the gamut of intensity from beginner to moderate 3. At least one bald eagle most definitely lives there, and I’m sorry, you just don’t get how cool they are until you see them in person. 4. The bird feeders. We all know I’m a boring old person who loves me some birds but that’s a draw for me and if it’s not for you too, I don’t care. Let me love my birds, okay? The sell for Lenoir Preserve also lies in its proximity to Alder Manor… more to come about that next.. Click the link in the bio for more on the history of Lenoir Preserve, a teaser about Alder Manor, trail recommendations and more! P.S. can you spot a Bigfoot in one of these pictures? That Sasquatchean fellow likes to hide behind trees in an attempt to scare me. 🤦🏻♀️ #LenoirPreserve #yonkers #yonkersny #untermyergarden #westchester #westchesterny #visitwestchester #birds (at Lenoir Preserve) https://www.instagram.com/p/Clg2aaqrREr/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
Lenoir Preserve and Native American Heritage Month
As Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and more importantly, November is “Native American Heritage Month”, I wanted to make this post today.
This will not be my main post about Lenoir Preserve but this is an important update for this page going forward.
Research about social media states that being authentic and showing your genuine personality are two ways to gain followers. Nowadays, though, bringing up things that could potentially trigger claims of “politics” or leaning one way or another can make an “influencer” lose a broader audience. (I hope I'm never considered an influencer...)
With that being said, being authentic is much more important to me than gaining a “broad audience” or getting the most followers possible. My authenticity lies in my passion for the intersection of accurate history, social justice, and the recognition of personal privilege. Being a white woman, from a relatively middle class background, is my form of privilege and having this platform, however big or small it may get, means I need to use it to lift up voices that are not as often heard.
November is “Native American Heritage Month” and I would like to make a pledge that was inspired by a favorite IG of mine, @thruhikers; that pledge being: I endeavor to research and recognize and uplift the plight of the tribes who’s ancestral homes we stole and colonized and pushed them out of on land where these parks that I post about reside on.
I decided to use Lenoir Preserve as the jumping off point for this pledge because they have done the bare minimum as a park to include some Native American history as it is related to the Preserve. They broadly explain that the land was originally occupied by the Lenni Lenape, which they defined as “true people” and that at some point in time they no longer lived there.
It was an attempt at acknowledgement, I suppose.
There are no remnants of the Lenni Lenape that one could casually find on a walk around Lenoir Preserve, which is a travesty and is the result of centuries of colonization by the Dutch and the English and later just urbanization of modern New Yorkers.
I’m going to do my best to at the very least on IG, give you the name of the people who’s ancestral home you’d be visiting, and here on tumblr, I will always do my absolute best “former history major research attempt” to give you more information if you’d like to educate yourself about the people who lived here for thousands of years before us and treated this land with such respect and reverence.
It feels impossible to me to be able to post about these wonderful parks, refuges, preserves, whatever, and then to just completely ignore that everywhere I post about is stolen land.
I have no interest in having followers who reject history regarding Native Americans or who think that they are somehow more entitled to the United States than people who are immigrating here now.
ALL AMERICANS are immigrants, except those who were here before the Europeans came.
I can EASILY trace my family coming here from Ireland in the 1700s and Germany in the 1800s. I come from a family of immigrants.
The Lenni Lenape people emigrated to North America when mastodons were still alive, so this is their land, and the least I can do is give them that recognition.
ESPECIALLY THE DAY BEFORE AMERICAN THANKSGIVING… with its bastardized version of history where the Indigenous populations and the colonizers had a wonderful dinner and meeting of the minds, instead of the truth of the Native Americans teaching the colonizers how to properly farm the new land and how to hunt and forage and not die in North America, only to be then met with accidental and purposeful murder through diseases and then just erasure through forced migration or assimilation.
I don’t have strong feelings about this at all OBVIOUSLY….
Recognizing the Native Americans who lived where I now live and visit is the least I can and will do, and if you don’t want to read about it on occasion, there are plenty of other places to get information about parks in New York State.
Please watch this space for a true post about Lenoir Preserve coming this weekend and thanks for reading this far if you did!
credit for the map of the "13 tribes" of Long Island goes to a young man named Jeremy Dennis, who is a member of the Shinnecock nation out on the East End of Long Island who is trying to preserve Native history on Long Island with his incredible website which you can see more about here!
credit for the list of translations goes to Westchester Magazine who did a really incredible breakdown of Native history in the Hudson Valley that you can read here!
