News Archive

Author: 
FOCAAdmin

You've been asking us to do this. Now it's happening.

NY State Parks Taconic Region has approved the Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct’s application to repair and rebuild much of the lower part of the Keepers House Porch.

Author: 
DAlden

 

Event organizer Norma Silva pulled together another very impactful ILMPD on a section of the Aqueduct that borders Westchester County’s Tibbitts Brook Park, sponsored as always by Parks & Trails NY (which provided the red t-shirts) in collaboration with Westchester Parks Foundation, River Keeper Sweep and Groundwork Hudson Valley’s Green Team. They were delighted to have their work acknowledged by the presence of City of Yonkers Council Member Corazon Pineda-Issac.

Amazing what 38 volunteers could accomplish!

Author: 
DAlden

Photo credit: Haven Colgate

For the May 6th, 2023 New York Parks & Trails' I Love My Park Day, the Garden Club of Irvington organized a day of removing invasive plants and planting native species along The Old Croton Aqueduct Trail in the Hastings-on-Hudson section. We had beautiful spring weather, and it was a true community event!

Author: 
DAlden

A comprehensive report on trail stewardship for 2023

In 2023 the focus shifted sigificantly; removal of invasive species was targeted to specific sections of the trail to encourage the emergence of native species and to make space for the restoration planting scheduled for the fall; it took place September 22nd. Sections of the trail are now lush with native plants and whole swaths are free of those prickly bushes that have plagued trail walkers and served as a breeding ground for ticks.

Author: 
joannariesman

Actuator before restoration

A little more than a year after the Friends of the OCA celebrated the building of the Croton Arch of Triumph in Dobbs Ferry, there’s a new piece of history there to look at. An original actuator from the New Croton Dam has been saved from the scrapheap, refurbished and permanently installed outside the Keeper’s House on Walnut Street.

Author: 
FOCAAdmin

Every walker who is interested in or has explored the Trail will love this article by Polly Kreisman, which puts a spotlight on the many delights of walking the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail in this month's issue of Westchester Magazine. We cannot reproduce the article but you can follow a link HERE

Author: 
FOCAAdmin

Twenty years of local organizing and activism have resulted in the Rivertowns' newest park, a peaceful place of natural beauty and local history.

Author: 
FOCAAdmin

Aqueduct Trail Ambassadors, aka the NY NJ Trail Stewards posted by the entrance to the Unique Area.

I took this photo on their first day of orientation and training just prior to the start of the season on Memorial Day weekend. Myra Romano, front and center, is the Program Coordinator.

Author: 
FOCAAdmin

The Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct were well represented by Michelle Pollack, Tom Tarnowsky and Sara Kelsey at the lively and well-attended 175th Anniversary Celebration of the High Bridge on Tuesday, June 6.

Author: 
FOCAAdmin

Cash prizes of $500 and $300 will be handed out this April for the Old Croton Aqueduct Essay Competition. The Friends invited high school students in Yonkers to submit personal experiences, fiction, or tales of environmental awareness about the aqueduct trail and tunnel. The mission was to discover talent from the student community, as well as to bring about awareness and care for the aqueduct trail in Yonkers. The winning essays are highly readable, personal reflections on the historic tunnel and trail.

Author: 
FOCAAdmin

Guest post by Jean Zimmerman

A bent tree and a black butterfly figured prominently in my hike along the northern section of the Old Croton Aqueduct on a day so early in spring that only a few plants were peeping up green.

Also peeping up reddish-brown with yellow streaks, in the case of skunk cabbage.

Author: 
FOCAAdmin

guest blog by Ed Perratore

Every long trek has a lesson for us, and a good walk on the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail is no exception. At the start of my first round-trip hike here, I witnessed buds erupting everywhere, birds flitting about to build their nests and the glistening sun melting the last ice patches of winter. Growth was in the air, filling me with every breath. It was early April.

Author: 
FOCAAdmin

The Friends are active in View Preservation and its impact everywhere on the 26 miles of the trail. We know how important views of the Palisades and the Hudson River are to walkers.

Author: 
FOCAAdmin

On February 12th, The Keeper's House drew a crowd that spilled over onto the front lawn.

Author: 
Laura Compagni

The Keeper’s House offers a cozy destination for pre-school students and after-school program participants who are out exploring the trail throughout the coldest months. Park staff, Laura Compagni and Rob Lee, have created field trip programs for local kids that explore a range of questions about what’s under the trail, what you might find in the trees above the trail, and the history and traditions of the people who lived along the trail in the past.

Author: 
FOCAAdmin

Guest blog by S Squillace

I hiked the northern section of the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail between December 17th 2022 and January 2nd, 2023:

Author: 
FOCAAdmin

 

"The Croton Arch of Triumph" is a 2022 sculpture by artist/architect Dionisio Cortes Ortega. Using historically-accurate materials and working to scale, Ortega re-created a cross-section of the original Old Croton Aqueduct Tunnel completed in 1842. The Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct commissioned Ortega to build this sculpture next to the trail at The Keeper's House in Dobbs Ferry over several weeks in October/November 2022.

 

Author: 
FOCAAdmin

by Derrick León Washington, PhD.

www.urbanstomp.org

Hiking the Old Croton Aqueduct is a life changing experience. An experience that brings hikers into contact with the different peoples that call New York home. The hike illuminates how communities work with, or sometimes even against the land to fit their needs. The trail offers a grand adventure that connects culture, architecture, ecology, and the natural world.

Author: 
FOCAAdmin

The Friends' own Sara Kelsey led a private weir tour on October 30 for a brownie troop of third graders from Croton who are studying water. They were amazed by the weir and the history of New York’s water system. They had lots of questions about water and how to protect it. Our future is in good hands!

On Nov 2, Sara led a private tour of the History Club of Ardsley Public Schools (grades 5-8).

Please contact us if your group is interested in such a tour.

Author: 
LWalter

 

Warburton Avenue’s southern end is still one of Yonkers’ most charming streets, with old house rooftops low enough to catch long views of the Palisades cliffs. Girl Scouts, Scout Moms, Mason brothers and Friends volunteers tidied up Warburton on a sunny morning in late October, and caught the cliffs’ fiery color.

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