We’d driven past the entrance to this park on the Sawmill River Parkway many times, but had never gone inside. It’s divided into two parts: The Woodland Lake portion, sandwiched between the Sawmill and the NY State Thruway and a second portion on the other side of the thruway, which seems to consist mostly of playing fields. This and the subsequent posts in this series were taken in the Woodlands Lake area, which from descriptions I’d read seemed to be the more interesting photographically. It turned out to be more interesting than I thought it would be – with much of interest scenically and a rich past..

The lake is man-made and has a beautiful waterfall on its southern end. The waterfall now has a concrete bridge that crosses over it leading to The South County Trailway. At one time this concrete bridge was a wooden bridge that acted as an access road that crossed over the waterfall from the Saw Mill River Road to a renowned resort area in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The waterfall was created by building a dam across the Saw Mill River. In the past, the water power created by this waterfall successfully powered saw mills and grist mills along the Saw Mill River during the latter part of the 18th Century and throughout all of the 19th Century. These mills processed various grains and produced a high percentage of the finished lumber for local construction. (Greenburgh: A Glimpse Of Our Past Town Of Greenburgh Bicentennial 1788-1988).

The Woodlands Lake area was originally owned by Fredrick Philips, a royalist, and was part of Philips Manor. After the American Revolution, victorious patriot forces confiscated the land. Jonathan Odell, one of the many patriots, purchased the saw mill near the lake, plus one hundred acres of land running through the valley.

Then, in 1816, Joseph Howland purchased the mill, and the property became known as Howland’s Mill and Howland’s Mill Pond (now Woodlands Lake). Mr. Howland lived in a mansion near the pond. Thereafter, Woodlands Lake Waterfall and its surrounding area was owned by a number of financiers including Cyrus W. Field after the Civil War; and then J. P. Morgan who eventually sold, leased and donated many parcels of land from the former C. W. Field estate that he had acquired as partial settlement of debts owed to him by Cyrus Field. Eventually, in 1923 Westchester County purchased the Woodlands Lake Waterfall area and park from J.P. Morgan.

Meanwhile, during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, Woodlands Lake Waterfall and its surrounding area, served as a popular resort area. As mentioned before, the original wooden bridge that crossed the Woodlands Lake Waterfall acted as an access road connecting the Saw Mill River Road to the Woodlands Lake Waterfall resorts in this area. To arrive at the resort hotels, local residents coming from the Saw Mill River Road area would simply cross over the wooden bridge by foot, by bicycle or by a horse drawn buggy.For those vacationers living far away, the “Put” Railroad Wood-lands Station made arriving at the Woodlands Lake Waterfall resort areas easy. For the travelers coming from the city, they would sim-ply disembark at the Woodlands Station and then use the original wooden bridge that crossed over the Woodlands Lake Waterfall to arrive at the resort hotels and areas.

In the 1920’s, the Woodlands Lake area was a place of fun: it hosted the circus when it came to town; it provided picnic areas where ladies and gentlemen could go for an outing and a barbecue; and it had a place where families could park their cars in the shade while they had a family picnic and had the accessibility of having a food van nearby to provide the food they could not supply for themselves. There was also a place where a baseball game could be played and watched. Then there was the wooden bridge over the waterfalls from which bathers could dive into the cooling waters or show off the latest bathing suit fashions.

In the 1930’s, Howland’s mansion was demolished when the Saw Mill River Parkway was constructed. It was at this time that the Woodlands Lake Hotel complex and the Reinhardt Hotel were located in the Woodlands Lake Waterfall area. The hotels had bowling lanes, rowboats, canoes and foot pedal boats for guests or day excursionists to enjoy. The Reinhardt Hotel, “was a popular week-end recreation spot for the German population of New York City. The sounds of “oom pah” bands could have been heard on many a Sunday afternoon. The hotel was also a favorite gambling spot until curtailed by the county sheriff.” (Pictures Of The Past, Ardsley, N.Y. by Patricia and Fred N. Arone) It was also during the above time that a more substantial concrete and steel bridge replaced the original wooden bridge that crossed the waterfall. This new bridge now made it possible for automobiles to cross over the waterfalls and to arrive at the Woodlands Lake Waterfall resort hotels and areas. This concrete bridge continued to act as an access road between the hotels and resort areas and the Saw Mill River Road. Then when the Ardsley-Elmsford sections of the Saw Mill River Parkway were also opened in 1930, the little road over the Woodlands Lake Waterfall still provided a Woodlands Lake Waterfall still provided a convenient connection between the Saw Mill River Parkway and the Saw Mill River Road. This waterfall crossover bridge was used until 1950 when The New York Thruway construction cut off the road and the bridge thereafter saw only fishermen and strollers.

Today, Woodlands Lake, its waterfall and the surrounding park areas can still be enjoyed. The “Old Put” railroad line is now the South County Trailway which is a bicycle and foot path that travels along the Old Put’s railroad tracks, now paved over. The South County Trailway starts in the Bronx at Van Cortland Park and passes right by the eastern side of the Woodlands Lake Waterfall pretty much where the Woodlands Station used to be located. You can gain access to the South County Trailway by simply crossing over the Woodlands Lake Waterfall bridge. You can then either go south towards the Bronx or north where you can then connect with the North County Trailway. (“Woodlands Lake Waterfall Area–Ardsley’s Summer Joy For Over 150 Years!” by Theresa di Stefano).

Taken with a Sony A6000 and 7artisans 25mm f1.8 lens.