Sunday Morning Walk Home from The Patio – Trump National Golf Club

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The club had its origins around 1895, with Briarcliff founder Walter W. Law‘s private nine-hole course on his estate, which became available to Briarcliff Lodge guests, and was then known as the Briarcliff Golf Club. In 1922, Devereux Emmet designed a course across the street with eighteen holes, and thus Briarcliff Country Club was founded that year. The name was changed in 1927 to avoid confusion, to Briar Hills Country Club. Briar Hills opened in May 1929 with a new clubhouse; construction began in May 1928 and utilized local stones for the building’s exterior. The interior was noted for its design and spaciousness. In 1936, A. W. Tillinghast redesigned the course. In 1948, Henry Law’s son Theodore sold the club to local businessmen who renamed it Briar Hall Golf and Country Club. In 1980, ownership of the club changed hands again.

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Briar Hall had been taken over by the Marine Midland Bank, which then sold the property to Donald Trump. Trump bought Briar Hall Country Club for $7.5 million in the foreclosure in December 1996 and ran the club until 1999, until he closed the property to begin its redevelopment.

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The Trump National Golf Club’s first nine holes opened on April 15, 2002, followed by the next nine on June 29, 2002.

Taken with a Sony RX100 III

Sunday Morning Walk Home from The Patio – Along a Trail

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Until recently this was a dirt track. It was covered in rocks, roots and if it rained it became rather muddy. The North County Trailway, which runs along the path of the New York and Putnam Railroad (the “Old Put”) passes close by and this short trail effectively connects the Trailway with the Village.

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I have no idea what this stuff is. I imagine it’s covering dead trees (I guess that if they weren’t dead before they are now). Looks somewhat menacing.

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This is what’s laughingly called the Pocantico River. To be fair it’s very narrow here. But is does get larger and more active later in its course, as it runs through the Rockefeller State Park Preserve and makes its way to the River Hudson.

Taken with a Sony RX100 III

A Hudson View

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This was taken in Ossining, NY right by the Sing Sing Correctional Facility (See: Going Up the River).

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As you can see the Correctional Facility has some great views of the Hudson River. I’m frankly amazed that the facility has lasted as long as it has. I would have thought that it would have been relocated long ago to somewhere less scenic so that upscale, and very expensive condominiums (condominia?) could be built it its place.

Taken with a Sony RX10 III

Pocantico River

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As it passes by the library building where I volunteer at the Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society.

The Pocantico River is a nine-mile-long (14 km) tributary of the Hudson River in western central Westchester County, New York, United States. It rises from Echo Lake, in the town of New Castle south of the hamlet of Millwood and flows generally southwest past Briarcliff Manor to its outlet at Sleepy Hollow. Portions of the towns of Mount Pleasant and Ossining are within its 16-square-mile (41 km2) watershed.

Writer Washington Irving, who lived in the area for most of his life, was inspired by the undeveloped area above the river’s mouth to write his classic “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. Later in the 19th century much of the land was purchased by the Rockefeller family as part of their Kykuit estate; today much of that land has become Rockefeller State Park Preserve. A former reservoir used by the city of New Rochelle has likewise been converted into county-run Pocantico Lake Park. While the river runs predominantly through those parks and suburban land, it is still one of the most polluted tributaries of the Hudson. (Wikipedia)

As you can see it’s hardly a roaring torrent at this part of its course. Not even what you’d call a river in fact? It does get a bit more interesting in other parts e.g. see picture below of the so-called Pocantico Falls in Rockefeller State Park Preserve. (picture taken with an Olympus OM-D EM-10 and Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42 f3.5-4.6 II in January, 2021

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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I liked the contrast between the bare, dead tree and the lush, green foliage around it.

Taken with a Sony DSC-H50