The South County Trailway is a long rail trail stretching from the Putnam Trail in

Van Cortlandt Park Van Cortlandt Park is a park located in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. Owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, it is managed with assistance from the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance. The park, the city's third-lar ...

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

to the

North County Trailway The North County Trailway is a long paved rail trail stretching from Eastview to Baldwin Place in Westchester County, New York. It is also part of the statewide Empire State Trail. History and route The North County Trailway was constructe ...

East View, New York Eastview (or East View) is a business district and former hamlet in Mount Pleasant, Westchester County, New York, United States, located approximately 25 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. It was primarily residential, and had a post office, railro ...

. Westchester County Parks constructed the trailway in segments beginning in 1990 and completed it on October 31, 2017. The South County Trailway was constructed mostly along the main line of the former New York and Putnam Railroad railbed in

Westchester County, New York Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...

(also known as "Westchester"). In East View it connects to the

. Much of the trail is in the

Saw Mill River The Saw Mill River is a tributary of the Hudson River in Westchester County, New York, United States. It flows from an unnamed pond north of Chappaqua to Getty Square in Yonkers, where it empties into the Hudson as that river's southernmost t ...

floodplain, although the southern portion runs along

Tibbetts Brook Tibbetts Brook, originally Tippett's Brook or Tibbitt's Brook, is a stream in the southern portion of mainland New York, flowing north to south from the city of Yonkers in Westchester County into the borough of the Bronx within New York City. Or ...

. The Putnam Division provided freight and passenger service from 1881 to 1958 between the Bronx and Putnam County, with freight service lasting until 1962. The railroad served 23 stations in Westchester. Historic marker plaques have been placed at most of the former stations. The Trailway has become a bicycle commuter route for Westchester residents traveling to jobs in business centers in Elmsford, Getty Square in Yonkers, the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, and

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. The Trailway is not illuminated at night or plowed in winter, making its use difficult but not impossible. Despite initial opposition, it has become one of Westchester's most popular parks. A 2016 housing development called "The Lofts on Saw Mill River" in

Hastings-on-Hudson Hastings-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County located in the southwestern part of the town of Greenburgh in the state of New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of midtown Manh ...

included a pedestrian bridge over the

connecting it to the trailway. Westchester County Parks embarked on construction projects in 2015 and 2017 to close gaps in the trailway. and again in August 2017. The South County Trailway is also a section of the Empire State Trail, a route that leads north from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to Albany and thence either to the Canadian border or to Buffalo. The state trail officially opened at the end of 2020. A controversy developed in 2013 with the announcement that Westchester County planned to put sponsorship signage along the trail. This plan was canceled shortly after the announcement, after opposition arose. File:Old Put fallen tree jeh.JPG, Before paving completion in 2012. Fallen trees across dirt trail. File:Palmer Rd overpass and Bryn Mawr Market jeh.jpg, Before paving. Looking north past Bryn Mawr Park station replica, under Palmer Road, 2007 File:Odell Av overpassing So County Trailway jeh.jpg, Under a road in northern Yonkers File:South County Trailway Elmsford New York, Nov 2017.jpg, Final completed section in Elmsford, NY north of Route 119 on November 1, 2017, alongside

References

External links

* * * {{Rail trails in New York Tourist attractions in Westchester County, New York Tourist attractions in the Bronx

See also

References

External links