A Place for Peace, and a Piece of History

If you are looking for a place to relax and get some quiet time, there is a place for you in Edgemont, just off Central Avenue at Dromore Road.

The Greenburgh Nature Center is a natural preserve with trails, ponds and gardens. The center provides a place to have interactive and educational experiences about advances in environmental literacy. They offer a host of activities that you can find on their website.

 http://greenburghnaturecenter.org/

 If you are just interested in just taking in the beauty of the thirty three acres, you can hike the many trails or just find a spot under one of the great trees and read a book.

Now for the history. You wouldn't know it by walking around the Nature Center, but there used to be a quarry on the land between the Nature Center and Edgemont High School. By the way, the Nature Center is just behind the school's tennis courts and gymnasium. 

The quarry supplied the stone that was used to pave Central Avenue back in 1906. Stone from the quarry was also shipped to New York, where it was used on the retaining walls along the Metro North tracks in the Bronx. 

"Game On" Lease Vote Tommorrow

Tomorrow, July 31, at the inconvenient time of 11 AM, there will be a vote on the approval of a 15 year lease of the former Frank's Nursery to "Game On" for an indoor/outdoor recreational facility.
The controversy centers around a number of facts. The largest problem is who will pay for the environmental clean up of the property after Frank's Nursery's abandonment of the property. Town Supervisor Paul Feiner wants the taxpayers to assume the cost of the cleanup.The town has never done an appraisal of the property.  Yet, the agreement includes only a 1% per year increase of the base rent.

The Town Board is not concerned about any of these arguments and plan to pass the lease tomorrow.

Then and Now

Here's the Scarsdale Hotel located at 30 Old Army Road.

The Hotel was also known for its restaurant. After closing down as a hotel, it served the community as a nursery school and then became a town residence.  The building was built around 1860 and here it is as it stands today.

Solitude No More

The waterfall on the Bronx River by the Scarsdale  train station has always been a place where you could find a cool, calming setting to relax during the warm months in Edgemont.
It used to look like this.

That has now changed due to the Crane Bridge Road building project. The river has been dammed and there is no longer a waterfall.
The project will take three years and is scheduled to be completed by March 2015. It isn't clear when or if the waterfall will return.
Here is what we have now.

Not too relaxing.

Tear Downs

A new development  in our community is home tear downs.
In the past month, three homes are in the process of being torn down. This seems like a high number to me,considering  Edgemont only covers a three square mile area.

The property pictured below is located on Ardsley Road and Fort Hill Road. The home that once stood there dated back to the first half of the 20th Century and did not even have a cellar or some type of foundation.

The second home is on Ardsley Road and Westminster Road, which was formerly both a residence and a dental office.

The third property is at Old Army Road and Edgemont Ctr.

One Room with a View

Are you having any friends visiting you this summer? Where are they going to stay?  If you lived in the Edgemont area in the mid 1890's, you would have had your choice of three different hotels.

Picture above is the Greenville Hotel which was built by Carl Franck. It was located on the Northwest corner of Central Avenue and Underhill Road (where the Fort Hill Apartments are now located.) Mr. Franck bought the farm that was located there and continued operating the farm while building a hotel and a general store for the public. The hotel was torn down in 1926.

The Scarsdale Hotel was located at 30 Old Army Road and was known for its French cuisine.

The third hotel in Edgemont was located where the upper parking lot for the Shoprite Supermarket is on Ardsley Road and Central Avenue. The hotel changed names often and at various times was known at the Hillside Hotel, the Rochambeau, and the Putney Inn.

We Are All One

For the first time in years, the Edgemont community's voting results will include our entire community. In the past, those living in the Greenridge section (Old Colony Road) voted at the Hartsdale Fire Station and their votes were tallied as if they were Hartsdale residents. They voted in the 57 District. Greenridge residents will now vote at the Edgemont High School and be counted as part of District 34, which is part of Old Edgemont. Vote totals will now reflect how our community votes as a whole in local, state and federal elections.

This goes into effect starting with this Tuesday's (June 26) primary vote for a contested Congressional seat currently held by Rep.Elliot Engel, who now represents our entire community.

This change was made by the Westchester County Board of Elections which redrew Congressional districts.