Route of this walk.
WHERE: The very southern end of the South County Trail in Yonkers, which becomes the Putnam Trail in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.
START: McLean Avenue and Tibbetts Road, Yonkers (Bee-Line number 4 bus from Woodlawn subway station - 4 train)
FINISH: 238 Street subway station (1 train)
DISTANCE: 2.7 miles (4.3 kilometers)
Photographs by Michael Cairl. Maps courtesy of Google Maps.
Profile of this walk.
Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx is bisected by the Putnam Trail, following the route of the old Putnam Division of the New York Central Railroad. Passenger trains ran on the “Put” until 1958 to Brewster, New York and occasional freight service continued until 1980. Like passengers on the New York, Westchester & Boston, passengers on the Putnam Division (except for electric trains on the Getty Square branch, abandoned in 1943) could not go through to Grand Central Terminal, having to transfer at the Sedgwick Avenue terminal in the Bronx to trains to Grand Central or to the Ninth Avenue elevated. In 1940 the latter was reduced to a shuttle from the Polo Grounds to the 167 Street subway station. The Polo Grounds shuttle was discontinued in 1958 after the New York Giants baseball team moved to San Francisco at the end of the 1957 season, a few months before the end of passenger service on the “Put.” The route from the New York City limits was paved over time, giving a bike and pedestrian path that is a continuous trail from the Bronx to Brewster except for a couple of diversions onto local roads. Once, in 2010, I biked the whole length of the trail. It is a beautiful ride even with about 25 miles (40 kilometers) of gentle but steady uphill from Elmsford to Baldwins Place. The Putnam Trail is part of the Empire State Trail, a 750-mile long system of bike paths, on-road bike routes, and canal towpaths running north to south and east to west across the State of New York.
One of a series of stained glass windows at the Woodlawn subway station, the series entitled “Children at Play.”
Until about a year ago the portion of the trail in Van Cortlandt Park was unpaved. Much of the trail became muddy after a little rain, and north of Van Cortlandt Lake the trail was a narrow path hemmed in by vegetation and railroad ties. Years of planning to pave it were accompanied by years of protests and hand-wringing, until finally it was paved. I had not seen the paved trail, so I set out to walk it. On an unseasonably warm day I was accompanied by Ken, who joined us last week on the East Bronx Ramble (see “The Stair Streets of New York City”).
It is a few minutes’ bus ride from the Woodlawn subway station to McLean Avenue and Tibbetts Road, just a short walk from the trailhead where one can go north toward Brewster or south toward the Bronx. The trailhead is accessible from a short street, Alan B. Shepard Jr. Place, named after the second person and first American to go into space, in 1961. I don’t know that Shepard had any connection to the city of Yonkers.
The approach to the trailhead, the trailhead, and looking to the north from the trailhead, with the Saw Mill River Parkway, the trail, and Tibbetts Brook.
The paved trail is excellent for walking, running, or biking. It goes past the Van Cortlandt Park golf course, the oldest public golf course in the United States.
Two views of the trail at the City line, the trail passing the golf course (on left), the upper reach of Van Cortlandt Lake and a wetland just beyond, created by the damming of Tibbetts Brook over 100 years ago.
Near the southern end of the trail is an unusual grouping, the Grand Central Stones. These came from different quarries in 1905 to evaluate their suitability for the new Grand Central Terminal that opened in 1913. Exactly why the New York Central Railroad placed them here, of all places, is anybody’s guess, but they are a surprise on the trail, accompanied by an excellent interpretive sign.
As seen on Bailey Avenue.
The end of the walk took us across Van Cortlandt Park South and south on Bailey Avenue, then west on West 238 Street to the Bronx Ale House for lunch and then to the subway. This was an easy but fun walk, and I’m glad to have seen the newly paved Putnam Trail in Van Cortlandt Park.