What to See in Yonkers - Top Sights and Attractions

Park in Yonkers, New York. Tibbetts Brook Park is a 161-acre park located in the Lincoln Park section of Yonkers in Westchester County, New York. Opened in 1927, it was one of the first developed parks in Westchester County and currently serves residents with activities that include swimming, hiking, sports, nature watching and fishing.

The park was named for George Tibbetts, a Briton who had settled the land in 1668.

Tibbetts is bordered by the Cross County Parkway to the north, Saw Mill River Parkway to the west, McLean Avenue to the south and Midland Avenue to the East. Tibbetts Brook Park is.6 miles (1 km) north of Van Cortlandt Park along South County Trailway, and Tibbetts Brook crosses north-south through the park on its way to the Harlem River.the park is not bordered by McLean ave to the south, it is bordered by Jervis rd to the south

The park is the home ground of the New York Magpies in the USAFL.^[2]

Garden in Yonkers, New York. Untermyer Park and Gardens is a historic 43-acre city public park, located in Yonkers, New York in Westchester County, just north of New York City. The park is a remnant of Samuel Untermyer's 150-acre estate "Greystone". Situated on the steep land arising from the eastern bank of the Hudson River to the bluff on top of it, the park features a Walled Garden inspired by ancient Indo-Persian gardens, a small Grecian-style open-air amphitheater with two facing sphynxes supported by tall Ionic columns, a classical pavilion, stoa and loggias, a rock-and-water feature called "The Temple of Love", as well as a long staircase from the Walled Garden to an Overlook with views of the river and the Palisades.

The gardens were developed beginning in 1916 by Untermyer, a prominent lawyer and civic leader, and were designed by architect and landscape designer William W. Bosworth, with fountains by Charles Wellford Leavitt, and sculptures by Paul Manship and other artists. The gardens were regularly opened to the public, hosted performances of noted dancers, actors and musicians, and were considered to be among the finest gardens in the United States.

When Untermyer died in 1940, he had hoped to donate the whole estate to the United States, or the State of New York, or at least to the City of Yonkers. Eventually Yonkers agreed to accept part of the estate. The parcel, which was the core of the gardens, and which has been added to since that time, was renamed Untermyer Park and Gardens in his honor. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Untermyer Gardens have recently undergone a significant campaign of restorations, which is continuing.^[4]

Reservoir in New York State. The Hillview Reservoir is a 90-acre storage reservoir in southeastern Yonkers, New York. It was built within a six-year period from 1909–1915 by the New York City Board of Water Supply to receive water from the newly constructed Catskill Aqueduct, which drained water from the Ashokan Reservoir and sent it down into the Kensico Reservoir, where it would, in turn, be drained back into a continuation of the Catskill Aqueduct, and sent into the Hillview Reservoir. Frank E. Winsor was the engineer in charge of construction of both Hillview and Kensico as well as 32 miles of the Catskill Aqueduct.

The reservoir itself has a maximum capacity of 900 million US gallons (3,400,000 m³), and water from the reservoir is sent through New York City Water Tunnels No. 1 and No. 2. New York City Water Tunnel No. 3, which is still under construction, is planned to take water from the Kensico Reservoir, and immediately send it into the Hillview Reservoir, and then into the rest of New York City. The reservoir itself does not impound a river, and is held up by walls on all sides.

In 1993, city officials considered building a concrete cover over the reservoir to prevent excrement from seagulls contaminating the water with bacteria and viruses.

In March 2019, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) made an agreement with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to cover the reservoir by 2049 to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act. They also agreed to enhance efforts to manage wildlife at the reservoir in the meantime, eliminating cliff swallow nests and capturing or killing waterfowl.^[8]

Building. Ethan Flagg House-Blessed Sacrament Monastery is a historic home and monastery located at Yonkers, Westchester County, New York. It was built in 1855, with additions made in 1922 and in 1954. The house is a two-story, five-bay wide brick building on a rock faced, random ashlar base in the Italianate style. It has a prominent square cupola and a one-story, wooden porch set on brick piers across the front facade. The four story, brick monastery building was built in 1922. It has a two-story rear wing with conservatory and includes a former chapel. It features an octagonal cupola and has some cast stone and stucco trim. The 1954 addition connects the house and monastery building. The original house was built by industrialist Ethan Flagg, a leading citizen of Yonkers. The property was a residence until its purchase in 1915 by the Sacramentine order of nuns. The academy closed in 1975 and the nuns relocated to Warwick, New York in 1991. In 1996, the property was sold for use as a medical and social service center for people with HIV run by the Greyston Foundation.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.^[11]

Building in Yonkers, New York. Glenview Mansion, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the John Bond Trevor House, is located on Warburton Avenue in Yonkers, New York, United States. It is a stone house erected during the 1870s in an eclectic Late Victorian architectural style from a design by Charles W. Clinton. It was listed on the Register in 1972.

It is one of the few remaining buildings in Yonkers made of locally quarried greystone. Inside there is fine Eastlake cabinetry by the prominent Philadelphia cabinetmaker Daniel Pabst and other decorations and finishes; it is considered one of the finest interiors in that style in an American building open to the public.

Financier John Bond Trevor built the house as a small country estate that was nevertheless close enough to New York City to allow him to commute to his job in the city by rail. At the time he and his family moved in, it was surrounded by similar houses. By the time Trevor's second wife died in the early 1920s, Glenview had become the center of a suburban neighborhood. The design of the house and the way the Trevors lived there epitomizes the transition between country living and the modern suburb.

In 1929, after the Trevor family had moved out, the house became home to the Hudson River Museum for the next 45 years. The museum has since expanded but the house remains part of the complex. Its rooms have been refurbished in the style of the period, and are open to visitors. Renovations in the early 21st century have better integrated the house with the rest of the museum.^[13]

Seminary in Yonkers, New York. St. Joseph's Seminary and College, sometimes referred to as Dunwoodie after the Yonkers, New York neighborhood it is located in, is the major seminary of the Archdiocese of New York. Its primary mission is to form men for the priesthood in the Catholic Church. It educates men destined to serve within the Archdiocese and other archdioceses and dioceses both in the United States and abroad.

Once called the "West Point of Seminaries" for its thorough education and strict discipline, St. Joseph's Seminary holds a reputation as one of the more prestigious and theologically orthodox Roman Catholic seminaries in the United States. As both a college and seminary, it has been accredited both through Middle States Commission on Higher Education and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), respectively. It can, thus, offer the degrees of Master of Divinity and S.T.B. to seminarians who have fulfilled the proper academic requirements. Those who maintain an acceptable grade point average and fulfill other academic requirements are eligible for a Master of Arts. Attached to the seminary is an Institute for Religious Studies which prepares candidates for the diaconate and offers non-seminarians, both laity and clergy, an opportunity to earn a M.A. With the inter-diocesan collaboration from the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Diocese of Rockville Centre, the formation of laity and permanent deacons, as well as the continuing education of priests will be through the Sacred Heart Institute, located at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, Huntington, Long Island, New York, beginning in September 2012. The seminary also serves as the major seminary for the Community of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, who study alongside the diocesan seminarians, but live off campus at a friary in Yonkers.

The seminary is about 16 miles north of the Cathedral of Saint Patrick in midtown Manhattan.^[16]

Cemetery in Yonkers, New York. Oakland Cemetery is located at 2 Saw Mill River Road in Yonkers, New York, next to St. John's Cemetery. It was incorporated in 1875 and named Oakland Cemetery. In time graves from the Civil War filled the cemetery, as did those of other settlers of Yonkers who died.

The cemetery is divided into two halves with a hill separating the western lower half from the eastern upper half. The eastern half borders on the Saw Mill River Parkway, while the western half borders on Saw Mill River Road, where all of the entrances are located. There are two entrance gates that are large enough for a vehicle to enter through and one other smaller entrance gate for pedestrian visitors.

Within the confines of the cemetery trespassers have vandalized many of the graves leaving constant chores for the caretaker, who lives on the property, as noted on the Yonkers Ghost Investigators website under the section for haunted locations listed in the history of Oakland Cemetery.

Oakland Cemetery was established around 1783 to bury Revolutionary War soldiers, originally it was called St. John's Burial Grounds. The first burial in Oakland Cemetery was recorded on September 2, 1867.The name was changed to Oakland Cemetery in 1875. There are rumors of its being haunted by three ghostly females in white whom are known to chase people out of the cemetery, on the hill separating the two halves at the cemetery's center.^[17]