Hike & Seek In Yonkers - The Lenoir Preserve

Historic Sites

Mar 17

Lenoir Preserve is a 40-acre nature preserve adjacent to the Old Croton Aqueduct on the slopes overlooking the Hudson River.

Three former estates make up the preserve Lenoir (still standing), Ardenwold and Fairlawn. From the preserve you can also get a look at an another mansion (Alder Manor), right next door, which has seen better days.

The 13,000 square-foot Lenoir mansion, which was built between 1850 and 1870 for the Edward Martin family, still stands in the preserve. The property passed to Adam Norrie and then acquired by C.C. Dula, who gave the 30+ room mansion its name. He left it to his niece, Purl and her husband Dr. Orin Wrightman. They lived there until Dr. Wrightman’s death in 1965. It passed hands again and was mostly unused. Westchester County then purchased the estate, so it would not be developed, and it was used by Yonkers Board of Ed for culinary students.so it would not be developed.

Ardenwold was built in 1908 in the colonial style, with three terrace style gardens overlooking the Hudson River. New York Senator and yachtsman Holland Sackett Duell and his wife Mabel were the first residents of the 20,000 square foot, 30-room mansion. It was built on 20 acres with a self-sustaining farm. They divorced in 1925, and Mabel continued to live there with her second husband, John Stillwell. In 1930, the Stillwells purchased the Max Nathan estate to the east called Fairlawn. They demolished the mansion in 1938, leaving only the hill and stone wall on Broadway. Mabel died of a heart attack here in 1958 and John died in 1963, when the property was acquired by the Julia Dyckman Andrus Memorial, Inc. The house burned to the ground and the only remnants of the estate are the gazebo, and the former carriage house, now the Nature Center.

Alder Manor, the 72-room Renaissance Revival style mansion adjacent to the preserve, was the built for successful copper magnate and financier William Boyce Thompson, built in 1912 and designed by Carrere and Hastings. Thompson left the 22-acre estate to the Catholic Church and it became a school for awhile and then was unused and vacant. It was then acquired by and organization called Tara Circle and now I see the property is now listed an event venue.

Here is what caught my eye, I hope you enjoy!

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