Leatherman’s Ridge
Cherry Street, Bedford Hills, Bedford, Westchester County, New York
33 acres

Location:

Rises above Haines Road and Cherry Street and across from the Bedford Hills town park.

Saw Mill River Parkway north to the exit for Bedford Hills; turn left onto Cherry Street; turn left in order to stay on Cherry Street, passing by Bedford Avenue on the right; turn left and park at the Police Department parking lot. Cross Cherry Street to use the sidewalk, and continue uphill past Park Avenue; soon turn left at an opening in the stone wall.  The woods work their way down to Haines Road across from the Bedford Hills town park on Haines Road. 

History:

A cave on the site was frequented by the famous Leatherman of 125 years ago.

The Pechet family, owners of the land, agreed to sell the land to the town at less than the land's market value. Tavan Pechet represented the family in the negotiations with the town and Westchester Land Trust.

Neighbors of the property, led by Sue Bronico, Dave Medd, Dan Campbell and Liz Hill-Kende, worked with Westchester Land Trust and town officials.

The town will grant a conservation easement on the property to Westchester Land Trust, which helped negotiate the sale and worked with neighbors to raise part of the $1.325 million price.

Habitats:

hardwood forest and watershed land, with steep slopes, scenic vistas

Trails:

Several trails cross the property.

11/28/2004.  We did not see any signs or trail markings on the property.  We passed by the remains of two cellars one on each side of the path.  Walked up the hill into the woods and crossed left over the small stream to head farther uphill to the top of the ridge.  There are some broad paths that look like they may once have been roads and it is best to use these, although since all the leaves were down and there wasn't much understory vegetation it was easy to bushwhack south to the lookout over the Bedford Hills town park on Haines Road.  Passed over a power cut for electrical wires.  We did not stay long so we did not discover any Leatherman cave.  But I did make it all the way to the lookout over Haines Road in the narrow gap between an apartment building on the left and a yellow house on the left.  Turned around and went back the way we had come using the roads.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

Update:

At the end of Dwight Road off of Cherry Street, there is parking, a sign and a map.  It looks like the trail has logs along the edge. (From Jane Daniels.) 

Source:

http://www.westchesterlandtrust.org/Accomplishments/LeathermansRidge.html

PLANT LIST
Dr. Patrick Louis Cooney
* = blooming on the date of the field trip, November 27, 2004

Trees:
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya sp. (hickory)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Ostrya virginiana (eastern hop hornbeam)
Pinus strobus (white pine) planted
Pyrus sp. (apple)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry) planted
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Myrica pensylvanica (bayberry)
Pachysandra terminalis (pachysandra)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Vaccinium sp. (a low bush blueberry)
Viburnum sp. (viburnum)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (yarrow)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Apocynum cannabinum (Indian hemp)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Senecio vulgaris (common groundsel)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora (loose-flowered sedge)

Grasses:
Panicum clandestinum (deer tongue reed grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem l grass)

Ferns:
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)