Montrose Point State Forest
Kings Ferry Road,
Town of Cortlandt, Westchester County
100 acres
50 acres of conservation easement and 50 acres on Montrose Point
Directions:
Saw Mill River Parkway to the exit for Oscawana; turn left onto Route 9A north; just past the Hudson Valley Hospital make left turn onto Dutch Street; turn right onto Sunset Road just before entering George's Island Park; turn left onto Kings Ferry Road. turn left into the parking area across from house #215.
Or
From Dutch Street above, turn right onto Sunset Road and then left onto Montrose Point Road; drive 0.3 of a mile to a small pull-off at the trail access, between houses #93 and #95.
History:
1801 (April 20) – Orsamus Bushnell born.
1822 -- admitted to the New York bar. Shortly afterward he entered into partnership with the late William M. Everts.
1837 – the partnership was dissolved when Mr. Bushnell became general counsel for the Mutual Life Insurance company, a position he held until 1851.
1851 – Bushnell elevated to the New York bench.
1856 – he retired from the active practice and removed to Montrose. He purchased a large tract of six hundred acres of land, comprising all of what is now known as Montrose Point.
Mr. Bushnell was a personal friend of Stephen A. Douglas, and with him engaged in large real estate transactions in what is now known as the "Bushnell Addition," Chicago, Illinois. Out of this tract Mr. Bushnell made a gift to the city of Chicago of a large portion of Lincoln Park. The Chicago speculations, however, proved disastrous and Mr. Bushnell lost the greater part of his fortune through them.
1858 (August 11) – Bushnell dies.
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/historical/SouthernNewYork2/sny2_pt65.htm
Trails:
Part of the Hudson River Trailway.
It is part of Segment 5 of the Hudson River Trailway going from Steamboat Dock to Montrose Point.
Starting at Steamboat River Park, at the base of Broadway in Cortlandt, RiverWalk will follow the waterfront, utilizing a built promenade in the park, and will traverse a former brownfield site (now renovated and part of the town park), to the east along the waterfront. It will then follow Riverview Ave. (parts of which have been recently improved with sidewalks, and Kings Ferry Road and connect with newly developed hiking trails in the county-maintained Montrose Point Park via the Cortlandt Yacht club access road. It will continue south along a trail easement established through the eastern, inland side of the Kolping Society property. This easement connects into Montrose Point Road, which leads into Georges Island County Park. Some of this alignment follows the route of the planned Cortlandt Shoreline Trail
Source: Hudson River Trailway Plan. http://www.westchestergov.com/planning/docs/RiverWalk/RiverWalkSegments1-7.pdf
11/28/2004. From the parking area we took a loop trail with one side adventure. We took the red trail passing a stream on the left and headed down to the pond and past the Cortlandt Yacht Club. Reaching the yellow trail we took the path down to Brick Beach. On the way we passed between a hill on the left and a Phragmites marsh on the right. They must have manufactured bricks nearby given all the bricks along the Hudson River at Brick Beach. Coming back we took a very short little side diversion off the yellow trail to a hill overlooking the Hudson River. Good views. We retraced our path back to the red trail. Continued around the loop via the red trail Turned left onto the blue trail which brought us back to the parking lot. Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.
PLANT LIST
Dr. Patrick Louis Cooney
* = blooming on the date of the field trip, November 27, 2004
Trees:
Acer pensylvanicum (striped maple)
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)
Maclura pomifera (osage orange) state champion tree
Ostrya virginiana (eastern hop hornbeam)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore) planted
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry) planted
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus) planted
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum)
Vinca minor (periwinkle)
Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)
Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Arctium sp. (burdock)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Aster spp. (aster)
Cardamine sp. (bittercress)
Cirsium arvense (Canada thistle)
Epilobium sp. (willowherb)
Galium sp. (bedstraw)
Geum canadense (white avens)
Euphorbia cyparissias (cypress spurge)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Sedges:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)
Sedges:
Carex laxiflora (loose-flowered sedge)
Grasses:
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)
Setaria glauca (yellow foxtail grass)
Ferns:
Dryopteris marginalis (marginal woodfern):
Polypodium sp. (rockcap fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)