A few days ago, on my way back from New York City, I decided to take a side trip that I had been meaning to take for a long time.  My destination was the Untermyer Gardens in Yonkers.

What a treasure these gardens are!

Untermyer was only a boy when his widowed mother moved the family North from Lynchburg, Virginia, after the Civil War. He attended NY public schools and received his law degree from Columbia, becoming one of the most prominent and successful lawyers in the country.

He married Minnie Carl, and they had two sons and one daughter.  In 1899 he purchased the Greystone mansion which sat on a bluff in Yonkers overlooking the Hudson from the estate of former NY governor Samuel Tilden.

Untermyer bought more property around the mansion and beginning in 1916, he and his intrepid team of gardeners began the creation of the 150-acre gardens designed by landscape architect William Welles Bosworth.  This was no small endeavor, and 60 gardeners and 60 greenhouses were needed to create and maintain the various gardens of the estate.  Legend has it that Untermyer would send his gardeners down to the docks as immigrant ships came in, looking for more people to work in his stunning gardens.

While the gardens were private, for several days each year the public were invited to tour them, free of charge.  The NY Times article of October 30, 1939, reported that 30,000 people visited the gardens on one day, traveling from all over the world. Untermyer had succeeded in his aim to create the most beautiful gardens in America.

When Untermyer died in 1940, his heirs did not want the property and tried to give it to the state of New York, who refused the gift.  They then gave 16 acres to the city of Yonkers as a park, but it fell into a state of disrepair.  After one false start in the 1970s, the gardens were brought back to life in the mid-1990s, expanding to 43 acres.

Work on the restoration is not complete, but the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy has restored many of the most striking elements of the grounds.

The Walled Garden was inspired by Indo-Persian gardens and stand at the highest point of the property. It contains an amphitheater where Isadora Duncan’s dancers once performed for Minnie and Samuel and their guests and where concerts are still held today. For more information, follow this link: https://www.untermyergardens.org/concerts-and-performances.html .

The most outstanding feature of the Gardens is The Vista, stairs that go down to the Hudson, framed by Japanese cedars.  This dramatic garden is based on a similar stairway in Lake Como, Italy. It is absolutely breathtaking.

I wandered the grounds for over an hour, taking in the Temple of Love and the Rock and Stream Gardens.

The Untermyer Garden Conservancy charges nothing for visits to the gardens, but a donation of $14 per person is suggested. The Gardens are open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week.  It is perfect for a day trip, and you may bring your own picnic from home, if you so desire.  What a treasure it is! As the poet John Keats noted, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” For more information, go to  https://www.untermyergardens.org/.