CET Woods Trails

The park today

Behind Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School (8 Gerstein Street) and the adjacent Firefighters Memorial Field off Alexander Lane, informal footpaths wind through roughly 22 acres of undeveloped village woods along the crest of the Croton River ravine. The village guide notes simply that "many trails traverse" the area; the paths are unmarked, unnamed and unmaintained as formal trails.

The woods sit between the school grounds and the village's Croton Gorge Trail, a half-mile wooded trail along the ravine that is reached from the Silver Lake parking lot on Truesdale Drive or from the end of Cleveland Drive; a spur from that trail drops to the historic Quaker Bridge over the Croton River and climbs to the Old Croton Aqueduct Trailway in Cortlandt. Walkers in the CET woods can link into that network.

History

This is not a developed park but a piece of village-owned open space that neighbors and schoolchildren have long used informally. The Village of Croton-on-Hudson's Parks Information and Trail Guide describes it as the "Croton Gorge Area": a 22-acre wooded, undeveloped village-owned area at the crest of the Croton River ravine between CET School and the Croton Gorge Trail. No formal founding date, acquisition history or dedication for the parcel appears in published sources.

Visiting

Parking

No dedicated parking. The nearest documented trail access points are the Silver Lake parking lot on Truesdale Drive and the end of Cleveland Drive, both serving the adjoining Croton Gorge Trail.

Getting there

The woods lie between CET School (8 Gerstein Street) and the Croton River ravine. Reach them informally from the school/Firefighters Memorial Field side off Alexander Lane, or from the Croton Gorge Trail via Silver Lake or Cleveland Drive.

Accessibility

Links

• Village of Croton Parks & Trails Guide (PDF)