Operated by NYS Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation · also known as Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park, OCA Trailway, Aqueduct Trail
The park today
The trailway is an unpaved walking path that follows the buried aqueduct along a nearly level grade. The Croton section begins at the trail's northern terminus at the New Croton Dam in Croton Gorge Park (35 Yorktown Road), where a short climb connects the county park at the base of the dam to the aqueduct grade above the Croton River gorge. From the dam the trail runs southwest above the gorge, with sections that leave the off-road path and follow Quaker Bridge Road on the road shoulder before re-entering the woods and continuing toward the Ossining town line and, ultimately, Yonkers. Stone ventilator towers mark the aqueduct's line along the way.
The route between Quaker Bridge Road and Lamartine Avenue in Yonkers is a designated segment of the Hudson River Valley Greenway Trail. The Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct, the park's volunteer support group, maintain trail signage, publish a detailed trail map, and operate the Keeper's House visitor center at 15 Walnut Street in Dobbs Ferry.
History
The Croton Aqueduct was built between 1837 and 1842 to carry drinking water 41 miles from the Croton River to reservoirs in Manhattan, ending New York City's reliance on wells and cisterns after epidemics and fires made a reliable supply urgent. David Bates Douglass surveyed the route; John B. Jervis served as chief engineer through construction. Three to four thousand laborers, most of them Irish immigrants, built the masonry conduit — a brick-lined tube roughly 8.5 feet high by 7.5 feet wide — on a steady gravity gradient of about 13 inches per mile. Water first flowed on June 22, 1842, and the aqueduct opened to public use that October 14.
The aqueduct remained in service to New York City until 1955; a northern portion returned to service in 1987 to supply the village of Ossining. In 1968 New York State purchased 26.2 miles of the aqueduct right-of-way in Westchester County from New York City, creating what is now Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park, a linear trailway running from the New Croton Dam south to the Yonkers–Bronx line. The aqueduct was designated a National Historic Landmark on April 27, 1992.
At roughly one-mile intervals the builders raised conical stone ventilator towers, 10 to 20 feet high, to circulate fresh air and equalize pressure in the conduit; 21 of these ventilators still stand along the trail, including several on the Croton section. The aqueduct's original 1842 masonry dam and the first ventilators nearest it were submerged or altered when the New Croton Dam (completed 1906) raised the reservoir.
The Croton section: dam to the village line
From Croton Gorge Park the trail descends from (or climbs to) the dam overlook and follows the east side of the Croton River gorge. Because parts of the original right-of-way here pass near private land, the marked route uses stretches of Quaker Bridge Road itself; trail users should expect on-road walking between the off-road segments. An informal parking pull-off with 'Park Here' signs is on the west side of Quaker Bridge Road between houses #99 and #120.
Ventilator shafts
The cylindrical stone towers seen along the trail are ventilators, built in 1842 about a mile apart to let fresh air reach the water flowing in the conduit below. Twenty-one survive along the 26.2-mile park. Three stand on or near the Croton section: one on the trail below the New Croton Dam, and two along the Quaker Bridge Road stretch south of it.
Visiting
- Hours
- Open dawn to dusk daily, year-round.
- Fees
- Free. (Croton Gorge Park, the county park at the northern trailhead, may charge a seasonal parking fee — see that park's record.)
- Parking
- Northern trailhead: Croton Gorge Park lot, 35 Yorktown Road (county park). Mid-section: signed roadside pull-off on the west side of Quaker Bridge Road between houses #99 and #120.
- Getting there
- The northern terminus is at the New Croton Dam in Croton Gorge Park, off NY Route 129 about 3 miles east of the village center. The Quaker Bridge Road sections are reached from Route 129 via Quaker Bridge Road.
- Rules
- No motorized vehicles. Dogs must be leashed. The trail is primarily for walking and running; state parks says parts of it are suitable for horseback riding and for biking, except during "mud season." Trail-condition issues can be reported to the park office via OCATrailTips@parks.ny.gov.
Accessibility
Unpaved natural-surface trail with uneven ground; the connection between Croton Gorge Park and the aqueduct grade involves a steep climb. The Croton section is not step-free and has no accessible restrooms on the trail itself.
| Step-free access | No |
|---|---|
| Accessible parking | Not documented |
| Accessible restroom | No |
| Surfaces | Packed earth and grass on the aqueduct grade; road shoulder on the Quaker Bridge Road sections. |
In this park
| Old Croton Aqueduct Ventilator (Croton Gorge) | Historic site | Stone ventilator tower of 1842 on the aqueduct trail near the New Croton Dam - the northernmost of the surviving air shafts that ventilated the buried aqueduct at roughly one-mile intervals. |
|---|---|---|
| Old Croton Aqueduct Ventilator (Quaker Bridge Road, north) | Historic site | 1842 stone ventilator tower on the aqueduct trail along the Quaker Bridge Road section, one of 21 surviving air shafts on the Old Croton Aqueduct. |
| Old Croton Aqueduct Ventilator (Quaker Bridge Road, south) | Historic site | 1842 stone ventilator tower on the aqueduct trail south of the Quaker Bridge Road section, near the Croton-Ossining line - one of 21 surviving air shafts on the Old Croton Aqueduct. |
Links
Sources
- Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park — NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation — retrieved 2026-08-13
- Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct — retrieved 2026-08-13
- Croton Aqueduct — Wikipedia — retrieved 2026-08-13
- The Old Croton Aqueduct Is a Picturesque Walking Trail — Westchester Magazine — retrieved 2026-08-13
Researched 2026-08-13.