by The Untermyer Park and Gardens in Yonkers, N.Y., are the 43-acre remnant of Samuel Untermyer’s original 150-acre estate, “Greystone”. It is situated on steep land rising from the Hudson River, and as such has glorious views over the river. It includes a huge Walled Garden with several water features, a classical pavilion, a “Temple of the Sky”, wonderful mature trees, sculptures, and flowers.
Leading away from the walled garden is a terraced slope (the “Vista”) that heads down towards the river with another overlook at the bottom. There are also numerous trails on the grounds to explore.
A magnificent “Temple of Love” is built on a rocky outcropping on another part of the estate; elsewhere a small waterfall is surrounded by wildflowers. Needless to say, at the time it was one of the most celebrated gardens in the United States.
Untermyer, a lawyer (the first in the U.S. to receive a fee of one million dollars for a single case!) and civic leader, began developing the gardens in 1916 with architect and landscape designer William W. Bosworth.
When he died in 1940 (see the Untermyer family gravesite we had recently seen at Woodlawn Cemetery for more over-the-top grandeur), he had hoped to donate the entire estate to a local government, but neither the city or state was interested due to the cost of upkeep of the sprawling site (and there was no endowment included with the gift). Eventually the City of Yonkers agreed to just accept as a public park the 43-acre portion that remains today, but they did not maintain it.
Eventually the mansion was demolished, other structures fell into disrepair, and parts of the site became overgrown. It wasn’t until the 1990s that renewed interest resulted in the gardens being restored and rehabilitated, a process that is still underway today.
