Croton Gorge Park

35 Yorktown Rd.

Cortlandt, NY 10520

Visit the Croton Gorge Park in Cortlandt, NY. A picturesque location along the Croton River, the Croton Dam is a great spot to bring your camera for the day. The 97-acre area is popular for hiking, picnicking, and hiking. 

“The Old Croton Dam, built to supply New York City with water, was the first large masonry dam in the United States. Completed in 1842, it was the prototype for many municipal water supply dams in the east during the mid-nineteenth century. The city’s needs, however, soon outgrew the Croton Dam water supply. Consequently, work began on the New Croton Dam, also called the Cornell Dam because of its location on land purchased from A.B. Cornell, in 1893. Completed in 1907, the Cornell Dam stands over 200 feet high. The Croton Reservoir has a capacity of about 34 billion gallons of water with a watershed covering 177 square miles.”

The property is open to the public, and is $5 for parking with a park pass, and $10 without on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until October 1st. The park is open 7 days a week, from 8am to dusk. 

More information can be found on their website, here.

Hiking information can be found here.

Tenafly Nature Center 

New Butterfly House

Saturday and Sunday 11:00AM

313 Hudson Ave, Tenafly, NJ 07670

The Tenafly Nature Center has a new 12×24′ butterfly house, open to all ages. Come and explore the beautiful world of butterflies. 

“This seasonal exhibit showcases several beautifully colored butterflies sipping nectar and taking flight, offering guests the opportunity to better understand and appreciate their life cycle and importance to the ecosystem. Inside the exhibit you will be welcome to chat with staff or volunteers, ask questions, or simply relax and enjoy the space while butterflies flit and fly about. See if a butterfly will land on your nectar stick or just watch them fly around you as they move between nectar plants. Observe butterfly chrysalis in the chrysalis box. Maybe you will be lucky enough to see a butterfly emerge!”

The house is open to the public, and is free to residents of the nature center. For non-residents, the entrance fee is $5, which includes 1 adult and 2 children. 

More information can be found on their website, here.