Our Work in Sleepy Hollow

Bathhouse Restoration Nears Completion

Construction should wrap up this spring on transforming Sleepy Hollow's historic Kingsland Point Park bathhouse into the Kathryn W. Davis RiverWalk Center, reconnecting residents with the Hudson River and an important part of their past. When completed, the center not only will offer environmental-education classrooms, but will provide opportunities to enjoy recreation on the river, perhaps through kayak rentals or a sailing school. The building also features a rooftop pavilion perfect for picnicking and community gatherings. More information about the bathhouse project is available in this 2009 New York Times article. Scenic Hudson initiated the bathhouse renovation in 2008 by providing $4 million toward the project from a $20-million gift made to the organization by Tarrytown resident Kathryn Wasserman Davis and the Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation in 2007, shortly after Mrs. Davis celebrated her 100th birthday. Plans for the renewal and reuse of the 1926 structure -- for decades a gathering place for village residents until its virtual abandonment in the 1960s -- were designed by Jan Hird Pokorny Associates of New York City, a leader in historic preservation. Our partners in the project are Westchester County and Friends of Westchester County Parks.

Center will benefit local students, residents and visitors

The Kathryn W. Davis RiverWalk Center will offer exciting opportunities for local students to learn about the Hudson River. Because the facility is located near a shallow cove, schoolchildren will engage in hands-on activities such as seining and water-quality sampling, facilitating classroom discussions about river ecosystems, shoreline habitats and land-use planning. Local school officials envision hundreds of students, from grammar school through high school, using the facility each year. The center also will provide amenities for those using Westchester's RiverWalk, a planned shoreline trail running from Yonkers to Peekskill. The building is a short walk from the 1883 Tarrytown lighthouse, now a museum. Together these facilities will offer a spectacular way for visitors to connect with the Hudson River's beauty, ecology and history. Perhaps most important, the bathhouse once again will serve as a place for the Sleepy Hollow community to come together.

Shaping the Future of Sleepy Hollow's Waterfront

Prior to the bathhouse restoration project, for nearly a decade Scenic Hudson helped officials and residents of Sleepy Hollow create a vision for developing the historic 97-acre site of the former General Motors plant -- the largest undeveloped waterfront parcel in the lower Hudson River Valley. Working together we were able to make many improvements to the developer's original plan, including a reduction in residential density, a 50-percent increase in publicly accessible land and a half-mile-long riverfront park affording magnificent views spanning the Palisades down to the Manhattan skyline. However in 2007 General Motors and the site's developer terminated their agreement. In December 2010 GM present village officials with a new plan for the property that incorporates most of the improvements we worked so hard to secure. The project features 1,777 housing units, a 140-room hotel and 172,000 square feet of retail space. More important, the new plan devotes nearly half of the development to parkland, including a shoreline walkway and a buffer along neighboring Kingsland Point Park. As the project moves through the permitting process, we'll work with officials and residents to ensure that Sleepy Hollow doesn't squander this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a vibrant riverfront that revitalizes the local economy while providing a very special place -- for residents of the new development, the village and the entire Hudson Valley -- to connect with the inspiring power of the Hudson River.   People from all over Westchester enjoy the Hudson waterfront in Sleepy Hollow.