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 Donald Trump State Park - Yorktown Heights, New York Posted by:  flyingmoose
N 41° 15.865 W 073° 48.428
18T E 599921 N 4568796
State Park that is two separate locations; Indian Hill and French Hill.
Waymark Code: WM14KWR
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 07/23/2021
Views: 0
Both sections of the 436 acre park are 5 miles apart along the Taconic State Parkway. The land was donated to the State of New York by Donald J. Trump in 2006. There are current proposals (2021) to have the name of the park changed.
Indian Hill Section is located off of Indian Hill road and has a limited trail system though the parking area saw some improvements in 2019.
French Hill section is located off of Old Baldwin Road and is an unimproved park with no established trails. There is some ruins of the former estate that once existed here.
From Wikipedia:
Donald J. Trump State Park is a 436-acre (1.8 km2) state park in the towns of Yorktown and Putnam Valley in Westchester County and Putnam County, New York.
The park consists of property that was donated to New York State in 2006 by developer Donald Trump. Maintenance of the park was halted in 2010 due to budget constraints, and the park remains largely undeveloped. Most of the buildings have been demolished; only a few foundations and the existing tennis court remain. There have been several calls to rename the park.
History
Trump purchased the property for $2 million in the 1990s with plans to build a $10 million private golf course. The land contained significant wetlands and development faced strict environmental restrictions and permitting requirements. He donated it in 2006 after he was unable to gain town approvals to develop the property. At that time Trump claimed the parcel was worth $100 million. He used the donation as a tax write-off. The donation was praised by governor George Pataki. Trump said, "I hope that these 436 acres of property will turn into one of the most beautiful parks anywhere in the world.”
New York State announced the park's closure due to budget cuts in February 2010. It was questioned whether the closure was necessary since the operating budget for the park was only $2,500 a year and it was maintained by workers from the nearby Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park. Although Trump threatened to take the parkland back after the closure was announced, the land remains in the control of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
An attempt to convert a portion of the park's French Hill section for use as a dog park in 2010 revealed that at least one of the park's abandoned buildings contained asbestos. By 2012, the planned dog park remained on hold due to difficulties raising funds for fences and asbestos abatement.
The park is not listed at the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation park locator, although signs along the nearby Taconic State Parkway direct visitors to Donald J. Trump State Park. During a 2015 visit by The Rachel Maddow Show, there were no signs of any recent upkeep; instead, the publicly accessible land was found to contain crumbling graffiti-covered buildings, empty map kiosks, and weed-choked parking lots.
In 2017, website The A.V. Club published a report that the park was an "abandoned wasteland", with "muddy fields, overgrown tennis courts, and dilapidated buildings" and a swimming pool in disrepair.
Park access improvements including an asphalt driveway, gravel parking lot, entrance gates, wood fencing, and native tree and shrub plantings were noticed in 2020.
Geography
The park is divided into two sections, the 282-acre (1.1 km2) Indian Hill parcel in northern Jefferson Valley (part of the Town of Yorktown in Westchester County) and Putnam Valley (Putnam County), and the 154-acre (0.6 km2) French Hill parcel in southern Yorktown Heights, fully within the town of Yorktown. The parkland features a mix of continuous forest, open meadows, and several large wetlands. The Indian Hill section was formerly farmland but the farm houses and other buildings were all demolished by 2004. The headwaters of two streams, French Hill Brook and Dogwood Creek, originate in the French Hill section of the park.Visit Instructions:
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