Tam Martinides Gray’s Editors Note: My late father was born in Yonkers but in spite of living in various New York state locations, including Garden City on Long Island and across the Hudson River in a small New Jersey town named Demarest, we never visited, to my knowledge, these famed gardens. Perhaps some day we will come from our California perch to stroll through the Untermyer Gardens. In the meantime, we hope you might.
More garden pictures: https://www.untermyergardens.org/photos.html
In 1899 Samuel Untermyer purchased Greystone, the former estate of Samuel Tilden. In the forty one years Untermyer owned Greystone, he transformed the gardens and greenhouses into some of the most celebrated gardens in America. After expanding the estate through property purchases to the north and east of the original estate, he hired Beaux Arts architect Welles Bosworth to design the gardens in 1916. These gardens sprawled over 150 acres overlooking the Hudson River and were maintained by 60 gardeners and supplied by 60 greenhouses. It was open to the public on a weekly basis during the 1920’s and ’30’s and for special events, including displays of his famous chrysanthemums and tulips. Thirty-thousand people visited it on one day in 1939.
Upon his death, the gardens were left in limbo while the estate was settled and a plan to care for the gardens determined. A core part of the gardens was acquired by the City of Yonkers in 1946 . In the 1990’s, another parcel was acquired, bringing the total today to 43 acres. While the core is intact, some of the gardens are in ruin.
In partnership with the Yonkers Parks Department and input from Marco Polo Stufano, Founding Director of Horticulture at Wave Hill, Head Gardener Timothy Tilghman has led an ambitious restoration, which is dazzling the garden-loving public with its brilliant design.
Funds raised by the Conservancy are used to employ horticulturists and restore the gardens. Timothy Tilghman has been working full time in the gardens since June, 2011, and is joined by six other gardeners.
The Gardens
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