Great Walks to Great Places

Hyde Park's trail system includes over 14 miles of routes linking parks, preserves, and historic sites throughout the town. Some trails follow wide, gentle woods roads left by generations of farms and estates, while others are narrow and steep hiking trails. Together they offer scenic views, woodlands, gardens, Hudson Valley history, and physical activity. The Hyde Park Trail Committee has worked since 1988 to build and maintain these trails for residents and visitors, with the long-term goal of extending the trail north and south along the Hudson River, connecting to the Town of Rhinebeck and the City of Poughkeepsie, and creating additional links between parks and neighborhoods. The original Hyde Park Trail became a Hudson River Valley Greenway Trail in 1992, and the entire system became a National Recreation Trail in 2006. The trail symbol is the leaf of the tulip tree, or Liriodendron tulipifera, a favorite of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who admired an old specimen near his home; tulip trees can reach 100 feet, are the tallest-growing eastern hardwood species, and are also known as tulip-poplar or yellow-poplar for their large tulip-shaped flowers high in the spring canopy. Across the Hudson River in West Park, naturalist and author John Burroughs farmed and walked widely among the hills and streams and hosted visitors including Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Ford, John Muir, and Thomas Edison.

Haviland, New York · United States