Photo by Marianne Campolongo
The rustic hamlet of Millwood boasts New Castle’s largest and most popular recreation area, the 126-acre Gedney Park, a year-round attraction. The park’s lovely pond is stocked with over 500 rainbow trout, brook trout and a few golden rainbow trout each April for fishing throughout the spring, summer and autumn. There’s even an annual fishing derby, where kids from six to 60+ gather around Gedney Pond to catch their own dinner and win prizes. Gedney is also home to a large playground and the best sledding hill in town (and if you don’t have a sled, you can buy what you need right in Millwood). Four miles of well-marked hiking trails circle Gedney Pond and meander through beautiful woods and wetlands, well shaded for hiking in the spring and summer, breathtaking when the leaves change color in the fall, and a fun trek in snowy winter weather. A gazebo and picnic tables interspersed throughout the park are great when it’s snack time or if you want to bring along a picnic lunch after having fun on the swings or after a game on the ballfields. A lovely trail also heads out to a monument to those lost on 9-11.
The 22-mile North County Trailway also runs through Millwood, a family-friendly paved path that snaking through the woods and over streams and wetlands, where you will often find friends biking, roller skating or strolling, and see New Castle’s bicycle cops making sure no stragglers need help. A portion of the path runs parallel to a shopping plaza where you can go grocery shopping, do your banking, pick up prescriptions or suntan lotion, toys and gifts, wine, sandwiches or baked goods, or get your nails done. Millwood’s post office is conveniently located there.
The hamlet also has its own little beach, though it’s only open to those in the neighborhood and their friends. Millwood Park is home to tennis courts and additional ballfields, conveniently located near a deli, pizza place, and other restaurants, making it easy to grab a snack. The Stillwater Lake neighborhood in the West End of town also has its own beach for neighborhood residents, large enough for both swimming and boating.
Millwood and the West End also boast some of the area’s finest restaurants. Between the two you can find plumbing, home building, garden suppliers, musicians, movers, veterinarians, convenience stores, non-profits, and several other businesses, large and small.
The West End of town is characterized by rolling hills and rambling country roads with lovely old colonials sitting on two acres or more. It is home to Amsterdam Park and its soccer fields, the 82-acre Sunny Ridge Preserve with trails for hiking and cross-country skiing, and the Hudson Hills Golf Course, a public golf course high in the hills with lovely scenic views, run by Westchester County.
