We’re off for another wandering, this time through the northeast. We’ve made a significant change to our rig, exchanging the ebikes we carried on a rack on the back of WAWA for a Honda Fit that we tow. Regular bikes are carried on a rack on the back of the Fit. We were a bit concerned what towing a car would do to our gas mileage but on yesterday’s 200 mile trip it only reduced our gas mileage by 0.8 mpg or about 7%. We can live with that!
Croton-On-Hudson is a small town in Westchester County on the east side of the Hudson about 40 miles north of New York City. The town lies along the widest section of the Hudson where a large peninsula juts out into the river. Westchester County’s park occupies the entire peninsula. The park includes two nice campgrounds, one for tent campers and another for RV campers like us.
Driving from the town to the park was interesting in that the road crosses a bridge that spans a huge railroad car maintenance facility. In the center of the peninsula is a large treeless hill. Yup, you guessed it, a closed off landfill.
May 12, Croton-On-Hudson, NY
It was a dreary morning with periodic showers. So we opted to go to Muscoot Farm, an early 20th-century interpretative farm museum where they were holding their annual sheep shearing festival. Because it was a Sunday the weekly farmers market was open as well and there was a special display of local artists water color works. As with Croton Point Park, where we were camped, the museum is owned and operated by the Westchester County Department of Parks.
Begun as a gentleman farm in 1880, the 777 acre facility affords people the opportunity to get an idea how a traditional farm operated. Pens and barns house a wide variety of livestock and poultry. The traditional hill barn features hay and straw storage in the upper section with a milking parlor below.There is a brooder house where active little chicks scampered around.
The sheep shearing attracted quite a crowd. Every half hour or so they would shear one of a small flock and let people feel and take small samples of the raw wool.
In a nearby barn others carded wool while others spun yarn and knitted beautiful projects. The wool workers were all eager to share their stories with the crowd.
The farmers market, of course, had no produce to offer this time of year. However, a very nice array to vendors were there offering farm products like honey, sauces, pickles as well as other craft type items.
The main house housed the display of watercolors for sale. We didn’t see any we couldn’t live without but there was an especially cute koala bear painting.