Explore Valhalla, from Kensico Dam to New York Medical College
We are rivers, woods, mountains. Skyscrapers, sidewalks. Traffic. Solitude. A vibe. Cities, towns, villages, hamlets. Here, our photographers train their craft on what makes this place our place.
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The Kensico Dam and Kensico Dam Plaza in Valhalla. The dam, according to the Westchester County website, was built under the old dam that formed Lake Kensico, using stone taken from the adjacent Cranberry Lake Park. The dam was completed in 1917 and is 307 feet high and 1,843 feet long and forms the Kensico reservoir.
Aleks Jagiello, a program specialist for compost operations with the Westchester County Department of Environmental Facilities, turns over an aerated static pile of compost, seven weeks in the making, at the CompostED education facility in Valhalla. It's the county's first small-scale food scrap composting demonstration and education site. According to the county website, the facility composts up to two tons of food scraps a week and also serves as a valuable educational opportunity for county residents, students and municipal officials.
Emmy L. Creskey, left, the President of the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 1038, looks over some items for sale with three-year member Terry Martino during their annual tag sale fundraiser at the American Legion Adolph Pfister Post 1038 in Valhalla. The Post, founded in 1931, has around 110 members and the Auxiliary, founded in 1933, has 82 members. Money raised during the event helps fill grocery bags with items for veterans in need, send care packages to deployed service members, support children and youth programs and much more.
Rev. Abraham Berko, the pastor of the Holy Name of Jesus Church in Valhalla, is pictured in the main sanctuary. The original church, founded in 1896, is celebrating their 127th anniversary in 2023. Berko came to the United States from Ghana in 2003 and has served in churches in the Hudson Valley, Staten Island and others in New York City. The new Holy Name of Jesus Church was dedicated in 1979.
Recruit firefighters in the Westchester County Career Chiefs Fire Academy train with a 35-foot extension ladder at the Westchester County Fire Training Center in Valhalla. This portion of the training was being taught by Firefighter Ben Schram and Lt. Patrick MacLennan. Other skills included forcible entry and hose preparation and carry drills. Thirty recruits train in the classroom and in the field for 18 weeks before they report to their respective fire companies. Participating departments in this class included Lagrange, Lake Mohegan, Long Beach, Newburgh, Peekskill, Pelham Manor, Poughkeepsie, Town of Mamaroneck and White Plains.
Victor Garcia, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the New York Medical College in Valhalla, works with 3rd year Ph.D. student Alexandra Wolf as they view tissue sections through a microscope at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences department in the Basic Science Building. The college, founded in 1860 in New York City, is comprised of five schools on the campus and made the move to Valhalla in 1971.
The vintage Baltimore & Ohio Railway caboose is part of the Valhalla Crossing Restaurant, located in the historic Valhalla Train Station on the Taconic Parkway close to the Kensico Dam. On the north side of the restaurant is a 1896 Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway car where both are used as dining cars attached to the historic 1900 building. According to the restaurant website, the original train station building along with its huge A-frame ceiling and wide-planked floors is the current bar.
A view of The Rising, Westchester County's September 11th Memorial at Kensico Dam Plaza in Valhalla. The 80-foot-high sculpture, with its intertwined stainless-steel rods rising toward the sky, brings together the Westchester County residents that died that day. The base of the memorial, called the Circle of Remembrance, bears the names of the 111 victims. The Rising was designed by Frederic Schwartz Architects.
John Caldarola and his wife Kristin Caldarola are pictured in front of their Village Creamery & Sweet Shop on Broadway in Valhalla. The couple opened the shop in 2014 and feature a variety of sweet confections. John is a retired White Plains fireman and Kristin is an occupational therapist. The shop, open seven days a week, is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekends.
The Kensico Tower is pictured at the entrance to the Kensico Cemetery along Grasslands Road in Valhalla. The cemetery was founded in 1889 as a rural cemetery. The tower, constructed of stone with small narrow windows, was built in 1928. It contains water used for all of the gardening needs. In addition, historical self-guided tours are offered showcasing many celebrated people of their time, including Beverly Sills, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Lou Gehrig, Billie Burke and Florenz Ziegfeld and a host of others calling Kensico Cemetery their final resting place.
Chirag Gandhi, M.D., center, the Director and Chairperson of Neurosurgery, along with Iman Moeini, M.D., and Jared Cooper, M.D., both fellows, set up the bi-plane 3 dimensional X-Ray machine in the neuro-interventional suite at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla. They treat vascular diseases of the central nervous system including aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), stroke, brain and spine abnormalities.
Carol Capobianco, standing, the director of The Native Plant Center at Westchester Community College in Valhalla, looks on as two-year volunteer Ann Lauinger and 10-year volunteer Julie Larkin help out with some weeding and planting in the Lady Bird Johnson Demonstration Garden. In the foreground are Blue Mistflower perennials. There are over 250 planted species of native plants from the northeast region of the United States. The center, celebrating its 25th anniversary, was established in 1998 as the first national affiliate of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas.
About Mark Vergari: A lifelong Yonkers resident, Mark has been a staff photographer with The Journal News and its predecessors since graduating from Syracuse University in 1983. He has photographed everything in and around his Lower Hudson community from high school sports and parades to food and protests, and has covered three popes (twice at the Vatican), the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and national sporting events. Before the pandemic, when we all worked together in an “office” setting, Mark enjoyed baking cheesecakes and sharing them with his colleagues. Instagram: @markvergari
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Valhalla NY sites and places to visit: lohud on location
