Excerpt from Picturesque White Plains

Passing on to Hill Crest or Ophir Castle, an entirely different scene presents itself; one that will make the Englishman feel quite at home, as he views the rich rolling meadows. And the tall church spires rising from among the trees.

Do not be content with contemplating Nature from afar. Come nearer and see what a rich floral store she has here. As you return from your office, weary and worn with the struggle of the day, she comes out to meet you and extend a grateful welcome.

From Scarsdale, right into the heart of the village. She has stationed a guard of hemlocks to watch her beautiful Bronx, clothing them with ermine and studding them with jewels in winter and in the spring tipping every branchlet with a tassel of golden green. The silver-barked beeches also rise on either side and interlace their protecting branches above the rippling stream. Look to the left and see these masses of lovely pinks on the western slope, and a little higher up, note the great lavers of creamy white dogwood rising one above the other. Later in the season you will find the pastures carpeted with golden rod and the orange colored butterfly plant But, if you would hold still closer converse with Nature, visit her in her virgin home up among The Hills, on the steep inclines of the new reservoir. Here may be found the rare flora of this latitude, many of them unknown even to eager amateurs. The hillsides are covered with laurel and the pink azalia. In the shade of the forest trees are found the monotropa, the yellow and the pink moccasin flower, and several varieties of dainty orchid. Up among the rocks the arbutus. That harbinger of spring, peeps out from among the withered leaves before the snow has taken its final leave. Here, too, may be heard the bark of the fox, the drumming of the partridge, and at twilight, the wail of the whipporwill. All this within a radius of three miles from the station, which can be reached in thirty-five minutes from 42d Street.

As all roads led to Rome, so all roads in Westchester County lead to White Plains, and the converse of the proposition, which is more important for our present purpose, is that roads radiate from it in all directions, bringing its residents in touch with all parts of the County. And this is one of the very attractive features of the place. -at most sea side resorts there are but one or two fine drives, but here one may drive over an entirely new road, with new surroundings and new scenes day after day, and make endless combi nations, extending the distance from five to twenty-five miles at pleasure.

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