The Leon Levy Preserve

2-50 Smith Ridge Rd, South Salem, NY 10590

The Leon Levy Preserve, formerly the Bell property, was purchased by the Town of Lewisboro in 2005. It is 383 acres of forest and wetland located in the watersheds of both New York City and Stamford, and provides a portion of their drinking water supply. The purchase was made possible by a $5-million-dollar contribution from the Jerome Levy Foundation and $500,000 from the Dextra Baldwin McGonagle Foundation. Shelby White, whose late husband, Leon Levy, was the Levy Foundation’s primary benefactor and worked with the Town, the Lewisboro Land Trust and the Westchester Land Trust to assure that this largest tract of undeveloped land in Lewisboro would always be preserved and protected and accessible to the community. The preserve has an extensive trail system and ruins of the Black mansion (1899-1979) and other outbuildings. In 2015, the Leon Levy Native Plant Garden was added by Lewisboro Land Trust (with monitoring and maintenance provided by the Lewisboro Garden Club), and a comprehensive invasives removal project was started.

Highlights

Wetlands rich in wildlife, a ravine with 25’ cliffs, diverse hardwood forest, rare plants such as Purple Milkweed and Blue Cohosh, native plant garden adjacent to parking lot.

Directions

The main entrance and parking lot is on Route 123 (Smith Ridge Road) just south of the intersection of Route 35. There is room for horse trailer parking and  turnaround.