Stony Kill Farm Environmental Education Center
Save a tree - Read the Almanac online!
Sugar Maple Tree
View the Almanac online.
To be notified by email when the newsletter is posted online, you can sign up for our new listserve. If you currently receive a paper copy in the mail, let us know to remove your name from our mailing list.
Thank you for your concern for the environment! - SKF Staff
About Stony Kill Farm EEC
79 Farmstead Lane
Wappingers Falls, NY 12590
Phone: (845)831-8780
Fax: (845)831-3416
Email: skfarm@gw.dec.state.ny.us
Stony Kill Farm EEC is an education center dedicated to enhancing environmental awareness and appreciation of the natural world. This facility includes over 1000 acres of rolling country side, farmland, ponds, woodlands, meadows, cultivated fields, and fallow fields. Located in Dutchess County in southeastern New York State, it offers a special setting where visitors discover the delicate interweaving of all living things. The (Verplanck) Manor House visitor center includes a library where you can simply come and identify a plant or animal or do research on various natural history topics, an exhibit room and staff offices. The public area is wheelchair accessible.
Wildlife to watch:
- Eastern bluebird
- Woodpeckers, cardinals, killdeer and kestrel
- White-tailed deer
- Wild turkey
- Painted turtle
Hours
Grounds:
Open daily from sunrise to sunset (even on state holidays)
Visitor Center Office Hours:
Weekdays: 8:45 am - 4:30 pm
Saturdays: 9:30 am - 4:30 pm
Sundays: 1:00 pm - 4:30 pm (April, May, June, September and October)
**Visitor Center closed state holidays**
Barn Open:
Saturdays Only: 11:00 am - 1:00 pm (May thru September- weather permitting)
Facilities
Manor House Visitor Center
Manor House
Finished in 1842, the Manor House now functions as a visitor center with offices for staff, reference library, exhibit room and restrooms.
The area around the Manor House includes a perennial garden, herb garden, picnic tables, trail head, and parking.
The Learning Center
This new facility directly behind the Manor House Visitor Center enhances programming with its dividable 80 person multipurpose room and supporting accessible restrooms, kitchenette, lobby and wrap-around porch. This "green" building was constructed from the ground up for energy efficiency, resource conservation and building sustainability. Some of its features are geo-exchange heating and cooling, recycled building materials, and window placement for optimum natural lighting.
Farmstead/Barn
The farmstead includes a 19th Century barn and farmhouse, an 18th Century Dutch stone house, a greenhouse, workshop, comfort station, pond, picnic area, and community and raised bed garden plots. The community garden plots are leased seasonally through the Stony Kill Foundation, Inc., and the raised bed gardens are for people with disabilities and obtained through the Verplanck Garden Club, Inc.
The classroom inside the barn was added in the 1980's and is used today for education programs, events as well as meeting space for other organizations. Today the barn houses beef cattle, pigs, sheep and chickens, and these are important teaching tools for the education programs offered to thousands of people who visit Stony Kill Farm throughout the year.
Tenant Farm House
On the National Register for Historical Buildings, the Tenant Farm House was built in four sections. The south-east portion is original and dates back to the late 1600s-1700s. The north-east corner (second section) was probably added in the 1700s, while the south-western portion was constructed in the early 1800s as well as the wood ell on the northwest corner.
Until 1836, most of the Verplanck property was leased to tenant farmers. Through these leases, the Verplanck ensured their land would be properly managed.
Today, the Tenant Farm House is open to the public only for historical interpretation and special events. The Stony Kill Foundation is seeking money through grants and donations to restore the structure.
Accessibility
An accessible path at Stony Kill Farm
Environmental Education Center|
Stony Kill's Manor House Visitor Center has an exhibit room, reference library and restrooms. The new "Learning Center" located behind the Manor House is an accessible building, as is the Comfort Station located next to the barn. Accessible parking and a wheelchair accessible trail is located near the Visitor Center. Other accessible features include raised garden beds and a barn with farm animals and a classroom.
Full listing of DECs Accessible Recreation Destinations.
Directions
A pleasant drive through New York State's Hudson River Valley brings you to the rolling countryside of Stony Kill (Interstate 84, Exit 11). Approximately 1 1/2 hour north of Manhattan and 2 hours south of Albany.
From NYS Thruway Interstate 87
Take NYS Thruway to Exit 17 (Newburgh) and follow signs and take I-84 East which takes you across the Newburgh/Beacon Bridge. Keeping to the right, take Exit 11 (Wappingers Falls/Beacon) and make a left onto Rt 9D going north. Proceed approximately 2 ½ miles north and Stony Kill is on the left.
From the Taconic State Parkway (TSP)
Take I-84 West to Exit 11 (Wappingers Falls/Beacon) and make a right onto Rt 9D going north. Proceed approximately 2 ½ miles north and Stony Kill is on the left.
From the Metro-North in New York City
Take Metro-North to the Beacon stop and Stony Kill Farm is approximately four (4) miles north from the railroad station.
Metro-North RR: 1-800-638-7646 & Beacon Taxi: (845) 838-3605
More about Stony Kill Farm Environmental Education Center:
- Stony Kill Program Schedule - Listing of current programs at Stony Kill Farm.
- Stony Kill Book List - Topics of books and materials available from the Stony Kill Farm Library.
- The Backbone of Stony Kill Farm - Information about Stony Kill Foundation and Verplanck Garden Club, two friends groups at Stony Kill Farm.
- Public Services at Stony Kill Farm - By participating in the educational programs, interpretive walks, annual events and festivals you get a real opportunity to enjoy and appreciate the outdoors at Stony Kill Farm.
- Exploring Stony Kill Farm - This center has a well developed and maintained trail system with trails of a variety of lengths through a number of habitats: woodland, thickets, fields, pond and marsh.
- Operation Explore - Operation Explore allows New York City public school students in grades four through six, their teachers and parents to explore the natural environment.
