page_title: Taconic State Parkway
section_title: Putnam County
hierarchical_section_title: Taconic State Parkway / Route description / Putnam County
caption_attribution_description: English: Rock cuts along the Taconic State Parkway as it climbs north from Peekskill Hollow road, Putnam County mile marker 106.7, view NW.
context_page_description: The Taconic State Parkway is a 104.12-mile divided highway between Kensico Dam and Chatham, the longest parkway in the U.S. state of New York. It follows a generally north-south route midway between the Hudson River and the Connecticut and Massachusetts state lines, much of its upper section along the westernmost flank of the Taconic Mountains. Its southernmost three miles are a surface road; from the junction with the Sprain Brook Parkway northward it is a limited-access highway. It has grade-separated interchanges from that point to its northern terminus; in the three northern counties, there are also at-grade intersections, many with closed medians, allowing only right-in/right-out turns. It is open only to passenger vehicles, as with other parkways in New York, and maintained by the state Department of Transportation, the fourth agency to have that responsibility.
  Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had long envisioned a scenic road through the eastern Hudson Valley, was instrumental in making it a reality as a way to provide access to existing and planned state parks in the region.
context_section_description: The road narrows shortly after the county line in the town of Putnam Valley, with the roadways reverting to two lanes and the shoulders replaced by soft curbs, in preparation for the rugged terrain of the next 12 miles (19 km). From this point north, the original design of the Taconic is still intact for the most part, aside from safety improvements like the removal of some at-grade intersections. Curves become sharper, with the widest having a radius of 11,459 feet (3,493 m). It remains generally level for the first two miles (3.2 km), past the Bryant Pond Road exit serving Mahopac. The land around the road is heavily wooded and less developed than it was in Westchester.
  One mile (1.6 km) to the north, the road begins to descend 350 feet (110 m) in 1.1 miles (1.8 km) alongside a steep ridge, narrowing to less than 100 feet (30 m), with a high stone retaining wall along the east side, to Peekskill Hollow Creek and the exit for the similarly named road, briefly entering the town of Carmel in the process. It starts to climb again just past the exit, and ¹⁄₂ mile (0.80 km) to the north it goes into an S-curved section with both segments having extremely narrow radii. The Taconic moves to the east in the process then resumes its roughly northward heading up the Roaring Creek valley into Clarence Fahnestock State Park. For the next 5.5 miles (8.9 km) it will cross this 14,000-acre (5,700 ha) protected area of the eastern Hudson Highlands, with no development visible from the highway.
  Pudding Street, a mile into the park, is the first road to cross at grade. The roadways begin to separate as the parkway's ascent continues through heavily wooded terrain past rocky cliffs and outcrops between two lakes. Next to a now-closed overlook on the eastern side, with the two roadways 500 feet (150 m) apart in the densely wooded country, signs on both roadways mark the Taconic's highest elevation, almost 1,200 feet (370 m) above sea level.
  A short distance beyond that, a stone bridge marks the NY 301 exit that serves as the main access to the state park and the bathing area and hiking trails at nearby Canopus Lake. The parkway begins to descend again, entering its last Putnam County town, Kent. It bends east again, and within two miles (3.2 km) it crosses into Dutchess County.
caption: Looking north along the Taconic just north of the Peekskill Hollow Road exit in Putnam Valley
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