A Bronx landmark has gotten a multimillion dollar facelift, and the Bronx River is the beneficiary.
As part of an 18-month restoration of the 170-year-old Snuff Mill on the river’s banks at the New York Botanical Garden, the Garden has installed a variety of new ways to capture and filter storm water, keeping soil and pollutants from being carried into the river.
The restoration preserves the mill’s exterior while making the inside energy-efficient and accessible to the disabled. The Botanical Garden will dedicate the building, rechristened the Lillian and Amy Goldman Stone Mill, on Sept 8.
On Saturdays and Sundays, September 11 & 12 and 18 & 19, weekend programming in collaboration with The New York Landmarks Conservancy will feature guided tours of the restored building, adjacent millrace and Bronx River, and surrounding landmarks, gardens and collections.
Built by the Lorillard family as a factory powered by the river to grind tobacco into snuff, the mill became a catering hall in the mid-20th century and was named a New York City landmark in 1966 and a National Historic Landmark in 1976. It will be available for community meetings, conferences, and social gatherings.
Water from falling rain or melting snow that runs onto the paved forecourt will flow through a band of permeable granite cobbles and into a buried detention basin designed to filter pollutants.
When the rain is heavy, water not captured by the system will be treated before it flows to a series of stone-lined pools that cascade down a steep slope next to the mill. The pools will slow the flow down, allowing it to filter slowly into the soil, where it will be absorbed by the roots of native trees, wildflowers, and grasses planted in broad sweeps above the Bronx River.
Since beginning a major building and rebuilding program with the restoration of the Enid Haupt Conservatory in 1997, the New York Botanical Garden has spent $270 million on improvements. Work is underway on two new gardens: the Azalea Garden opening in May 2011 and the Native Plant Garden opening in September 2012.
The Garden is open year-round, Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Admission to the grounds is free all day on Wednesdays, when a farmers market sells fresh fruit and vegetables at the Mosholu Gate, and from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturdays.