Hopewell Junction, NY: Sagamor, the Tree-Friendly Subdivision

Last week I wrote a blog post entitled Developers Should Spare the Trees. In it, I decried the clear cutting, scorched-Earth methodology of removing every single tree in the building of a new subdivision. Lo and behold, this past week, while driving not far from the inspiration of that post, I came upon the Sagamor subdivision in Hopewell Junction. 

I forget what initially caught my eye; it might have been a clump of trees near new-looking homes, but it doesn’t matter. I turned into the neighborhood and was happy to see that the developer did a fantastic job of keeping trees while still building beautiful homes. 

The homes themselves are very nice; typical houses are about 2500-3000 square feet above ground, and most if not all are center hall colonials with large yards (an acre or more) and 2-car garages. The development was completed around 2001. Recent sales in Sagamor are well above $500,000. The development is in the Wappinger Falls school district, with John Jay High school, Van Wyck Middle school, and Gayhead Elementary as the local public schools. 

Sagamor is located less than a mile from the Taconic State Parkway, so it is a very good location for commuters who need to get on the highway without a long trip. it is also right off of county Route 82, making it very convenient in inclement weather- county roads don’t stay unplowed for long.

I actually wasn’t going to do another piece on a Dutchess county neighborhood for a while, but the trees had me when I drove in. Big, majestic trees older than I am, proudly pointing skyward, spared the bulldozer because the builder was too smart to put dollars over beauty and nature.  Hats off to the builder!