Dorothy Irwin

The rocky, wooded hills of Riverdale ally this corner of the Bronx more closely with Westchester County, just to the north, than with the rest of NYC. Very generally, the three-square-mile section spans from the Harlem River to the city line, near 263rd Street, and from Broadway to the Hudson. Its not-quite-city, not-quite-burb character explains its appeal to the growing number of families who move there—and makes it an equally fine choice for day-trippers. Check it out From the mid-1800s, wealthy Manhattan industrialists came to the area to summer in villas on bucolic grounds. Perhaps the best known of these estates is Wave Hill (675 W 252nd St, 718-549-3200, wavehill.org), the public garden and arts center, which offers stunning views of the Palisades and weekend crafts programs for families (see Cool places). If you head to Wave Hill via Metro-North, stop at the Riverdale Waterfront Promenade and Fishing Access Site, a shore-hugging strip adjoining the Riverdale station. As gulls patrol the water, your transportation-besotted tyke can scan sailboats from the riverbank, then turn to see a train zoom past. Residential development surged after the Henry Hudson Parkway was built in the 1930s. (Also linking Riverdale and Manhattan are the BxM1 and BxM2 express buses, and local Bx7, Bx10 and Bx20 buses that connect with the 1 train on Broadway at 231st Street; any of those options will get you from midtown to Riverdale within an hour.) Today, high-rise apartments overlook the r