With 43 acres featuring walled gardens, vista steps, a short pathway into the woods, followed by a gazebo perched on top of a waterfall (as seen below in Fig. 1), Untermyer Gardens is one of Westchester’s finest gems. Located in Yonkers, NY, upon entrance into the garden park, you start off your journey with a 9/11 memorial and granite plaques honoring deceased war veterans, policemen, and firefighters.
The park is pretty much historical memorabilia with its statues and signs littered throughout the park. Though most parks may come off as dry and conventional in their text usage, Untermyers adds spice to the game and pulls out your interest with their short and sweet descriptions and Do’s and Don’ts.
So, my dear readers, before we move forward with this blog, I want to point out how much I adore the design of the signs within this park. Ultimately, as a Marketing & Design student, the strategic word usage and minimalist design really piques my interest. So my reason for writing this blog is to highlight how each of the signs plays a part in creating community engagement and emotional impact.
With this in mind, it’s useful to know that some of the purposes of the signs are for:
- Historical Context
- Community Engagement
- Visitor Education
- Emotional and Reflective Connection
- Guidelines & Regulations
- Honorable Mentions
Fig. 1
“Map of Untermyer Gardens.” Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, Internal Map of Untermyers. Accessed 26 March 2025.
Fig. 2
“Location of Untermyer Gardens.” Google Maps, Untermyer in Google Maps. Accessed 26 March 2025.
Also, as you might notice later on, surprisingly, Untermyers is a very text-heavy park. I imagine all sorts of signs go unnoticed every time someone visits. For those of you wondering why the park is text heavy, it is because there is a *lot* of information the park wants to condense onto plaques, signs, and posters. Mainly for visitor engagement and knowledge, but more importantly, this gives an effect of credibility, making the park historically relevant and using information and stories to convince the visitors of its importance.
Historical Context
To make sense of all the area-specific structures and give context as to why they are there, different signs are put up either in front of or on the structure. For example, the Temple of Love, built by Carlo Davite, has its history and significance detailed within the sign in Fig. 3.
The sign entails a brief, vertically organized description of what the temple looks like and how it is a one-of-a-kind feature in the United States. As well as two photographs, the one above detailing the restoration process and the one below mentioning the visit of the infamous musician John Lennon, with his photo taken below the Temple of Love.
Fig. 3 “The Temple of Love”
A plunging staircase is seen to the far right of the garden, right below the walled garden. This prominent, Italian-inspired feature is seen as one of the more scenic areas of the park, with many of the visitors flocking to take photos and go for walks during the warmer months.
The sign seen in Fig. 4 helps in showing the inspiration and context behind this cultural structure. As well as a black and white photo showing the artistic vision behind the Vista, having a centered focus of the Hudson River and a view of the tower located at the bottom of the staircase. This allows visitors to appreciate the cultural inspiration and significance behind the Vista.
Fig.4 “Vista”
Finally, below the Vista, a smaller, more hidden staircase leads to the Garden of Ruins. Originally called “The Gate House”, this building was used as living quarters for the servants and lawnkeepers employed by Samuel Untermyer.
The sign in Fig. 5 details its connection to the garden above and provides more information on the surrounding area. Altogether, the signs in front of these historical sites, constructed during the early 1900s, help the visitors better understand why that particular structure was built and allow them to better appreciate and understand the cultural significance of the garden.
Fig. 5 “The Gate House”
Fun fact, research shows that storytelling is beneficial for brand engagement. This is used in Untermyers in that the signs telling the park’s history are put there to craft an emotional connection to the park. According to Hong et al in their article Psychology & Marketing, “Storytelling effectively evokes emotions and engages consumers in compelling narratives, fostering deep connections and brand loyalty. Emotional engagement reflects a story’s ability to evoke intense emotions and establish a profound audience bond, indicating a significant brand connection.” (Hong et al., 2022)
Untermyer aims to create this connection in their widespread use of signs scattered throughout the park.
Emotional and Reflective Connection
On the outskirts of the Persian pool, multiple plaques are displayed featuring poems and short statements of love and connection. This evokes a sense of inspiration and warmth for the visitors reading them, which gives the park additional points on emotional appeal.
This ties back to the central theme of community engagement, in which people can read an inspiring quote and share positive memories of the park.
Fig. 6 “Hafez of Shiraz”
Fig. 7 “Croatian adage”
Fig. 7, out of all the images within this blog, actually resonates with me the most. Not only because of the philosophical meaning behind this quote, which encourages abundance and optimism, but also because of cultural representation. Writing where a quote originated helps appeal to people of that nationality while expanding cultural influence to others. In seeing a quote from an underrepresented country, readers will feel a sense of curiosity regarding the cultural context of the quote. This ties back to community engagement, in which a reference to an unfamiliar country leads to curiosity and appreciation for foreign perspectives.
Visitor Education
These plant tags are tied to the informational aspect of the linguistic landscape, which helps with accurate plant identification and honoring the deceased. As seen in Fig. 8, the scientific name of the plant is listed, which adds to the Ethos of the park, combined with “In Loving Memory of RoseAnn ‘Nana’ Maiorano” adding to Pathos. These tags give the combined effect of credibility and emotional appeal, and without them, the plants would have less meaning and representation within the park.
Fig. 8 “Japanese Umbrella Pine”
Fig. 9 “Japanese Flower Cherry”
Fig. 10 “Willow Oak”
Community Engagement
A few signs that you see when entering the park encourage you to donate, sign up for the newsletter, and drop a follow for the socials. The signs are designed with eye-catching, highly saturated colors and bold, enlarged text to catch your attention and potentially convince you to aid in the garden’s mission. A few QR codes are also seen, which allow for quick and easy follow-ups with the park.
Overall, the colors used within the signs, social media handles, explicitly stated website links, and positive requests all mix together to create a sign that a visitor will notice and want to interact with.
Examples such as figures 11- 13 show minimalism and practicality in their design to encourage community engagement and evoke positive emotions for the viewer.
Fig. 11 “Partner With Us And Protect The Garden You Love”
Fig. 12 “Enjoy The Garden Wherever You Are”
Fig. 13 “Stay Connected After You’ve Gone”
Guidelines & Regulations
As some public areas require, there are signs listing rules and general provisions that allow for the continued well-being of the garden. They contribute to the linguistic landscape vitally by informing the general public of what constitutes appropriate park behavior.
According to a research article posted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on the effects of having a sign prevent unauthorized behavior, “We placed signs displaying different messages along park trails and monitored the amount of petrified wood stolen under each condition. The control was the absence of a sign. The least theft
occurred in the presence of the sign presenting desired behavior in negative terms.” (Winter., 2008)
Untermyers uses this tactic of directly asking people not to do an action (As seen in Fig. 14-18) to get the most effective outcome, in which visitors generally end up following the sign’s request. Fig. 14 has polite requests which leads to visitors generally obeying them.
Fig. 14 “Welcome”
Fig. 15 “Enter”
Fig. 16 “Do Not Enter Pool”
Fig. 17 “No Smoking”
Fig. 18 “Do Not Admit Deer Beyond the Gate”
Reflection
Outside the fence guarding the garden entrance, there exists a 9/11 memorial and short poems centered on gratitude for firefighters and policemen.
According to the National Library of Medicine, the purpose of memorials is to collectively honor the sacrificed lives of those involved in tragic incidents. Editor Fei Wang states, “Memorial sites aim to transform and contain painful experiences, including loss and trauma, within a recognizable symbol that is materially and spatially located. In this way, they function like gravestones, which come to represent a deceased loved one, providing a physical site to carry on continuing bonds [1,2].”
Also, the existence of this memorial within Untermyer Gardens helps with community engagement; “memorials… speak to a whole community’s painful experiences—we grieve for our dead. As such, they work to affirm and define a community, through creating and strengthening its memory for events in certain ways [3].” (Wang, 2022).
These signs have a persuasive choice of words as well, in which emotions are evoked through lines such as “Help me embrace a little child before it is too late.” (Fig. 20) This picturesque word usage on a sign allows for a visitor to gain an emotional connection with a piece of the park.
Fig. 19 “9/11 Memorial”
Fig. 20 “For a Firefighter”
Fig. 21 “For a Police Officer”
Honorable Mentions
The park uses the majority of its signs to commemorate the people involved in the restoration and upkeep of Untermyers’ cultural heritage. As seen in Fig. 22, the golden detailed plaque commemorates the founder of Untermeyer Gardens, which is a key thing to reference in terms of cultural heritage. The portrait of Angela Vitale Stanley seen in Fig. 23 also subtly implies importance as it is handmade artistry.
The signs basically play their role as a dignified shout-out for the patrons’ involvement in the restoration of different subsections within the garden. The design of the signs, combined with the information on them, allows visitors to truly appreciate the cultural value of these features by recognizing the effort made to restore them.
Fig. 22 “In Honor Of Stephen Fitzgerlad Byrns”
Fig. 23 “Angela Vitale Stanley”
Fig. 24 “Longtime residents of Yonkers”
Final Thoughts
Thank you for reading through my blog post! The main idea you should take away here is that the signs within Untermyers play as silent storytellers, guiding visitors through the garden’s layered past while also encouraging community engagement. Essentially, there’s a variety of different text found throughout the park for educational and sentimental purposes, all with unique styles and forms of persuasive language. I hope this blog post… or maybe even the signs within this blog post, piqued your curiosity and convinced you to check the park out! There’s a lot to learn and this blog scratches the surface in detailing why the signs are there.
I’ve also included a few links at the bottom as reference for where I got some of the information mentioned throughout the blog!
For more information on the history of Untermyer Gardens:
https://www.untermyergardens.org/untermyer-history.html
Brochure + Map:
https://www.untermyergardens.org/garden-map-and-brochure.html
Psychology & Marketing Research Article
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/mar.21994
Park Signs and Visitor Behavior Research Summary
https://www.fs.usda.gov/psw/publications/winter/psw_2008_winter001.pdf
Memorials as Healing Places Article
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9180716/#B2-ijerph-19-06711