15 Helena Avenue Larchmont, NY 10538

First settled as a beach resort, Larchmont is a leafy coastal suburb where it’s not impossible to commute by boat, though most opt for the half-hour ride on Metro-North’s New Haven Lane. Residential street names honor the Beech, Cherry, and Chestnut trees adorning its neighborhoods, but it’s the noble Larch, a grandiose Scottish cousin of the Evergreen planted at its historic Manor House, that gives the village its name. Part of larger Mamaroneck, Larchmont is unique in having two central business districts: the primary cluster along Boston Post Road and an ancillary one by the train station fringed with pre-war apartment houses, sharing a glorious seasonal hydrangea bloom. Larchmont Manor, one of Westchester’s most treasured waterfront neighborhoods, abounds with Queen Anne and Shingle Style classics. Its iconic gazebo offers prime yacht-watching, but the best regatta might be inland in Larchmont Gardens, where local families race hundreds of rubber mallards down the brook each May for their “KenDucky Derby.”