A new visitors center along a scenic stretch of Bear Mountain Bridge Road was officially opened yesterday to help hikers, history buffs and tourists explore the treasures of the Hudson Valley.

A $500,000 state grant turned the dilapidated former tollhouse into a place where visitors can learn about kayak rentals, dining options or bed-and-breakfast destinations. It also will serve as a jumping-off point for trails that crisscross the hills, as well as a site where historians can meet for conferences on preservation.

"It's a building we're all going to be able to enjoy, and to teach our children about the magnificence and history of the Hudson Valley," Gov. George Pataki told a gathering of 150 people. He recalled driving past the building himself as a teenager growing up in nearby Peekskill, "and you'd take a look and wonder, why does it have to sit there abandoned?"

Though it was rich in history, the old tollhouse had an unpromising future until recently.

"It was terrible," recalled Carol A. Reif, a volunteer who will help staff the visitors center, "Animals got in, and kids would graffiti it up. Every time I'd drive by, I'd say, 'Please, do something before it's totally destroyed.' "

The highway, the bridge and the tollhouse were the creations of one of richest families in New York history, which chartered a private company to span the Hudson River at Bear Mountain. Legend has it the bridge was built so Mary H. Harriman, mother of former Gov. W. Averell Harriman, could travel from the family's estate in Orange and Rockland counties to visit friends on the river's eastern shore, though a more accepted version of events credits the creation of the bridge as a way to draw people to the newly created Bear Mountain State Park.

The tollhouse was built in 1924 as part of a larger structure to collect tolls from motorists crossing the river, and the family of the bridge manager lived in the small Tudor-style home. After the Manthey family moved out in the early 1960s, the building went into decline.

A restoration plan was conceived almost 10 years ago. "We finally did it," said Cortlandt town Supervisor Linda Puglisi, heaving a sigh of relief.

Volunteers affiliated with the town Historical Society and other civic groups plan to staff the center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends, and volunteers are still being sought.

Town Historian Laura Lee Keating said the preservation of old buildings was one of the best ways to connect people with the past, and she looked forward to seeing a handsome old building from the early days of motoring find a new existence for the 21st century.

"It's being put to use in a creative way," she said, "It's been given another life."