Baldwin Park

Hipp Road, New Milford, Litchfield County, Connecticut

Directions:

Route 202 to a right turn onto Hipp Road; drive 0.3 of a mile (passing the Schaghticoke School) and when you reach the boundary fence of the school turn left onto a dirt road that takes one down to the parking area..

 Closes one half hour after sunset.

History:

1968  --  Mr. and Mrs. Albert H. Baldwin gave the first gift of land for park purposes; it became the Baldwin Park in Northvill

Trails:

Walking trail with native flowers and plants.

7/07/2005.  Cefe Santana, dog Sonar and I parked at the park's parking lot.  Off to the right is a large field used primarily for soccer.  Woods can be seen on the left.  We walked along the wood's edge with the soccer field to our right.  Coming to the end of the soccer area we turned left and came upon a huge field.  There is a mowed loop trail here (with several shortcuts).  We took the longest loop trail possible.  I went off-trail once just to see what was to be found in the woods edge.  Found a small stream.   Just before we returned to the starting point of the loop, we turned right into the woods on a wide path.  The woods here also has a circular loop trail.  We just kept bearing right and we came back to the starting point of the woods trail.  There are a lot of hemlocks in this area.  We passed a stream and some houses on the left. 

Taking the circular walk, we had earlier passed a side trail on the left and so once we looped the trail once we repeated some of the walk until we reached that side trail on the left.  The trail took us uphill and would have taken us to the back of the school, but we turned left again and came out on a small segment of lawn.  Following around this section we came back to the parking area.  (There is no real system of trail blazes here, but the place was not that big that we had to worry about getting lost.)  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.  

Source:

Town of New Milford, Connecticut; New Milford Parks & Recreation; Town Parks

http://newmilford.qscend.com/content/57/89/101/128.aspx

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney

*  =  plant blooming on date of field trips, 7/07/2005

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carya glabra (pignut hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)  
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juglans nigra (black walnut)  
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Morus alba (white mulberry) 
Populus tremuloides (quaking aspen)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs and Subshrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)     *
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)  
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)      *
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)      *
Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed)
Arabis glabra (tower mustard)
Arctium sp. (burdock)    
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)     *
Aster spp. (asters)
Chenopodium album (pigweed) 
Circaea lutetiana (enchanter's nightshade)     *
Cirsium arvense (Canada thistle)     *
Erigeron annuus (daisy fleabane)     *
Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot)
Galium mollugo (wild madder)     *
Geum canadense (white avens)     * 
Hieracium sp. (hawkweed)
Hypericum perforatum (common St. Johnswort)     * 
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)     *
Leonurus cardiaca (motherwort)     * 
Linaria vulgaris (butter and eggs)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)     *
Pilea pumila (clearweed) 
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)      * 
Plantago major (common plantain)
Potentilla recta (rough-fruited cinquefoil)     *
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal)     *
Ranunculus acris (tall buttercup)     *    
Rudbeckia hirta var. pulcherrima (black-eyed Susan)     *
Silene latifolia (white campion)     *
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)     *
Tragopogon pratensis (showy goatsbeard)     *
Trientalis borealis (starflower)
Trifolium pratense (red clover)     *
Trifolium repens (white clover)     *
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)    *
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell)

Rushes:
Juncus effusus (soft rush)
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Grasses:
Bromus inermis (smooth brome grass)
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Elytrigia repens (quack grass)
Phleum pratense (Timothy grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)

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