Charles J. Cook Park
Hillside Drive, Town of Cortlandt, Westchester County, NY

Directions:

Route 9A north to Route 9; get off at the Montrose exit (green mileage marker 21 90); turn right onto Route 9A; drive less than 1/4 of a mile and turn left at the Watergate Motor Inn onto Furnace Dock Road; drive one mile to a stop sign; turn right, continuing on Furnace Dock Road; in 0.9 of a mile, at a blinking light, turn right onto Hillside Drive, which is the entranceway for the park.

Trails:

Just past the Memorial swimming pool is a sign saying "Town of Cortland Department of Parks, Recreation, and Conservation: Woodland Mini Trail and Touch and Smell Garden." It is indeed a mini park, but there is an interesting tiny pond nearby.

9/24/03. If you walk west from the mini trail you will very soon come to the Briarcliff-Peekskill Trailway. There is a very rough path to the Trailway.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney, 9/24/03
* = plant found in bloom

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Ailanthus altissima (tree-of-heaven)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fraxinus sp. (ash)
Juglans nigra (black walnut)?
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Tilia americana (American basswood)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Forsythia sp. (golden bells)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)
Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum)

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

Herbs:
Acalypha sp.
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Alisma subcordatum (water plantain)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed)
Amphicarpaea bracteata (hog peanut)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Aster divaricatus (white wood aster) *
Bidens frondosa (beggar ticks) *
Cichorium intybus (chicory) *
Commelina communis (Asiatic dayflower) *
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace) *
Desmodium rotundifolia (round-leaved tick trefoil)
Erechtities hieraciifolia (pileweed)
Erigeron annuus (daisy fleabane) *
Euphorbia cyparissias (cypress spurge)
Hedeoma pulegioides (American penny royal)
Lemna sp. (duckweed)
Linaria vulgaris (butter and eggs) *
Ludwigia palustris (marsh purslane)
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel) *
Pilea pumila (clearweed)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain) *
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed) *
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Polygonum hydropiper (water pepper) *
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal) *
Rumex orbiculatus (broad dock)
Satureja vulgaris (wild basil) *
Solanum nigrum (black nightshade) *
Sparganium sp. (burreed)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion) *
Trifolium pratense (red clover) *
Trifolium repens (white clover) *
Typha latifolia (broad-leaved cattail)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Verbena hastata (blue vervain)
Veronica americana (American brooklime) *

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
Carex lurida (sallow sedge)
Cyperus sp. (nut or umbrella sedge)

Grasses:
Digitaria sp. (crabgrass)
Echinochloa crus-galli (barnyard grass)
Eleusine indica (goose or zipper grass)
Leersia oryzoides (rice cut grass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Setaria viridis (green foxtail grass)
Tridens flavus (purple top)

Ferns:
Equisetum arvense (field horsetail)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)