Cranbury Park
Grumman Avenue, Norwalk, Fairfield County, CT
190 acres

Directions:

Merritt Parkway to exit 39B for Route 7 north. Turn right at the end of the short expressway and then left. Set the odometer at 0. At 0.2 turn right onto West Rock Road. At 0.4 of a mile, turn left onto Bayne Street, at 1.2 miles turn left onto Grumman Avenue, and at 1.6 turn right into the park entrance.

This is a busy urban park with lots of dog walkers, frisbee golf players, and lots of children at the playground.

History:

1894  --  Edward Gallagher owned the Clover Manufacturing Company which made industrial abrasives.

Here it the Gallagher Mansion, a beautiful Old English Stone Estate. The facility is open to residents and non-residents for parties, luncheons and weddings.

1930 -   industrialist Edward B. Gallagher and his wife built a three story 18th century style house (English fieldstone manor) that featured oak paneling, French doors, and stained glass windows.

World War II  --  Edward Gallagher worked on government projects.

1965 --  the city of Norwalk acquired the mansion and grounds from the Stevens Institute.

Facilities:

For bicyclists who find touring on pavement insufficiently exciting, mountain biking might fill the bill. Cranbury Park in Norwalk has eight tough single and open trails off Grumman Avenue.

Pavilion, playground, outdoor restroom, 18 hole frisbee golf course, sculpture garden.

Trails:

There are quite a few trails here. (There is a trail map on the lawn on the right as you enter along the main road.) A main road heading west to east divides the park into two main parts. On the north side there are trails of the colors: purple, orange, and turquoise. On the south side there are trails of blue, red, and yellow, with a turquoise connector to the north side.

My wife and I took the blue trail heading south and southeast. It goes across a gas pipeline, by a vernal pond, and a stream, and finally comes out at the local elementary school. We came back the way we went out.

PLANT LIST:

Dr. Patrick L. Cooney, March 30, 2002

Trees:
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carya spp. (hickory)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak )
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Thuja occidentalis (arbor-vitae)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Chimaphila maculata (spotted wintergreen)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus) lots and lots
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rhus sp. (sumac)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Vinca minor (periwinkle) *

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Smilax rotundifolia (round-leaved greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)

Herbs:
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Arctium sp. (burdock)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Aster spp. (aster)
Galium sp. (bedstraw)
Pyrola rotundifolia (round-leaved shinleaf)
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)

Grasses:
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)
Schizachyrium (little blue stem grass)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (sedge)

Ferns:
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)

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