Field Farmstead Preserve
Southeast, Putnam County, NY
21 acres

Directions:

From Route 22 in Brewster travel south; turn left onto Turk Hill Road (Route 55); drive 1.9 miles to Fields Lane. (You will pass by Dean's Corner Road (Route 124).) Turn right onto Fields Lane and in about 0.3 of a mile turn right onto the access road to the Brewster Ice Rink. Preserve is at the top of the hill in front of the ice rink. Park at the ice rink.

Geology:

Here there are two great whale-back outcroppings. Erosion has collapsed the domes forming a natural amphitheater.

History:

early 1700s  --  the farm belonged to the ancestors of Helen Field Gatling.

1971  --  Helen Field Gatling donates the land to the Putnam County Land Trust.

Habitats:

old successional field; mature woodland, whaleback ridges, natural amphitheater, and small wetland.

Trails:

Travel north for a short ways on the path and then bear left heading west. You come to a small wetland on the right of the path. A little ways up from the wetland area, a path comes up on the right (north). You will be returning to this intersection at the end of a circular loop starting from this point. Heading straight you make a right turn (north) just after the whaleback rocks, also on the right. The trail descends off the uplands and down to a woods road. Turn right heading northeast, then east and then turning right (south) and returning to the start of the circular walk. Turn left and pass the wetlands again up to the parking lot.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = 7/15/02 = date plant found in bloom

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharinum (sugar maple)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus pensylvanica (green ash)
Ostrya virginiana (American hop hornbeam)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Pyrus sp. (crab apple)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs:
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush)
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Chimaphila maculata (striped wintergreen) *
Cornus racemosa (gray stem dogwood)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Forsythia sp. (golden bells) planted
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry holly)
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Spiraea alba var. latifolia (meadowsweet) *
Spiraea tomentosa (steeplebush) * soon
Vaccinium angustifolium (low bush blueberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)
Viburnum dentatum (hairy arrowwood viburnum)

Vines:
Amphicarpaea bracteata (hog peanut)
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis aestivalis (summer grape)
Wisteria sp. (wisteria) 17 lflts

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (yarrow) *
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) *
Apocynum cannabinum (Indian hemp) *
Aralia nudicaulis (wild sarsaparilla)
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed) *
Chrysanthemum leucanthemum (ox-eye daisy) *
Circaea lutetiana (enchanter's nightshade) *
Cryptotaenia canadensis (honewort)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace) *
Dianthus armeria (Deptford pink) *
Euphorbia maculata (spotted spurge)
Fragaria virginiana (wild strawberry)
Galium mollugo (wild madder) *
Galium circaezens (wild licorice)
Galium aparine (cleavers)
Geranium maculatum (wild geranium)
Geum canadense (white avens) *
Hackelia virginiana (Virginia stickseed) *
Hemerocallis fulva (tawny day lily)
Hieracium caespitosum (field hawkweed) *
Hypericum perforatum (common St. Johnswort) *
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed) *
Lepidium virginicum (poor man's pepper)
Lobelia spicata (spiked lobelia) *
Lotus corniculatus (birdfoot trefoil) *
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Monotropa uniflora (Indian pipe)
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel) *
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonatum pubescens (hairy true Solomon's seal)
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed) *
Potentilla recta (rough-fruited cinquefoil) *
Potentilla simplex (common cinquefoil)
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal) *
Pycnanthemum incanum (narrow-leaved mountain mint) *
Pyrola elliptica (shinleaf)
Sanicula gregaria (clustered sanicle)
Satureja vulgaris (wild basil) *
Smilacina racemosa (false Solomon's seal
Solidago caesia (blue-stem goldenrod)
Stellaria pubera (giant chickweed) *
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion) *
Trifolium repens (white clover) *
Trifolium aureum (yellow clover) *
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein) *
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell)
Viola sp. (violet)

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)
Luzula multiflora (wood rush)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (sedge)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
Carex rosea type (sedge)
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)
Carex swanii (sedge)

Grasses:
Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal grass)
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Glyceria striata (mannagrass)
Panicum sp. (panic grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Poa compressa (Canada bluegrass)

Ferns:
Lycopodium obscurum (ground pine clubmoss)
Asplenium platyneuron (ebony spleenwort)
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Dryopteris marginalis (marginal woodfern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)