Great Oak Park
Dayton Road,
Trumbull, Fairfield County, Connecticut
70 acres
Directions:
Merritt Parkway north to exit 48 (30 miles from the start); turn left onto
Newtown Turnpike (Route 111) -- maps may call this section of Rt.
111 as
Newtown Turnpike, but it's really called Main Street. Drive 3.0 miles and turn left onto Stonehouse
Road; drive 1.0 of a mile to turn left onto Dayton Road; drive 0.9 of a mile to
a parking area for a couple of cars. There are no signs to indicate this
is a park.
History:
Note from Tom Ebersold, AMC Hike Leader::
Trumbull just decided to allow local dog owners to use this as a park where
dogs can run free. This area has basically been set aside and left alone. The
town tried to place two little league fields here in the 1990s, but neighbors
protested and the town backed off.
www.trumbulldogpark.com
Trails:
9/26/2005. On an overcast day due to the influence of Hurricane Rita, Cefe Santana, dog Sonar and I parked at the small-pull of on Dayton Road. Headed west on the trail to a T-intersection; looking left we could see the dead end of a road; so we turned right heading north; we noticed what looked like former mining activities; when we came to a stone wall we thought this was the end of the trail because it just stopped. We looked around and found an informal trail that runs along the edge of the swamp. We followed this trail until we reached private property. We turned right and walked to Dayton Road. We came out at house #356. We turned right to walk along the street shoulder back to the car. Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.
PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = plants blooming on field trip, 9/26/2005
Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya cordiformis (bitternut hickory)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Catalpa sp. (catalpa)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepperbush)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry holly)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Myrica pensylvanica (bayberry)
Rhododendron periclymenoides (pinxter flower)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Spiraea alba var. latifolia (meadowsweet)
Spiraea tomentosa (steeplebush)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Vaccinium pallidum (hillside blueberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)
Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Smilax rotundifolia (round-leaved greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis labrusca (fox grape)
Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed)
Anaphalis margaritacea (pearly everlasting)
Apocynum sp. (dogbane)
Aralia nudicaulis (wild sarsaparilla)
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack in the pulpit)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Aster divaricatus (white wood aster) *
Aster spp. (small white aster) *
Bidens frondosa (beggar ticks) *
Boehmeria cylindrica (false nettle)
Conyza canadensis (horseweed)
Coronilla varia (crown vetch) *
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace) *
Desmodium sp. (tick trefoil)
Euthamia graminifolia (grass-leaved goldenrod)
Galium sp. (bedstraw)
Gnaphalium obtusifolium (sweet everlasting) *
Linaria vulgaris (butter and eggs) *
Ludwigia palustris (water purslane)
Lycopus sp. (bugleweed)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel) *
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed) *
Proserpinaca palustris (common mermaidweed)
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal)
Pyrola elliptica (shinleaf)
Solidago bicolor (silverrod) *
Solidago caesia (blue-stem goldenrod) *
Solidago rugosa (rough-leaved goldenrod) *
Trifolium pratense (red clover) *
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)
Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered sedge type)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)
Grasses:
Cinna arundinacea (wood reedgrass)
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Digitaria sp. (crab grass)
Echinochloa sp. (barnyard grass)
Leptoloma cognatum
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Phleum pratense (Timothy grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem)
Ferns:
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)
Others:
Sphagnum sp. (sphagnum)
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