Roeliff Jansen Kill Multiple Use Area
Taconic Parkway, Pine Plains, Dutchess County, 12567

Directions:

Taconic State Parkway north to mileage marker 71.7 and turn right into a small pull-off-like area at the southern end of the multiple use area.. There is also another pull-off-like area more in the middle of the multiple use area.

History:

1686 -- Governor Dongan designates Livingston Manor. (12 miles along the Hudson, east to Massachusetts.)

1695 -- Dirck Wesselse, after buying 1800 acres of land on the Roeloff Jansen Kil from Robert Livingston, builds a country home on the property.

1697 -- Robert Livingston, Jr. marries the daughter of Pieter Schuyler, Alida.

1699 -- Livingston erects a gristmill and a sawmill on the Roeloff Jansen's Kill. The gristmill was the first built on the east side of the Hudson River. Later he builds his country estate on the north side of the Roelof Jansen Kil on the banks of the Hudson River.

1709 --Livingston elected to the New York General Assembly. Later elected speaker of the provincial Assembly, serving until his retirement in 1726.

1716 -- Alida and Robert were reunited on the Roeloff Jansen Kil where Alida had come to restore her health.

1728 -- Philip Livingston, on the death of his father, inherited most of the estate. Philip was one of New York's leading importers of slave labor from the West Indies. He also imported slaves directly from Africa. (Kierner 1992:71)

1743 -- Philip finally moves from Albany to the Manor when he was 58 years old. He devoted his attentions to developing an iron industry there. He added an iron forge and purchased a share of the nearby Salisbury "ore hill". He built ironworks (a blast furnace and later a forge) at Ancram on Roeloff Jansen's Kill (14 miles east of the Hudson River). (Kierner 1992:65&79)

1749 -- Philip dies.

Philip's son, Robert Livingston, Jr., expands the ironworks, adding two more forges, both on the Livingston Manor.

Kierner, Cynthia A. 1992. Traders and Gentlefolk: the Livingstons of New York, 1675-1790. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Camping, fishing, hunting and hiking.

Trails:

There are no trails in the true sense of the word. Instead there is a lot of bushwhacking.

6/21/04.  Parked in a pull-off -like area just beyond mileage marker 71.7.  It looked like there might be an informal trail(s) but all of them just petered out in a short time.  So I resigned myself to bush-whacking.  At the parking area there are some meadow areas.  Decided to push north to the Roeliff Jansen Kill.  Came to an area with a lot of red pines (?). (Couldn't get to the needles to count them.)  It was rough pushing through these areas, but soon the forest became thicker and there was less brush, so it was easier to walk north.  Good thing I had a compass.  Kept using it to make sure I was headed north and slightly west.  Passed by a small ravine.  Finally came to what looked like a path on a causeway.  If you turn right, it soon peters out, but if one turns left, the path goes through what looks like a railway cut through a rocky area and then up to the Taconic State Parkway.  Walked up the slope to the highway and then walked north to the bridge over the Roeliff Jansen Kill .  Turned right

and made my way down the slope to the Kill.  It is a very shallow stream at the bridge.  It was running pretty fast.  Walked along the stream for awhile.

Turned around and walked back to the Taconic State Parkway and then walked south along the parkway back to the pull-off like parking area.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* =  blooming on date of field visit, 6/21/04

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Ostrya virginiana (American hop hornbeam)
Pinus resinosa ? (red pine) ? grove of them
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Populus tremuloides (quaking aspen)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Salix sp. (willow)
Tilia americana (American basswood)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry) saw only one, thank goodness
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Cornus racemosa (gray dogwood)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Gaultheria procumbens (checkerberry; wintergreen)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (morrow's honeysuckle)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rhamnus sp. (buckthorn)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose) *
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Rubus sp. (dewberry) *
Sambucus canadensis (common elderberry) *
Vaccinium angustifolium (lowbush blueberry)
Vaccinium pallidum (hillside blueberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple leaf viburnum)
Viburnum dentatum var. lucidum (hairy arrowwood viburnum)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Clematis virginiana (virgin's bower)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (yarrow) *
Actaea alba (doll's eyes)
Agrimonia sp. (agrimony)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) *
Allium vineale (field garlic) *
Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed)
Amphicarpaea bracteata (hog peanut)
Anagallis arvensis (scarlet pimpernel) *
Apocynum cannabinum (Indian hemp) 
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Aster sp. (aster)
Bidens frondosa (beggar ticks)
Cardamine impatiens (narrow-leaved bittercress)
Centaurea maculosa (spotted knapweed)
Chenopodium album (pigweed)
Chrysanthemum leucanthemum (ox-eye daisy) *
Cichorium intybus (chicory) *
Circaea lutetiana (enchanter's nightshade)
Cirsium arvensis (Canada thistle)
Cirsium vulgare (bull thistle)
Coronilla varia (crown vetch) *
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace) *
Dianthus armeria (Deptford pink) *
Epipactis helleborine (helleborine orchid)
Erigeron annuus (daisy fleabane) *
Eupatorium rugosum (white snake root)
Fragaria virginiana (strawberry)
Galium aparine (cleavers)
Galium asprellum (rough bedstraw) *
Galium circaezens (wild licorice)
Galium mollugo (wild madder) *
Geranium maculatum (wild geranium)
Hepatica americana (round-lobed hepatica)
Hesperis matronalis (dame's rocket) *
Hieracium caespitosum (field hawkweed) *
Hieracium venosum (rattlesnake hawkweed) *
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed)
Linaria vulgaris (butter-and-eggs)
Lobelia spicata (spiked lobelia) *
Lotus corniculatus (birdfoot trefoil) *
Lysimachia ciliata (fringed loosestrife) *
Lysimachia nummularia (moneywort) *
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)
Matricaria matricarioides (pineapple weed) *
Medicago lupulina (black medick) *
Melilotus alba (white sweet clover) *
Myosotis scorpioides (larger forget-me-not) *)
Oenothera perennis (smaller sundrops) *
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel) *
Paronychia canadensis (forked chickweed)
Peltandra virginiana (arrow arum)
Pilea pumila (clearweed)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain) *
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose knotweed) *
Polygonum sagittatum (arrow-leaved tearthumb)
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed knotweed)
Potentilla norvegica (rough cinquefoil) *
Potentilla recta (rough-fruited cinquefoil) *
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal) *
Ranunculus acris (tall buttercup) *
Ranunculus hispidus var. caricetorium (swamp buttercup)
Rudbeckia hirta var. pulcherrima (black-eyed Susan) *
Rumex acetosella (field sorrel)
Rumex crispus (curled dock)
Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot)
Sanicula sp. (sanicle)
Silene latifolia (white campion) *
Solanum dulcamara (bittersweet nightshade) *
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Stellaria sp. (stitchwort) *
Taraxacum officinale (dandelion)
Thalictrum pubescens (tall meadowrue)
Thlaspi arvense (field pennycress)
Tragopogon pratensis (yellow goatsbeard) *
Trifolium aureum (yellow clover) *
Trifolium pratense (red clover) *
Trifolium repens (white clover) *
Urtica dioica v. procera (tall nettle) 6/12/96 7/09/96 8/14/96
Uvularia perfoliata (perfoliate-leaved bellwort)
Veratrum viride (Indian poke)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell) *
Viola sp. (violet)

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

Sedges:
Carex intumescens ?(bladder sedge) ?
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered sedge)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
Carex spp. (sedge)
Carex vulpinoidea (sedge)
Scirpus atrovirens (dark-green bulrush)
Scirpus cyperinus (wooly grass bulrush)

Grasses:
Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal grass)
Bromus inermis (smooth brome grass)
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Glyceria sp. (mannagrass)
Phalaris arundinacea (canary reed grass)
Phleum pratense (timothy grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem grass)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Adiantum pedatum (maidenhair fern)
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Dryopteris sp. (woodfern)
Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda claytoniana (interrupted fern)
Polypodium sp. (rock cap fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Pteridium aquilinum (bracken fern)