McGregor Pond
McGregor Lane, Crompound, Town of Cortlandt, Westchester County, New York
66 acres

The Pond is located southwest of the Westchester Mall Shopping Center.

Directions:

Taconic State Parkway north to the exist for either Crompound Road or Bear Mountain Parkway; turn left  at the stop sign (if using Crompound Road) or turn right (if taking Bear Mountain Parkway);  drive 2.5 miles (if using Crompound Road) or 1.7 miles (if using Bear Mountain Parkway) and turn right onto Maple Row; drive 0.2 of a mile and turn left onto Paulding Lane; drive 0.2 of a mile and turn left onto Pine Road; drive 1.2 miles and turn left onto McGregor Lane; drive 0.3 of a mile to the dead end on McGregor Lane. 

History:

Revolutionary War  --  the land was given to General John Paulding and the Townsend family for their services in the Colonial army.

19th century  --  the Baron de Hirsch Foundation bought 400 acres to provide agricultural training for Jewish immigrants, but the soil was unsuitable for intensive farming.

1923  --  the Mohegan Colony Association and bought the land.

2000  --  the Kapadia family donated 4.5 acres of land to the Land Trust. 

2003  --  transfer of the land to Westchester Land Trust by The Nature Conservancy.

Habitats:

A 9-acre pond is relatively undisturbed and pristine because it is protected by a large wetland buffer zone; marsh, red maple swamp.

Wildlife:

53 species of breeding birds have been identified in the preserve, including the woodcock.

Trails:

There are no trails here.  But there is a very rough informal trail(s) going back and forth along the slope heading down to the swampy area.  The area is hard to access precisely because it is a swamp.  There is a pond here, called Gregory Pond or McGregory Pond, to the northwest of the dead end parking area, but one would have to push through the swamp to access it.  The Geological Survey map shows the stream flowing out of the pond heading northwest to Peekskill Hollow Brook, which then heads southwest to Annsville Creek and then into the.Hudson River

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = date plants found in bloom, 6/04/04

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya spp. (hickory)
Castanea dentata (American chestnut)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar) remains in ditch
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus alba (black oak)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry) lots
Chamaedaphne calyculata (leatherleaf)
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepperbush)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry holly)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose) * 
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (dewberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Vaccinium pallidum (hillside blueberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)
Viburnum dentatum (arrowwood viburnum)

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

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Aster sp. (aster)
Circaea lutetiana (enchanter's nightshade)
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel) *
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Typha latifolia (broad-leaved cattail)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered sedge type)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)
Carex stellata type (star sedge type)

Grasses:
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Dryopteris carthusiana (toothed woodfern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Osmunda claytoniana (interrupted fern)
Osmunda regalis (royal fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Pteridium aquilinum (bracken fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)