MOUNT HOLLY NATURE PRESERVE

Lewisboro, Westchester County, NY

51 acres

Directions:

Take Route 35 (1.8 miles east of exit 6 of Interstate 684) to N. Salem Road.  Turn left, take first right onto Mt. Holly Road.  Go 1.5 miles at which point Mt. Holly Road turns left. Go straight onto Mt. Holly Road East. Travel for a short distance to the main entrance on the left; park on the side of the road.  

History:

In 1975 Mrs. Francis R. Duncombe gave the preserve to TNC. Leslie and Susan Simon donated an easement that provided the preserve's main entrance, from Mount Holly Road East.

Habitats:

Once an old dairy farm, now has a strong second growth of hardwood trees.  Twenty-two acres are meadows.  Indian Brook, bordered by a swamp, runs south along the eastern boundary and eventually into the Cross River Reservoir.  It has a large outcrop of cliffs of 6 million year old Fordham gneiss.  Many stone walls dating back to the 1700's can be found.  

This is one of three separate preserves in close proximity to one another known as the Indian Brook Assemblage.  

Trails:

The Red trail is shaped like a Y with crazy curly-que upper arms. From the main entrance parking lot, the red trail goes north and then one can either go left (west) to the entrance to the park on Mount Holly Road or right (northeast). One can make a loop out of the upper arms of the Y by using the yellow trail that connects the western arm with the northeastern corner of the red trail.

4/02/01 I walked counter clockwise; red trail which heads down towards a swampy area that is mostly private property; steeply partly up a big hill, across the big hill, then up to the top; followed the red trail all the way to the other entrance, which is close to private houses. returned back to the intersection of the red, yellow, and green trails; took the green trail south back to where I started.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
April 2, 2001

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Ailanthus altissima (tree-of-heaven)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry) -- a big problem here
Chimaphila maculata (spotted wintergreen)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Lonicera sp. (honeysuckle)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Spiraea tomentosa (steeplebush)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)

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

Grasses:
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem grass)

Ferns:
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)