EDWARD R. MURROW PARK
Pawling, Dutchess County, NY
73 acres
No Dogs.

Directions:

Saw Mill River Parkway north to US 684 north; it ends at Route 22; head north into Dutchess County; at green mileage marker 10:37 turn left onto Corbin Road. Follow this about 1.4 miles and turn right into the park entrance. (The name of the road shifts to Lakeside Road somewhere along the way).

History:

There is an historical marker by the park with the title Cole's Mill. It says: Founded 1842 by Emery Cole; ruins 870 feet west; produced flour, feed and grain; wagon making shop added; run by son, Albert S. Cole.

Owned by the village of Pawling. This is an old farm once owned by the Burr family. In the 1980s the Lions Club bought the farm. In the 1990s the Lions Club gave the area to the village of Pawling for use as a park.

Murrow was one of those sold on Pawling by journalist and world traveler Lowell Thomas. Thomas had a golf team known as "Nine Old Men" which featured celebrities traveling around playing in small pick-up games to promote various causes. In 1948 it was promoting Dewey for President. The group included tenor James Melton, actor Robert Montgomery, Eddie Rickenbacker, Howard Morgens, Neil McElroy and boxer Gene Tunney. (page 24)

Murrow was honored by a community park on the site of the Burr property adjacent to Coles Mills. The park was created with the support of Lions Club members.

Source: Ghee, Joyce C. And Joan Spence. 1998. Image of America: Harlem Valley Pathways: Through Pawling, Dover, Amenia, North East, and Pine Plains. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.

Facilities:

Facilities for swimming, picnicking, fields games, basketball and children's playground.

Trails:

Took the trail going north, then northeast from the middle of the big field on the north side of the lake. Reach a T-intersection. Go left. The path goes around a bowl-shaped area (with pond in wet seasons), but then just dead ends.

The trail that comes from the picnic pavilion area heading north and staying north intersects with the path from the field.

There are paths on the right going off from the trail from the picnic pavilion. The second right takes you up to the top of a hill where there is a hiking shelter like those on the Appalachian Trail. Heading back down, you can go around the hill and the path will hook up with the path coming from the first right turn off the picnic pavilion path. Turning left at the T-intersection the path goes to a good lookout-point from which you can see the huge Pawling high school as well as other Pawling buildings. There is a path from the look-out point that heads downhill to two baseball diamonds below the look-out point. If you go down to Corbin Road/Lakeside Drive you can walk along a path paralleling the road that takes you back to the park entrance.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
11/14/01

Trees:
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven)
Aralia spinosa (Hercules club)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Larix sp. (larch)
Pica abies (Norway spruce)
Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Populus grandidentata (big tooth aspen)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus malus (apple)
Pyrus sp. (crab apple)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Salix nigra (black willow)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry holly)
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Rhamnus cathartica (common buckthorn)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Solanum dulcamara (bittersweet nightshade)
Vitis spp. (grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Aegopodium podagraria (goutweed)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Anaphalis margaritacea (pearly everlasting)
Arctium sp. (burdock)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Centaurea maculosa (spotted knapweed)
Cirsium arvense (Canada thistle)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)
Galium spp. (bedstraw)
Leonurus cardiaca (motherwort)
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)
Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Solidago rugosa (rough stem goldenrod)
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion) 11/14/01
Trifolium pratense (red clover)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell)
Vicia cracca (crown vetch)

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

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

Grasses:
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Eleusine indica (zipper grass)
Muhlenbergia schreberi (nimble will)
Phleum pratense (timothy grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem grass)
Setaria sp. (foxtail grass)

Ferns:
Dryopteris intermedia
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)

Others:
Chara sp. (alga)