Old Field Preserve

Route 35, Waccabuc, Lewisboro Township, Westchester County, NY

110 acres

across the street from the Lewisboro Town Park (just past the intersection with Mead Street); adjoins the Wolf Conservation Center.

Directions:

North on the Saw Mill Parkway to its end; take the exit for Route 35; turn right onto Route 35; drive to Mead Street and turn left onto it; drive 0.4 of a mile and turn right when you see the sign for the preserve (almost opposite School House Road); drive up the grassy pathway and park near the kiosk. 

Geology:

The streams and wetlands drain into New York City's reservoirs. 

History:

formerly owned by Arthur Houlihan 

The owners, Glickenhaus Doynow Waccabuc Development LLC, had proposed an 8-lot subdivision. 

The Lewisboro Town Board agreed to $500,000; 61 neighbors pledged over $1 million. Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano agreed to join in to acquire the land. Others involved in the process included Westchester Land Trust, Lewisboro Land Trust and Wolf Conservation Center.

The Preserve is named fort the five fields, at various stages of succession, that it contains.

Habitats:

wetlands, forests, and five fields and meadows

Trails:

Here are trails that are part of a 10-mile trail system through the heart of a biological corridor from Pound Ridge through Lewisboro and North Salem.  It links up with other parks and preserves to form a 1,000-acre open space corridor.

(Source: Residents, Officials Hike Together to Support Creation of 'Old Field Preserve'; http://www.westchesterlandtrust.org/wlt10550.htm)

5/22/04.  From the kiosk the red trail heads east past a big field (some of it being taken over by shrubs such as gray-stem dogwood). The trail curbs right with the line of the woods and then goes south thru a stone wall; trail turns left through a bit of woods and descends to some muddy areas; intersection with the blue trail that will take the hiker to Route 35 and the Lewisboro Town Park.  Continuing on the red trail another field opens up; crossing the field one is back into the woods (with swampy area on the left).  Eventually the trail ends at a smooth dirt road in a residential area. Turned around and came back the same way I went out. 

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = date plants found in bloom, 5/22/04

Trees:
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Crataegus sp. (hawthorn)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Carya sp. (hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo)
Populus deltoides (cottonwood)
Prunus serotina (black cherry) *waning
Pyrus sp. (crabapple)
Quercus alba (white oak) 5/07/99
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust) *waning
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs and sub-shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Cornus racemosa (gray-stem dogwood)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus) *
Ilex verticillata (winterberry)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle) *
Rhododendron periclymenoides (pinxter flower)  ?
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry) *
Spiraea tomentosa (steeplebush)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Viburnum lentago (nannyberry viburnum) *

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis labrusca (fox grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) *
Apocynum cannabinum (Indian hemp)
Arenaria serpyllifolia (thyme-.leaved sandwort) *
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Cerastium vulgatum (mouse-ear chickweed) *
Circaea lutetiana (enchanter's nightshade)
Duchesnea indica (Indian strawberry) *waning
Galium aparine (cleavers)
Galium asprellum (rough bedstraw)
Galium circaezens (wild licorice)
Galium mollugo (wild madder) *
Geranium maculatum (wild geranium) *
Hesperis matronalis (dame's rocket) *
Hieracium casepitosum (field hawkweed)
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed)
Lotus corniculatus (birdfoot trefoil) *
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain) *
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Potentilla simplex (common cinquefoil)
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal)  
Ranunculus abortivus (kidney-leaved crowfoot)
Ranunculus acris (tall buttercup) *
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (dandelion) *
Trifolium pratense (red clover) *
Trifolium repens (white clover) *
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell)
Veronica serpyllifolia (thyme-leaved speedwell) *
Viola sp. (violet)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered sedge type)
Carex ovales type (sedge)
Carex sp. (looks like pieces of garlic stuck together)
Carex vulpinoidea var. vulpinoidea (sedge)
Scirpus atrovirens (dark-green bulrush)
       
Grasses:
Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal grass)
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Poa annua (annual bluegrass)
Poa pratensis (Kentucky bluegrass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem grass)
      
Ferns and Fern Allies:
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)