Peck's Mill Pond Park
River Road and Main Street, Putney, Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut

Directions:

Merritt Parkway north to exit 53; turn right onto Route 110/River Road; pass by Boothe Memorial Park (up the hill); turn right onto Main Street Putney; there is a small pull-off parking area on the left in about 50 yards.

Geology/Topography:

Pumpkin Ground Brook starts up by Beaver Dam Lake and Roosevelt Forest and heads south through Spring Pond Park, passes on the northeast side of Mill River Country Club golf course and heads into Pecks Mill Pond Park and on to the Housatonic River.. 

Trails: 

11/29/2005.  On a cool morning, Ceferino Santana, dog Sonar and I parked just south of the Pond by the Peck's Mill Pond Park Pumping Station.  We walked along the shore for a short distance before we were stopped by private property.  The area is very overrun with Asiatic Bittersweet vine. The sidewalk cross-over to the other side of the pond parallel to the bridge was closed for repairs, so we had to use the River Road bridge to cross to the other side.  And River Road is a very busy road. 

On the other side (northern) of the pond, we found a short, unmarked  trail generally hugging the pond shore. There are two benches along the shoreline.  A wooden board walk bridge crosses a wet area.  Then a second bridge appears.  There is a small hill on the left.  One can continue straight on the main trail or turn left and circle the hill. 

A golf course appears on the right.  The path bears left onto a causeway and by the ruins of a stone structure, probably an old dam (?).  On the other side of the structure is Pumpkin Ground Brook.  The park continues on to another pond according to the highway map, but there is no trail to the pond.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney, * = plant blooming on date of field trip,  11/29/2005

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Taxus sp. (yew)

Shrubs:
Alnus serrulata (smooth alder)
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Cephalanthus occidentalis (buttonbush)
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepper bush)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Viburnum dentatum (arrowwood viburnum)
(boxwood)  planted?

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Cuscuta sp. (dodder)
Hedera helix (English ivy)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Smilax rotundifolia (round-leaved greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vinca minor (periwinkle)
Vitis sp. (grape)
(some kind of pea vine)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Chelidonium majus (celandine)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)
Epilobium sp. (willowherb)
Hypericum sp. (St. Johnswort)
Iris sp. (blue or yellow flag)
Lepidium virginicum (poor man's pepper)
Linaria vulgaris (butter and eggs)
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)
Oenothera biennis (common evening primrose)
Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum (water cress)
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)

Grasses:
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)
Tridens flavus (purple top grass)

Ferns:
Lycopodium obscurum (ground pine)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)

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