Pemberwick Park
Pemberwick Road, Greenwich, Fairfield County, CT
44 acres
Directions:
I-287; Hutchinson Parkway to the Merritt Parkway; get off at the first exit on the Merritt Parkway, exit 27; set odometer to 0; turn/bear right onto Glen Ridge Road; follow it as it changes to Glenville Road; at 0.7 of a mile turn right onto Pemberwick Road; at 2.0 miles you come to the park sign. Park along the road where you can.
Description:
This is a narrow linear L-shaped park along Pemberwick Road.
Geology/Topography:
Lyon’s Brook flows diagonally across the western portion to the Byram River.
Description:
The park is divided into 3 sections:
1) 8-acre recreation area at the corner of Pemberwick Road and Moshier Street. Parking is available on both streets.
2) a natural area of 21-acres (along Pemberwick Road in the north);
3) 14 acre managed conservation area (access from Weaver Street, north of Moshier Street). Thee is a trail winding through fields and orchards in succession.
History:
1706 -- Samuel Lyon granted a parcel of land.
Midl-1600s – Thomas Lyon, a son-in-law of Elizabeth Feake, purchased the land, and enlarged it over many generations.
1676 -- Thomas Lyon granted a parcel of land lying along the Byram River.
1686 -- Elizabeth Feake (1633-1676) married Captain John Underhill, famous for two Indian massacres.
1722 -- Thomas Lyon bought of Joseph Lyon all his right, title, and interest in the estate of Samuel Lyon, deceased.
1732 -- Thomas Lyon deeded the land to his sons, Joseph and Jonathan.
1733 -- Thomas Lyon deeded land to his son, Thomas Lyon.
1858-1889 -- the mysterious "Leatherman", so-named because he dressed in hand-sewn skins, roamed the woods and backroads of Westchester and Connecticut. One of the cliffs in the Park is a cave reputed to be a stopping place of Leatherman. He would sleep in caves and subsist on food given him by towns people along his route.
Mid-1880s – a deep gorge was blasted from the bedrock for a railroad that never materialized.
1940 – Mr. John Lyon gave 8 acres on Pemberwick Road to the Town for an active recreation park.
1968 – death of descendent John M. Lyon, the last descendent to maintain the 200 acres as a farm.
1972 – Greenwich acquired an additional 35 acres of land when the property was sold for the Lyon Farms subdivision development. The park was conveyed to the Town in this year.
1975 -- a land use plan was adopted by the Town. Approximately 15 acres of the park was set aside for active recreation. This acreage included 8-acres from the original Pemberwick Park, plus 7-acres along Pemberwick Road that was acquired in 1972. In addition, approximately 15 acres were declared a natural conservation area.
Source:
The USGenWeb Project,Fairfield County, Connecticut, Greenwich: LANDOWNERS FROM THE FIRST INDIAN DEED 1640 TO 1752, GALPIN TO YOUNG.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ctfairfi/pages/greenwich/grnwich_landowners02.htm
Facilities:
Picnic Tables with grill, tennis courts, baseball field, basketball courts, bocci ball, and playgrounds, community building
Habitats:
two natural areas featuring meadows, cattail marshes, and woods
Wildlife:
Pheasants, Woodcocks, Hawks, Owls, and Woodpeckers, Warblers.
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