Pond Brook Boat Access
Hanover Road, Newtown Borough, Newtown, Fairfield County, Connecticut

Directions:

In Newtown borough on Route 6/25 just north of the Town Hall, heading south, turn left onto Hanover Road; follow it for one mile to a T-intersection; turn left and drive for 2.1 miles; turn right into the entrance for the boat launch area.

The Housatonic Valley Economic Development Partnership (HVEDP) is creating a 38-mile waterway for canoeists and kayakers heading from New Milford to the Stevenson Dam via the Housatonic Valley River Trail (HVRT), and south to Long Island Sound.

The River Trail from New Milford to Monroe is open.

In Newtown, the River Trail may be accessed at the state's Pond Brook ramp and the residents only ramp located at the end of Hanover Road.

Source:

http://www.newtownbee.com/Features.asp?d=Archive2000&s=Features08-23-2001-14-53-29.htm

Trails:

9/03/2005.  On a beautiful day, Rosemary Cooney, Ceferino Santana, dog Sonar and Sarah-David Rosenbaum and I botanized around the perimeter of the boat launch area.  There were quite a few boats at the boat launch on this Labor Day weekend.  We had our lunch at the boat launch after investigating Hattertown Pond in the morning.  By the boat launch itself, we enjoyed snacking on some fox grapes.  (They are a bit sour, but they are also a bit sweet making a good combination.)  I thought there might be a trail along the shoreline on the north side of the boat launch area.  There was one but it did not go far before it ended.  The visit did not take long because the area is not a large one.   Dr. Patrick L. Cooney. 

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney, Rosemary Cooney, and Sarah-David Rosenbaum

*  =  plants blooming on field trip, 9/03/2005

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya cordiformis (bitternut hickory)
Carya sp. (hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus pensylvanica (green ash)
Ostrya virginiana (American hop hornbeam)
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Tilia americana (American basswood)

Shrubs:
Alnus serrulata (smooth alder)
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Chimaphila maculata (spotted wintergreen)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rhamnus frangula (European buckthorn)
Rhus glabra (smooth sumac)
Rubus flagellaris (northern dewberry)
Vaccinium pallidum (hillside blueberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis labrusca (fox grape) -- delicious tasting

Herbs:
Acalypha sp. (three-seeded mercury)
Agrimonia gryposepala (common agrimony)
Amphicarpaea bracteata (hog peanut)
Aster divaricatus (white wood aster)     *
Bidens sp. (beggar tick)     *
Boehmeria cylindrica (false nettle)
Chelone glabra (white turtlehead)
Cicuta maculata (water hemlock)
Circaea lutetiana (enchanter's nightshade)     *
Desmodium paniculatum (panicled tick-trefoil)     *
Desmodium rotundifolium (round-leaved tick trefoil)     *
Dianthus armeria (Deptford pink)     *
Eupatorium perfoliatum (boneset)     *
Euthamia graminifolia (grass-leaved goldenrod)     *
Galium sp. (bedstraw)
Helenium autumnale (sneezeweed)     *
Helianthus strumosus (pale-leaved sunflower)     *
Hackelia virginiana (Virginia stickseed)
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed)     *
Lactuca biennis (tall blue lettuce)     *
Lespedeza sp. (bush clover)
Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower)     *
Lobelia inflata (Indian tobacco)     *
Lysimachia ciliata (fringed loosestrife)
Lysimachia nummularia (moneywort)
Lysimachia quadrifolia (whorled loosestrife)
Lycopus sp. (bugleweed)     *
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)     *
Pilea pumila (clearweed)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed)    *
Polygonum hydropiper (water pepper)     *
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Potentilla simplex (common cinquefoil)
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal)    
Pyrola elliptica (shinleaf)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Smilacina racemosa (false Solomon's seal)
Solidago bicolor (silverrod)     *soon
Solidago caesia (blue-stem goldenrod)     *soon
Solidago rugosa (rough-leaved goldenrod)    
Stellaria pubera (star chickweed)     *
Thalictrum pubescens (tall meadowrue)     *
Trifolium pratense (red clover)     *
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Vernonia noveboracensis (New York ironweed)     *
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell)
Zizia aurea (golden Alexanders)

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Grasses:
Cinna arundinacea (wood reed grass)
Digitaria sp. (crab grass)
Eleusine indica (zipper grass)
Eragrostis spectabilis (purple love grass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Poa sp. (bluegrass)

Ferns:
Equisetum arvense (field horsetail)
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Pteridium aquilinum (bracken fern)

Others:
liverwort

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