Reese Park
Wappinger Creek Road, Hughsonville, Town of Wappinger, Dutchess County, NY
38 acres

Directions:

Wappinger Creek Road, next to east side of Wappinger Creek.   

Head north on the Taconic State Parkway and exit at mileage marker 41.3 miles.  Turn left onto Beekman Road.  Drive 2.2 miles and turn/bear left onto Route 82.  Drive 2.1 miles to make a right turn onto Route 28 (Old Hopewell Road) heading west.  Cross over Route 9.   Before reaching the bridge heading into New Hamburg, make a right turn (more than a 90 degree turn) onto Wappinger Creek Road.  Drive to the park on the right (east) side of the road.

History:

1961 (June 16)  --  land given by the Reese family.

1997  --  the Town of Wappinger Recreation Commission is working with the Hudson Valley Greenway organization.

Trails:

This park is the focal point/junction for the Town of Wappinger Greenway Trail Network.  It will be a key segment in the Hudson River Valley Greenway System.  The Wappinger Greenway Trail is a 10.7 mile figure 8 loop of on and off-road trails encircling the lower Wappinger Creek and the Wappinger Lake. 

For the Wappinger Greenway Trail:  (Caution:  not all the parks and hook-ups are complete, so this is future material)

From Rees Park, head southeast through the park to South Avenue (Route 9D);
turn left and head north to the intersection with a small park; 
turn left onto East Main Street; 
turn right onto Spring Street; 
at the park (on the east side of Wappinger Lake) turn right and head through the park to North Mesier Avenue;
turn right and head northeast to Liss Road;
turn left onto Liss Road and walk to Route 9; 
turn left and cross over Wappinger Lake on the bridge; 
turn left and walk along the west side of Wappinger Lake; 
walk through the Canale Memorial Park Ballfield over to West Main Street;
head south on West Main Street to cross over the bridge over Wappinger Creek;
turn right onto Market Street heading south; 
Reach Wappinger Creek/McKinley Road and head up McKinley Road;
in the future there will be a bridge over Wappinger Creek to the west side;

A.  in the future one can walk all around this part of Wappinger Creek, over the bridge in New Hamburg and then up Wappinger Creek Road to Reese Park.

B.  in the future one can get off the around-the-Wappinger Creek route and head west over to cross over Channingville Road and keep heading west over to Sheafe Road and the main entrance for Bowdoin County Park. 

PLANT LIST

Dr. Patrick Louis Cooney, November 3, 2006

Trees:*
Acer nigrum (black maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Gleditsia triacanthos (honey locust)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Populus tremuloides (quaking aspen)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Tilia americana (American basswood)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Ulmus sp. (elm)

Shrubs and sub-shrubs:
Lonicera mackii (Amur honeysuckle) ?
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)

Vines:
Polygonum scandens (climbing bindweed)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Arctium sp. (burdock)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Bidens sp. (beggarticks)
Chelidonium majus (celandine)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed, Virginia knotweed)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad-leaved dock)
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)

Grasses:
Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail grass)
Tridens flavus (purple top grass)

*  Most of the trees were from a Park pamphlet.