Rippowam Preserve

South Salem, Westchester County, NY

On west side of Lake Oscaleta.

Directions:

Saw Mill Parkway to US 684 north and get off at exit 6; turn right onto Route 35; drive about 6.4 miles (passing the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation) and turn left onto Bouton Road (by a Mobil gas station); drive 1.1 miles and turn left onto Main Street; drive 0.3 of a mile and turn left onto Oscaleta Road; drive 0.9 of a mile and look for the preserve on the right before you get to Twin Lakes Road. There is no sign for the preserve and no trails. 

History:

c. 1780  --  hermitess Sarah Bishop was said to have lived for some 30 years in what is called Sarah Bishop's Rock or Cave located on the north shore of Lake Rippowam. 

1810  --  Bishop dies of sickness or exposure during a storm. 

late 19th century  --  picnickers made this a popular destination. 

1907  --  Henry B. Anderson built a 20 room mansion overlooking Lake Rippowam.  He later abandoned it. 

Trails:

6/04/04.  There are no trails.  This is primarily a red maple swamp with some woods on the edges.  Made a brief stop.  I just parked at one of the pull-offs in the area and walked up and down the road and into the woods a ways. 

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = date plants found in bloom, 6/04/04

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush)
Carya glabra (pignut hickory)
Carya sp. (hickory)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar) remains of one on the trail
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus sp. (crab apple)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry) lots
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepperbush)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry holly)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose) * 
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Spiraea sp. (spiraea) hort. ?
Staphylea trifolia (bladdernut)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Viburnum dentatum (arrowwood viburnum)
Viburnum lentago (nannyberry viburnum)
Vinca minor (periwinkle)

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

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (yarrow)
Aegopodium podagraria (goutweed) *
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) *
Allium sp. (onion)
Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed)
Arisaema triphyllum (jack-in-the-pulpit)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Asparagus officinalis (asparagus) *
Cirsium sp. (thistle)
Galium aparine (cleavers) *
Galium mollugo (wild madder) *
Hemerocallis fulva (tawny day lily)
Hesperis matronalis (dame's rocket) *
Hieracium sp. (hawkweed) * multiple heads, leaves hairy on the edges
Lemna sp. (duckweed)
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)
Prenanthes altissima (tall white lettuce)
Ranunculus acris (tall buttercup) *
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (dandelion)  *
Trifolium pratense (red clover)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered sedge type)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)
Carex stellata type (star sedge type)

Grasses:
Bromus inermis (smooth brome grass)
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Glyceria sp. (mannagrass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Equisetum arvense (field horsetail)
Equisetum hyemale (scouring rush)
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Osmunda regalis (royal fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Thelypteris palustris (marsh fern)

30 foot deep Lake Oscaleta has:
Myriophyllum spicatum (Eurasian milfoil)
Potamogeton amplifolius (bassweed) thick at the western end

Source: Michael Martin, Lake and Watershed Management Recommendations for Lakes Oscaleta, Rippowam, and Waccabuc; December 2002;  http://www.threelakescouncil.org/recommendationsformanagementreport.pdf