Rosa Hartman Park
Brown House Road, Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut
14 acres

The Park borders Laddins Rock Sanctuary in Greenwich. 

Directions:

US-94 north to Exit 6; turn right onto Harvard Avenue; turn right onto Selleck Avenue; turn left onto Brown House Road; in a little ways the park will be on the right. 

History::

1956  --  the park land was deeded to the city of Stamford by Jesse Hartman, an executive with the First Stanford Corporation.  The park is named for his wife.

1980s  --  the city decided to close the park.  The park morphed into an illegal dumping ground and enclave for homeless people. 

1998  --  the city put the park on the bidder's list after declaring the park underutilized.   

The Stamford Golf Centre LLC decided to privaste develop the sit.  They planned a sports center with restaurant on the site. 

(Source:  Charles Dianis "Tour is more than walking the park.")

Trails:

1)  straight ahead, a trail heads north to US-95.

2)  on the left side, a semi-circular trail heads down to the River and then south to end behind the Rosa Hartman Park sign on the entrance way to the park. 

10/10/2005.  On a cloudy day, Ceferino Santana, dog Sonar and I, parked in the main parking lot of the Park.  We walked north through the parking lot to a large area shaped like a parking lot put covered with wood chips (with a lot of mushrooms growing on the chips).  The trail headed north then northwest over to US-95.  Reaching the highway, we turned around and went back.  The trail is a short one. 

Back at the wood chip area we looked for another trail.  We found it and started out.  It headed downhill to the river. Across the river one can see the enormous Laddin's Rock (very impressive).  We walked along the floodplain heading south.  There is a red iron bridge that takes the hiker over the river and into Laddin's Rock.  If you want a close-up look at the huge cliffs turn right and parallel with the river to the rock. 

The semi-circular trail started bearing left away from the river and into the woods.  We went uphill now.  We came out of the woods behind the Rosa Hartman Park sign at the start of the entrance way to the park.  We turned left and went back to the car. Dr. Patrick L. Cooney. 

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = plant blooming on date of field trip 10/10/2005

Trees:
Acer negundo (box elder maple)
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharinum (silver maple)
Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven)
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush) planted
Aralia nudicaulis (Hercules club)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya cordiformis (bitternut hickory)
Carya tomentosa (shagbark hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum)
Morus alba (white mulberry)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Populus deltoides (cottonwood)
Pyrus sp. (crab apple)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Prunus sp. (cherry)
Pyrus sp. (crab apple)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Myrica pensylvanica (bayberry)   planted
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rosa rugosa (wrinkled rose)     planted
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Spiraea japonica (Japanese spiraea)      *  planted
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)
Viburnum sp. (sieboldii)  ? (Siebold's viburnum)  ?

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet) 
Lonicera japonica (Japanese barberry)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Smilax rotundifolia (round-leaved greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vinca minor (periwinkle)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Apocynum sp. (dogbane)
Arctium sp. (burdock)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Aster spp. (small white aster)     *
Commelina communis (Asiatic day flower)     *
Conyza canadensis (horseweed)
Erechtites hieraciifolia (pileweed)
Geum canadense (white avens)
Hemerocallis fulva (tawny day lily)
Leontodon autumnalis (fall dandelion)
Linaria vulgaris (butter and eggs)     *
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed)     *
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese smartweed)   
Polygonum sp. (smartweed)
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Solanum sp. (nightshade)
Solidago caesia (blue-stem goldenrod)     *
Solidago rugosa (rough-leaved goldenrod)     *
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)     *
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)
Trifolium pratense (red clover)
Trifolium repens (white clover)     *

Grasses:
Cinna arundinacea (wood reedgrass)
Digitaria sp. (crab grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail grass)
Zebra grass  --  planted

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered sedge type)

Ferns:
Athyrium filix-femina (marginal woodfern)
Dryopteris marginalis (marginal woodfern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)

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