Frederick P. Rose Preserve
Lewisboro, Westchester County, New York
105 acres

Directions:

Saw Mill River Parkway north to US 684; take the exit for Route 35 east;  turn right onto Route 35;  drive and turn left on North Salem Road; drive to Todd Road on the left hand side of the road; park at the intersection of Todd Road and North Salem Road.  Walk across North Salem Road and enter the preserve at the sign.  There is also an entrance adjacent to the power lines on Chapel Road. Park.

History:

1800s (early)  --  the Bradys had a farm here (the ruins of a house and barn still remain).

The preserve is a combination of parcels given to Westchester Land Trust by the Rock Shelter Road Homeowners Associatilon, Waccaboro Corporation, Victor Weingasrten and Roy Neuberger, and includes a major donation by Adam R. Rose of Cross River. The 20 acres he donated were slated for 14 new houses.  The preserve is dedicated to the memory of Mr. Rose's father, the late builder and philanthropist, Frederick P. Rose.

The area was once known as the "Woods  of Waccabuc."

Habitats:

wetlands and hilly woods, power lines

Trails:

There is a trail system for hikers and equestrians.   Hiking south from the Chapel Road entrance, hikers will see great  ridgeline views of the stream corridor and valley to the east. Still remaining are the remnants of a barn that was once part of Brady Farm to which the area's poor were sent to eke out a living.

http://www.westchesterlandtrust.org/Public-Preserves/rose.html

5/22/04.  I parked at Todd Road.  Crossed the road and walked along the path in an eastern direction.  There is quite a bit of multiflora rose and Japanese barberry causing interference problems here.  I started walking on the wide path toward a wire fence.  I thought (mistakenly) that the trail petered out here.  (It doesn't.  I should have kept going to the left of the fence and then uphill.)

I saw some red blazes on trees heading into the swamp and so I turned and followed the trail.  It petered out, but I pushed on anyway.  I actually went in a full circle returning back to where I started and using part of the real red trail. (Saw a wood turtle.)

So I start all over again.  This time I keep going straight to the wire fence; bear left and then uphill; cross the field and pick up the red trail again by the woods edge.   (In addition to the red blazes, there are signs for LHA for horse riders.)  The trail heads into swampy area and has a wooden bridge to cross over the stream.  Then the trail becomes dry and the hiker goes up and down over a small ridge.  The path splits; I go straight.  Keep going straight and come out on a huge lawn behind a fenced in residential backyard. Walk across the grass to a "wagon" path and come out on Chapel Road.  This was not the official entrance on Chapel Road, but I did reach Chapel Road.  Returned the way I came.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = date plants found in bloom, 5/22/04

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Prunus serotina (black cherry) *waning
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs and sub-shrubs:
Alnus serrulata (smooth alder)
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)  -- way too much of this species here
Eubotrys racemosa (fetterbush)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle) *
Myrica pensylvanica (bayberry)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Salix sp. (willow)
Spiraea tomentosa (steeplebush)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Vaccinium stamineum (deerberry) *
Viburnum lentago (nannyberry viburnum) *

Vines:
Calystegia sepium (hedge bindweed)
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet) *
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Polygonum perfoliatum (mile-a-minute vine)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis labrusca (fox grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) *
Alisma sp. (water plantain)
Arenaria serpyllifolia (thyme-.leaved sandwort) *
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Barbarea vulgaris (common wintercress) *
Callitriche sp. (water starwort)
Cardamine rhomboidea (spring cress) *
Galium aparine (cleavers) *
Galium mollugo (wild madder) *
Geranium maculatum (wild geranium) *
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed)
Lychnis flos-cuculi (ragged robin) *
Lysimachia nummularia (moneywort)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)
Pilea pumila (clearweed)
Polygonum sagittatum (arrowhead tearthumb)
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Potentilla simplex (common cinquefoil)
Ranunculus abortivus (kidney-leaved crowfoot)
Ranunculus acris (tall buttercup) *
Ranunculus hispidus var. caricetorium (swamp buttercup) *
Senecio jacobaea (tansy ragwort) *  ?
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (dandelion) *
Thalictrum pubescens (tall meadowrue)
Trifolium pratense (red clover)
Triodanis perfoliata (Venus looking glass)
Veratrum viride (swamp hellebore) *
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell) *
Veronica serpyllifolia (thyme-leaved speedwell) *
Viola sororia (common blue violet) *

Rushes:
Juncus effusus (soft rush)
Luzula multiflora (wood rush)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered sedge type)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
Carex stellata  type (sedge)
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)
Carex vulpinoidea var. vulpinoidea (sedge)
Eleocharis sp. (spikerush)
       
Grasses:
Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal grass)
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem grass)
      
Ferns and Fern Allies:
Equisetum arvense (field horsetail)
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Osmunda regalis (royal fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)
Thelypteris palustris (marsh fern)