Taconic State Park (Rudd Pond)
Millerton, Dutchess County, NY
(518)789-3059

Directions:

Taconic Parkway North and exit at Rt 44 east; drive 14.5 miles to Amenia. Turn right on Route 22 north. About 7.9 miles north of Amenia is Millerton; via Route 22 north (around mileage marker 13:26); the downtown area turn right onto Rt. 44 east; very shortly turn left onto Route 62; drive 2.2 miles north and turn right into the park.

History:

Major Bezaleel Rudd (1751-1846) cleared the land and erected a home on this site. He served in the American Revolution. He was the son of  Zebulon Rudd and Jerusha Brewster (who was a descendant of the Brewster immigrant who came over on the Mayflower).  Their son Bezaleel Rudd married Ruth Brush of the Brush family who with Reynolds' families emigrated from Horse Neck (Greenwich) Conn. to Great Nine Partners around 1765, and settled in the northwest part of Amenia.

Source: (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~treebz65/dadside/clippings/obit_crudd.html

Facilities:

Tent and trailer camping, picnic tables, beach swimming, hiking, nature trails, biking, playground, restricted fishing and hunting, boat launch site, boat rentals, ice skating, cross country skiing and snowmobiling.

No Dogs.

Trails:

Took a walk south along the asphalt road, past the 40 or so camping platforms, and then into the woods. The path parallels the pond then heads south to another, smaller pond, Iron Mine Pond. There is a nice waterfall from a mountain stream that empties into the pond. You can walk up and along the waterfall and stream until a woods road is reached. Then you can walk up the woods road. This is where we stopped and turned around, but you can continue north and northwest, then turn left (southwest) to make a dip back up northwest to the entrance road for the park. 

4/12-14/02. We stayed at the Wake Robin Inn in Lakeville for this trip. The Inn was originally a private girl's school (opened in 1896).  In 1911 it became an Inn and has stayed an Inn ever since.  We met one of the new owners, both are from Chicago, Michael Loftus. He is a very pleasant fellow and very personable. The room was very nice and clean. The grounds are very pretty with 11 acres (retention of land around an inn getting to be a rarity these days). Breakfast was included and they were delicious: a cheesy kiesch and Irish soda bread with strawberry jam Saturday morning and on Sunday pancakes with fresh strawberries on top. In the future, the owners plan to sponsor some nature programs which could tie in with botanical visits to the area. Website at: www.wakerobininn.com

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple) 4/13/02
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula papyrifera (white birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carya cordiformis (bitternut hickory)
Carya glabra (pignut hickory)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Larix sp. (larch)
Ostrya virginiana (American hop hornbeam)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine)
Populus deltoides (cottonwood)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Salix alba var. (weeping willow)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs and sub-shrubs:
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Cornus sp. (red osier dogwood)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel)
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Myrica gale (sweetgale)?
Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rosa palustris (swamp rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus sp. (dewberry)
Salix sp. (willow)
Sambucus canadensis (common elderberry)
Spiraea tomentosa (steeplebush)?

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (yarrow)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Antennaria sp. (pussy toes)4/13/02
Aster spp. (asters) 10/15/01
Bidens sp. (beggar ticks)
Caradmine diphylla (broad-leaved toothwort)
Chelone glabra (white turtlehead)
Cichorium intybus (chicory) 10/15/01
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace) 10/15/01
Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchman's breeches)4/13/02
Draba verna (whitlow grass)4/13/02
Elodea sp. (water weed)
Erythronium americanum (trout lily)
Fragaria virginiana (wild strawberry)
Galium sp. (bedstraw)
Geum canadense (white avens)
Glechoma hederacea (gill over the ground) 4/13/02
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)
Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot)
Myosotis sp. (forget me not)
Myriophyllum sp. (water milfoil)
Penthorum sedoides (ditch stonecrop)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Potentilla sp. (cinquefoil)
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal) 10/15/01
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Solidago sp. (goldenrod)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)4/13/02
Trifolium pratense (red clover) 10/15/01
Trillium sp. (trillium) 4/13/02 soon
Typha latifolia (cattail)

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)

Grasses:
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)

Ferns:
Dryopteris sp. (woodfern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)