Town Meadows
Route 39, Sherman, Fairfield County, Connecticut
180.0 acres

Currently it is open space for hiking.

Directions:

US 84 east to exit 5; turn left onto Route 39 north; drive on Route 39 for 19.7 miles to the Town Meadows on the left side of the road. 

Part of this area is being developed for a new park which will have 2 soccer fields, 2 little league diamonds and playground with restrooms and parking for around 40 cars, but this is only in the beginning stages of construction.

Ownership Municipal

Naromi Brook runs through the southwestern edge of Town Meadows.

Happy Acres Open Space is on the northwest of Town Meadows.  Happy Acres in turn adjoins Valleybrook Wildlife Sanctuary.  

Pick up a map of many of the Naromi Trust lands on the second floor of the Old Store Museum and Gift Shop at the intersection of Route 37 and Saw Mill Road in Sherman Center.

Habitats:

woods, meadows, pond, tussock sedge marsh/red maple swamp

Trails:

2/27/2002.  There doesn't appear to be any trails in this small park. Rather the park looks like a race track for ATVs. Just above Schimpf Pond, the ATV drivers have used all the meadow for the tracks. The only things stopping them from taking more area are the marshy areas and the stone walls separating the woods from the meadow.

I can't imagine this would be a very pleasant place to sit while ATV vehicles are driving like crazy all over the meadow just yards away.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
February 27, 2002 -- just a brief stop as it was raining/snowing

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)

Shrubs:
Cornus racemosa (gray dogwood)?
Cornus sp. (swamp dogwood or red osier dogwood)?
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)?
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Salix discolor (pussy willow)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vincetoxicum nigrum (black swallowwort)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Galium sp. (bedstraw)

Rushes:
Juncus effusus (soft rush)

Sedges:
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)

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

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