Turner Hill/Ridgebury Farms Trail
Barnum Place, Ridgefield, Fairfield County, Connecticut
94 acres

Directions:

 

Homeowner's association parking lot at the corner of Turner Hill Road and Barnum Place.  or

 

Saw Mill River Parkway north to its end at mile marker 29; get onto US 684 heading north; drive about 11 miles and get off at the exit for US 84;  drive about 3.2 miles to get off at exit number 1; turn right and drive 1.0 miles to make a right onto Turner Road; drive 0.3 of a mile and turn left; in a short ways park along the road  on the right by the street sign that says Barnum Place across from the swimming pool.  The asphalt trail is just behind you.

Habitats:

wetlands, farm fields

Trails:

40 minute difficult walk (because the undeveloped trails are overgrown, poorly marked and often soggy.

 

6/22/2005.  On a slightly overcast day, dog Sonar and I started up the asphalt path set close to houses.  I did not see any trail blazes or Ridgefield open space signs   That made me a little nervous, but that proved unnecessary because it would be hard go get lost.  The trail was once a road I gather, nice and wide, because there is only one primary path and plenty of No Trespassing signs on either side of the trail. 

I did not find the walk difficult at all.  It is fairly flat and there are just a few watery holes in the trail.  Considering that many of our trails around the area are subject to heavy ATV use, the few water holes here don't seem unusual at all. 

I came to a T-intersection and turned right.  The path ended at road with a sign saying "Road Closed", referring to the trail path. 

Turned around and started back.  It started raining  and so I did not walk the other arm of the T-intersection.  Returned to the car.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

Sources:

Catalog of Ridgefield Open Spaces: http://www.rosaopenspace.org/catalog/index.html#Blacksmith%20Ridge

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney

*  =  plant blooming on date of field trips, 6/22/2005

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Carya cordiformis (pignut hickory)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Tilia americana (American basswood)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs and Subshrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)   --- lots
Cornus racemosa (gray dogwood)
Corylus sp. (hazel)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)  
Ilex verticillata (winterberry holly)
Ligustrum sp. (privet)     *
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Rhododendron sp. (rhododendron)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)   *
Rubus occidentalis (lack raspberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)  
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)
Viburnum lentago (nannyberry viburnum)

Vines:
Ampelopsis brevipedunculata (porcelainberry)
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis labrusca (fox grape)
Wisteria sp. (wisteria)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)    * 
Amphicarpaea bracteata (porcelainberry)
Arctium sp. (burdock)
Arisaema triphyllum (jack-in-the-pulpit)
Chelidonium majus (celandine)     *
Chrysanthemum leucanthemum (ox-eye daisy)     *
Circaea lutetiana (enchanter's nightshade)  
Erigeron annuus (daisy fleabane)     *
Galium mollugo (wild madder)     *
Geranium maculatum (wild geranium)  
Geum canadense (white avens)
Hosta sp. (hosta)
Impatiens sp. (touch-me-not)
Lapsana communis (nipplewort)     *
Lychnis flos-cuculi (ragged robin)     *
Medicago lupulina (black medick)     *
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)     *
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed)     *
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Potentilla simplex (common cinquefoil)     *
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Sanicula trifoliata (long-fruited snakeroot)   ?
Silene latifolia (white campion)     *
Smilacina racemosa (false Solomon's seal)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)    
Trifolium pratense (red clover)     *
Trifolium repens (white clover)     *
Tussilago farfara (colts foot)
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell)     *
Vicia cracca (cow vetch)     *

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Carex crinita (fringed sedge)
Carex intumescens (bladder sedge)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
Carex vulpinoidea (fox sedge)
Scirpus atrovirens (dark-green bulrush)

Grasses:
Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal grass)
Bromus inermis (smooth brome grass)
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Glyceria striata (meadow mannagrass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Phalaris arundinacea (reed canary grass)
Poa annua (annual bluegrass)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Equisetum arvense (field horsetail)
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Dryopteris marginalis (marginal woodfern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda claytoniana (interrupted fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern) )
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)

 

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