Earth Place (Westport Nature Center)
10 Woodside Lane, Westport, Connecticut
62 acres
Directions:
Near exit 17 of I-95 or Exit 41 of Merritt Parkway. Woodside lane.
From the Merritt Parkway, exit 41. Turn right onto Sunny Lane; turn left onto Wilton Road (Route 33); pass the cemetery on the right and turn right onto Patrick Road; at the T-intersection turn left onto Cranbury Road; turn left onto Stony Brook Road; turn left onto Woodside Lane.
History:
Westport Nature Center was the original home of COMA (Connecticut-Westchester Mycological Association).
Facilities:
outdoor playground, trails, birding, museum with touch tank and live animals, water quality researching the Center's Harbor/River Watch Program and Water Lab.
Earthplace -- Environmental Studies Center with natural history museum, live animals, wildlife rehabilitation program and nature trails, gift shop, nursery school and outreach programs.
Trails:
two mile trail system
Orange Trail -- the Swamp Loop Trail. The orange trail is a rectangular loop trail around the wetlands in the northwest section of the Nature Center area. In the north it connects to the White Trail.
Yellow Trail -- Newman-Woodward Trail. (It is part of the larger White Trail loop.
White Trail -- Highwoods Trail. From the northeast section of the Nature Center area, the yellow trail heads northeast and then turns sharply to head southwest. It meets with the White Trail that finishes off the left-hand mitten-shaped loop trail. The White Trail heads north and then west (where it connects with the orange trail if so desired), and, finally, south back to the nature center.
Blue Trail -- southeast trail. The Trail heads southwest to Tanglewood Lane.
Red Trail -- Wadsworth Trail. A small loop trail off the blue trail.
http://www.epinions.com/content_13546983044
PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = plant blooming on date of field trip, 11/07/2005
Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carya sp. (hickory)
Catalpa sp. (catalpa)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus sp. (crab apple)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Shrubs and sub-shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Ligustrum (privet)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow’s honeysuckle)
Rubus hispidus (swamp dewberry)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)
Viburnum dentatum (arrowwood viburnum)
Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (?Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Polygonum scandens (climbing false hempweed)
Smilax rotundifolia (round-leaved greenbrier)
Vitis sp (grape)
Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Apocynum sp. (dogbane)
Arctium sp. (burdock)
Aster spp. (aster)
Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot)
Euthamia graminifolia (grass-leaved goldenrod)
Galium sp. (bedstraw)
Leonurus cardiaca (motherwort)
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Solanum carolinense (horse nettle)
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)
Verbena urticifolia (white vervain)
Grasses:
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem grass)
Back to the w. Connecticut Page
Back to the Main Page