Christmas Tree Farm
Sawmill Road, Tewksbury, Hunterdon County, NJ

Directions:

From the Clinton area, take Interstate 78 east to exit 24, Oldwick/Whitehouse; take Route 532 north towards Oldwick; continue straight on Route 517 when Route 523 turns to the right. Pass by Cold Brook Reserve and turn left onto Saw Mill Road.  Drive 0.5 of a mile to the Sawmill Elementary School and park in their parking area.  The farm is almost directly across from the entrance to the School.

History:

1955  -- John Johns purchases the land "because the land was just so pretty."

1977  --  the property evolved into the Christmas Tree Farm, selling trees each holiday.

2002 (May)  --  the Tewksbury Land Trust completed the purchase of 49+ acres of land.  The property was purchased for $725,000, with 50% of the cost funded by the Green Acres division of the New Jersey DEP.

The area is open to the public for all passive recreation. No motor vehicles permitted on the property.

Source: Tewksbury Land Trust, A Major Force; http://www.tewksburynj.com/planning.shtml

Trails:

There is a short rectangular loop walk starting from the entrance.  The trail heads uphill north and northwest past a log cabin on the left and up to a ridge.  On the top of the ridge there is a nearby housing development.  The trail heads east to a point where private property begins (open only to members of the Tewksbury  Trail Association).  Head back a short ways to a path heading downhill alongside one of the Christmas tree nursery groves.  Then head back west to the starting trail and back to the entrance. 

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = blooming, 10/18/03

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carya glabra (pignut hickory)
Carya spp. (hickory)
Catalpa sp. (catalpa)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus sp. (ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Picea sp. (spruce)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Populus deltoides (cottonwood)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Vaccinium pallidum (hillside blueberry)
Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Smilax rotundifolia (round-leaved greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Aster divaricatus (white wood aster) *
Cichorium intybus (chicory) *
Cirsium arvense (Canada thistle)
Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot) *
Hedeoma pulegioides (American pennyroyal)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed) *

Grasses:
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem grass)
Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail grass)
Tridens flavus (purple top)

Ferns:
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Dryopteris sp. (woodfern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)