West Property
3 North Main Street, Cranbury, Middlesex County, NJ
66 acres

Directions:

New Jersey Turnpike south to exit 8A; right onto Forsgage Drive; left onto Route 130; take the exit for Route 535 (Main Street, Cranbury); in "downtown" Cranbury turn left onto Westminster Place (across from Westminster Cemetery); the park entrance is on the left at the bend to the right of Westminster Place.

Geology:

Cranbury Brook

Facilities:

two soccer fields

Trails:

There is a woodland trail suitable for jogging and observing wildlife. Follow the road past the barn and through the gate to the road on the left which heads to the trail and Cranbury Brook.

One can combine this hike with crossing Main Street by the bridge over Brainerd Lake and exploring Village Park on Brainerd Lake.

November 21, 2003. The park borders a school and cornfield; headed down one of the two woods roads on the left; came to a sign: Eagle Trail, Troop 52; J. D. Kirkenir's Eagle Scout project; the trail starts out at a T-intersection going east (left) and west (right); pond by the side of the trail; the trail follows Cranbury Brook on the left stemming from the dam at Brainerd Lake; come out to the field; come to a woods road; farm in distance; dam; turned around and came back. Beautiful pastoral setting.

http://www.cranburylions.org/gov/parks.htm

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney, brief visit, November 21, 2003

Trees:
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharinum (silver maple)
Betula nigra (river birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Ilex opaca (American holly)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum)
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Picea sp. (spruce) planted
Pinus sp. (pine)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus rubrum (red oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)

Shrubs:
Alnus sp. (alder)
Cephalanthus occidentalis (buttonbush)
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepper bush)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Ilex crenata? (holly)
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Rhus sp. (sumac)
Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Viburnum dentatum (smooth arrowwood viburnum)

Vines:
Cuscuta sp. (dodder)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Smilax glauca (sawbrier)
Smilax rotundifolia (greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)

Herbs:
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Arctium sp. (burdock)
Aster spp. (aster)
Desmodium sp. (tick trefoil)
Hibiscus palustris (swamp rose mallow)
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed)
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Rumex acetosella (sheep sorrel)
Rumex sp. (dock)
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)
Trifolium sp. (clover)
Typha latifolia (broad-leaved cattail)

Rushes:
Juncus effusus? (soft rush)?
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)
Scirpus cyperinus (woolly grass bulrush)

Grasses:
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail grass)
Setaria glauca (yellow foxtail grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem grass)