Directions:
From the North using NJ Turnpike South.
Note: Driving time from NJ Turnpike Exit 8A is 15-20 minutes.
Take New Jersey Turnpike to Exit 8A (Cranbury exit).
After passing toll booth, stay to the right and take Route 32 West. Stay on
Route 32 for 1.1 miles until it intersects with Route 130.
Take Route 130 South (left lane exit).
After 1.6 miles, immediately after traffic light, turn right onto Main Street
(follow sign to Cranbury). Stay on Main Street (which becomes Route 535) for 1.7
miles. ) Make a right onto Old Trenton Rd, staying on Route 535.
Proceed for another 2.5 miles until first traffic light. At the light, turn
right onto Route 571, Princeton-Hightstown Road.
Proceed on Route 571 to the first light (Southfield Shopping Center on right)
and turn left onto Southfield Rd. The park is approximately 1/2 mile on your
left.
History:
c. 1780 – barn built on the site.
c. 1790 – establishment of the Schenck Farmhouse
c. 1890 - Parsonage School on the site.
1991 – approximately two acres and the Schenck Farmhouse were given to the West Windsor Historical Society by Max Zaitz.
1992 – Mr. Zeitz donated 117 additional acres of land to West Windsor to be used as a park.
Facilities:
Four recreational soccer fields are used by the West Windsor-Plainsboro Soccer Association.
Trails:
They are working toward a Zeitz Park Woodland Trail.
5/10/2005. The farm part of the park is about 0.4 of a mile south of the larger part of the park. We skipped the farm part. Dog Sonar and I walked the park. This park is primarily used for soccer, but there are woods on three sides. I did not see any woodland trail. I found a place to slip into the woods and work my way down to Bear Brook. The floodplain is quite wide here and with all the Japanese stilt grass coming up, the area was very green and very lovely. Walked along side the stream for awhile and then tried to make a loop trail all around the park. But I came to a stream half way through that I could not cross. So I had to turn around and return the way I came. There are a lot of wet areas in the woods I toured with no real trails. Needless to say, there are lots of wetland plant species. There was at one time a trail made by vehicles but now it is only a rough trail and when we were there it was wet and very muddy. Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.
PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = blooming on date of field trip, 5/10/2005
Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharinum (silver maple)
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum)
Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo)
Populus deltoides (cottonwood)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus sp. (apple)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Salix sp. (willow)
Shrubs:
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepperbush)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry holly)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle) *
Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus hispidus (swamp dewberry)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Sambucus canadensis (common elderberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum (hillside blueberry)
Viburnum dentatum (arrowwood)
Vines:
Calystegia sepium (Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Smilax sp. (greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)
Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) *
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Apocynum sp. (dogbane)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit)
Barbarea vulgaris (common wintercress) *
Claytonia virginica (spring beauty) *
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)
Duchesnea indica (Indian strawberry) *
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Nuphar sp. (spatterdock) ?
Oenothera biennis (common evening primrose)
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel) *
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)
Polygonatum biflorum (smooth true Solomon's seal)
Polygonum arifolium (halberd-leaved tearthumb)
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Polygonum sagittatum (arrow-leaved tearthumb)
Potentilla simplex (common cinquefoil)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Solidago sp. (goldenrod)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion) *
Trifolium pratense (red clover)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Veronica serpyllifolia (thyme-leaved speedwell) *
Viola sororia (common blue violet) *
Grasses:
Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal grass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass) abundant
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reedgrass)
Poa annua (annual bluegrass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem grass)
Ferns:
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Thelypteris palustris (marsh fern)