Colonial Lake Park

Route 1 or Lake Avenue, across from Lawrenceville Shopping Center, Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey

Directions:

NJ Turnpike to exit 7A for US 195 west; take US 295 north to Exit 65; turn left onto Sloan Avenue that becomes Sweet Briar Avenue (Route 649); turn right onto Whitehead Road heading over the D&R Canal; turn right onto Route 1 north; turn right onto Lake Drive (there are two Lake Avenue entrances very close to each other  -- but they both reach the same two parking areas).  There is a parking lot at Route 1 and Lake Drive (the second entrance heading north on Route 1).  There is a second parking lot more directly reached via the first Lake Drive entrance off Route 1 heading north.  (The curved second entrance road leads into the first entrance road.  This second parking lot is a series of parking slots facing the lake and its lawn.       

History:

1999 – the Lawrence Township Council approved an ordinance that bans park-goers from feeding the waterfowl at township-owned parks, such as Colonial Lake Park.

Facilities:

tennis court, children's playground, benches, picnic table, fishing, walking path

Trails:

5/05/2005.  This is a pretty urban park.  There is a walking path around three-quarters of the lake, but one most use the parking lot of the next-door bowling alley store and the Route 1 sidewalk to make a complete circuit.  Most of the park consists of manicured lawns with many planted nursery trees.  There is some woods area available.  There is a splotch of it between the lake and the bowling alley and extending in back of the bowling alley parking lot.  It is not a big piece of woods but it is a piece with some typical woods species.  There were quite a few fishermen out fishing along with a few walkers and picnickers.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.  

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney

* = blooming on date of field trip, 5/05/2005

Trees:
Acer negundo (box elder maple)
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer sp. (Japanese maple)  planted
Acer saccharinum (silver maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)  planted
Cercis canadensis (red bud)
Crataegus sp. (hawthorn)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Ilex opaca (American holly)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Morus alba (white mulberry)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Pinus sp. (pine)
Populus alba (white poplar)
Populus deltoides (cottonwood)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Prunus sp. "Kwanzan" ? (Kwanzan cherry) ?  *
Pyrus spp. (apple) *
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Ulmus americana (American elm) 
Ulmus rubra (slippery elm)

Shrubs:
Pieris sp. (andromeda)  planted   *
Cornus alternifolia (alternate-leaved dogwood)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Forsythia sp. (golden bells)  *
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)  *
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Sambucus canadensis (common elderberry)
Viburnum dentatum (arrowwood viburnum)  -- hairy leaves
Viburnum plicatum (double-file viburnum )  *

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Clematis virginiana (virgin's bower)
Hedera helix (English ivy)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) *
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort) 
Barbarea vulgaris (common wintercress)  *
Cardamine parviflora (dry-land bittercress)  *
Duchesnea indica (Indian strawberry)  *
Erigeron annuus (daisy fleabane)  *
Geum canadense (white avens)
Glechoma hederacea (gill-over-the-ground) *
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)
Matricaria matricarioides (pineapple weed) *
Narcissus sp. (daffodil)  
Oenothera biennis (common evening primrose)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)  *
Podophyllum peltatum (may apple)  *
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Ranunculus abortivus (kidney-leaved crowfoot) *
Ranunculus bulbosus (bulbous buttercup) *
Rumex crispus (curled dock)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)  *
Veronica arvensis (corn speedwell)  *
Veronica serpyllifolia (thyme-leaved speedwell)  * 
Viola sororia (common blue violet) *

Rushes:
Juncus effusus (soft rush) 

Grasses:
Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal grass) 

Ferns:
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)