Harry Dunham Park
Liberty Corner, Bernards Township, Somerset County, New Jersey

Directions: 

From Rte. 78 take exit 33, go north on Martinsville Rd. to left on Valley Rd. (5th light), next left (Sunoco) on Church St., park is on left just past Fire Dept. Take paved driveway, 1st tee east of flag poles.

Or:

US 80 west to US 287 south; get off at Exit 26 for Mount Airy Road;  left turn onto Mount Airy Road; drive 1.3 miles and turn right onto Lyons Road; drive 0.5 of a mile and turn right onto Church Street (Route 512); drive 0.8 of a mile and turn left into the park (shortly after passing the intersection with Somerville Road.

Facilities:

picnic shelters, walking trails, ball and soccer fields and playground, disc golf.

Trails:

11/04/04.  This is the first frost of the year.  The park is a big one with lots of lawn and lots of activities.  There is an asphalt walkway around the park area.  I arrived at the park around sunrise and there were a lot of dog walkers and regular walkers out already.  I was looking for the possibility of a natural area.  At the parking area I could see ahead of me woods on the western border of the park.  I walked on the asphalt pathway past a field on the left (with a sign saying Wildflower Meadow in progress).  Followed the pathway to the woods and found an entrance way.  It looks as if they may have had a trail in here at one time, but I found only one trail marker saying Dead River Trail.  There were two informational markers also, one about a tree, maybe beech?,  and another about white-tailed deer.  I walked over to a stream.  I did not see any way to cross except for one place where a tree had fallen over the stream (but it looked a little tricky to cross). So I turned left and walked along an informal path paralleling the stream.  The path ended before the woods and stream ended, and so I turned around and walked as far as I could in the other direction.  It was not a long walk with the informal path heading south also ending before the woods ended.  Trapped between stream and the two ends of the informal path, I decided to leave the area.  The natural area would greatly benefit from a formal, marked trail and a bridge or two over the stream.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = plant found in bloom on date of field trip, 11/04/04

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus calleryana (callery pear)
Pyrus sp. (crab apple)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus palustris (pin oak) lots
Quercus rubra (red oak)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)  lots and lots of it; in some sections it is the dominant shrub
Chimaphila maculata (striped wintergreen)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (black berry)
Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)

Herbs:
Agrimonia sp. (agrimony)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Apocynum cannabinum (Indian hemp)
Aster spp. (aster)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)
Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot)
Geum canadense (white avens)
Lysimachia nummularia (moneywort)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed) *
Pycnanthemum tenuifolium (narrow-leaved mountain mint)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Solidago rugosa (rough-stemmed goldenrod)
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)
Verbena hastata (blue vervain)

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered sedge type)
Scirpus cyperinus (woolly grass bulrush)

Grasses:
Cinna arundinacea (wood reed grass)
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Echinochloa sp. (barnyard grass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue panic grass)
Setaria glauca (yellow foxtail grass)

Ferns and fern allies:
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)