Emerson Woods Preserve
Eagle Drive and Main Street (parked along Ridge Road)

Directions:

From the intersection of Old Hook Road and Main Street in Emerson head southwest onto Main Street. Thee is a sign and entrance near Ridge Road (where one can park).

History:

The land was farmed by Peter Delbaun.

1756 – he got the land from his father. His home is now the American Legion Post #15.

1856 – his grandson Hendrick had Main Street laid out.

1913 – the Bergen County Atlas shows two homes; one may have belonged to Emerson’s third mayor Gustav Lucie. Lucie may have made the old pasture watering hole, now the vernal pond.

1920 – Hackensack Water Company, now the United Water Company New Jersey.

Trails:

The trail was a bit confusing to my wife and I. We took the Main Trail northeast; turned right; went along a big ditch for awhile; we passed by the Equisetum Trail, but when the path we were on just ended we had to turn around and turn left onto the trail we had previously passed. We were walking along a fence on our left that keeps people out of the Oradell Reservoir. Come to a fairly large parking area. This is one of those areas where you can gain access if you pay money to be in the watershed "recreation" program. (The entrance is just before Summer Street on the left when heading south.)

Turned right and headed south. We walked along the entrance road to the parking area. Came to a kiosk on our right with a map of the trails. Behind the kiosk is the Main Trail. So we head northeast parallel with Main Street back to where we started. So the trail was a rough rectangle.

PLANT LIST:
Patrick L. Cooney, Ph. D.; * = plant blooming on date of field trip, 7/15/2006

Trees:
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip)
Morus alba (white mulberry)
Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo)
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Populus deltoides (cottonwood)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs and sub-shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Lonicera benzoin (spicebush)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rhodotypos scandens (jetbead)
Ribes sp. (Blackberry)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus sp. (dewberry)
Viburnum dentatum (hairy arrowwood viburnum)
Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum)

Vines:
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vinca minor (periwinkle)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) *
Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed)
Arisaema triphyllum (jack in the pulpit)
Boehmeria cylindrica (wood nettle)
Circaea lutetiana (enchanter’s nightshade) *
Commelina communis (Asiatic dayflower) *
Galinsoga sp. (gallant soldiers) *
Geum canadense (white avens) *
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed)*
Lepidium virginicum (poor man’s pepper)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Oxalis sp. (Yellow wood sorrel) *
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed)
Pilea pumila (clearweed)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed) *
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Ranunculus hispidus var. caricetorium (tall buttercup) *
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Trifolium repens (white clover) *
Viola sp. (violet)

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Grasses:
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)

Ferns:
Equisetum hyemale (scouring rush)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Osmunda regalis (royal fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)