Barbara Smoyer Park
Herrontown Road, Princeton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey
37.5 acres
Directions:
Take Harrison Street to the fourth light and turn RIGHT
on Terhune Road; drive to the end of Terhune Road and turn LEFT on Snowden Lane;
drive approximately 1/10 of a mile; the park entrance is on the left.
Or:
Take Snowden Lane (beginning on Route 27 at the intersection 27 and Riverside Drive) all the way to the park.
Or:
The way I went: From New York City: New Jersey Turnpike South to Exit 9 (at green mileage marker 83.9); drive 0.6 of a mile to pick up Route 1 south; drive 10.8 miles to a right turn onto Route 522 to Kingston; drive 1.3 miles to a left turn onto Route 27; drive 1.6 miles to a right turn onto Route 605 (River Road); drive 0.2 of a mile and turn left onto Herrontown Road; the park is on the left just before Herrontown Woods. Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.
History:
Owners Jac and Cornelia Murray Weller planted many oak and maple trees on this land. Jac (Princeton 1936) was a Hall of Fame football player author of books and numerous articles on military history. He was a firearms expert, one of only two honorary curators of the West Point Gun Museum. Cornelia was owner of a real estate business on Palmer Square, Princeton. She inherited the business from her mother. The Wellers built the stone structures still standing on the park grounds.
1972-1974 -- Barbara Smoyer served as a member of the Princeton Township Committee.
1990 -- Barbara chaired the Township's Ad Hoc Tusculum Use Committee. She was a strong advocate for recreation in the town, as well as open space.
Princeton Township purchased the Welter Farm from the Welter estate of Mr. and Mrs. Jac Welter for 1.8 million dollars. The money came from the Township, the Borough of Princeton and the New Jersey State Green Acres Program.
2001 (May 19) -- official opening of the park.
2002 -- the Princeton Recreation Department and the Township of Princeton received an "Excellence in Design Award" from the New Jersey Recreation and Park Association for the design of Barbara Smoyer Park.
The Friends of Princeton Open Space also helped secure funding from the state Green Acres agency, and has provided non-financial support for other projects such as Barbara Smoyer Park and the Gulick Farm acquisition.
Source: "Friends toast $1 millon -donation milestone." Packet Online. 10/15/2002. http://www.pacpub.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=5710995&BRD=1091&PAG=461&dept_id=346950&rfi=8
Facilities:
Twenty acres will be maintained for passive recreation, picnicking, walking and fishing in the pond.
18 acres will be for active recreation: open play areas, soccer field and baseball field, a large multi-purpose training field area, ice skating on the pond, a small playground. and adequate parking for the occasional user or for sporting event spectators.
Trails:
Paths for the enjoyment of bicyclists, joggers or walkers will circle the park.
10/18/04. I parked in the parking area along Herrontown Road. I picked up the asphalt trail right by the parking lot. There are picnic tables by the small pond in the park. After botanizing around the pond, I walked on the asphalt trail into the small piece of woods on the left. There are a lot of sweetgum trees here. A sign at a fork in the road tells the hiker that turning left leads out of the park via Bertrand Drive, while heading straight leads through the woods to Snowden Lane. There is a similar sign 50 yards from this sign. I turned left at the second sign and after a short walk found myself on the border outside the park, so I turned around and headed back. I walked into the heart of the park surrounded by three soccer fields, a children's playground and restroom facilities. There is a lot of parking area by the fields. I arrived at the park very early in the morning and saw a lot of dog walkers. I returned to look at the pond again and then headed back to the parking lot and my car. Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.
There are three soccer fields.
PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = plant found in bloom on date of field trip, 10/18/04
Trees:
Acer negundo (ash-leaf maple)
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharinum (silver maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula nigra (river birch) planted
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum) lots
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Magnolia virginiana (sweetbay magnolia) planted
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Pinus strobus (white pine) planted
Platanus sp. (sycamore) planted
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lonicera mackii (Amur honeysuckle)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (black berry)
Salix sp. (willow)
Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)
Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed)
Arctium minus (common burdock)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Aster spp. (aster) *
Bidens cernua (beggar ticks) * ? in the mud around the pond
Bidens sp. (beggar ticks)
Cirsium arvense (Canada thistle)
Cirsium vulgaris (bull thistle)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)
Duchesnea indica (Indian strawberry)
Epilobium coloratum (purple willow herb)
Erechtites hieraciifolia (pileweed)
Euthamia graminifolia (grass-leaved goldenrod)
Hieracium sp. (hawkweed)
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)
Lemna sp. (duckweed)
Lycopus sp. (water horehound)
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed) *
Polygonum hydropiper (water pepper) *
Polygonum sagittatum (arrow-leaved tearthumb)
Rumex acetosella (field sorrel)
Rumex crispus (curled dock)
Sagittaria latifolia (broad-leaved arrowhead)
Solidago canadensis var. canadensis (Canada goldenrod)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion) *
Trifolium repens (white clover) *
Verbena hastata (blue vervain)
Verbena urticifolia (white vervain)
Xanthium strumarium (common clotbur)
Rushes:
Juncus effusus (soft rush)
Juncus tenuis (path rush)
Sedges:
Cyperus sp. (nut or umbrella sedge)
Grasses:
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Echinochloa sp. (barnyard grass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail grass)
Setaria glauca (yellow foxtail grass)
Tridens flavus (purple top grass)
bamboo