Turkey Brook Park
40 Flanders Road, Budd Lake, Mt. Olive Township, Morris County, New Jersey
267 acres

No animals allowed on recreation area

Location:

On Flanders Road next to the Chester Stephens School.

Directions:

US 80 west to Exit 27 for Route 206 south; drive 1.7 miles and turn right onto Drakesdale Road (with a sign Budd Lake); set odometer to 0.0; bear left onto Flanders-Netcong Road and then turn quickly right onto Flanders Road; at 1.2 miles there is on the lleft side of the road a pull-off for the woodsy area associated with Turkey Brook Park. At 1.8 on the odometer, turn left into the park.

History:

The house on the right as you enter the park is the old Seward Mansion.

1789 (July 30)  --  Samuel and Rebecca Wills purchased the property from Joshua Newbold.

1798  -- their daughter Anna inherited the property.

1799  -- daughter Anna married Abraham Cooper from Chester.

1825  -- Anna and Abraham passed the property on to their children, Nathan and Beulah.

1825  --  Beulah married Henry Seward, a cousin of William H. Seward, Lincoln’s Secretary of State.

1857   --  Beulah and Henry acquired ownership of the property.

c. 1858  --   the mansion built. The mansion had 9 large rooms, a grand staircase at its center, chandeliers, ornate mantels and a wrap-around porch. Architecturally, it is an example of 18^th century stone construction in a mid-Victorian style.  Rosewood farm was known for its prize winning livestock.

1920s  --  the property served as an airstrip.

1939 (November 30)  --  the 270 acre property remained in the Seward family until this time.

1939  --  the Maier brothers purchased the property and created the lake bearing their name and used the property as a vegetable farm.

1970  -- the property was sold to developers, but the land was never further developed

1996  --  Mt. Olive Township purchased the property.

The property is a Designated Landmark.

Facilities:

Stone houses on the right and left associated with the Seward family.

soccer fields, a children’s playground, 2 baseball fields, and a big field. Passive recreation for hiking and fishing.

4/13/2005.  Ceferino Santana, dog Sonar and I found the first pull-off for the woodsy area just before the start of the road guard rail at 1.2 miles.  We kept on going and found Turkey Brook Park which is a highly recreational park.  We then went back to the pull-off place.  We found a white-blazed trail; followed it but it soon petered out in a very wet area.  We went back to the car and changed from tennis shoes to boots.  We pushed through the wetland for a short ways and then chose to head for upland ground where it is drier.  Once there, we found an old path (un-blazed).  We followed it to an electrical powercut.  The powercut goes a long way in both directions (east and west). 

Walking along the power cut we saw a trail with double yellow cross-hatch marks.  We followed this trail that went on the opposite side of the power cut and then into the woods.  The yellow trail headed parallel with the powercut.  We came across a cross road.  Going left is the red trail (double hash marks), while going right is the blue trail (double hash marks).  Continuing onward, the yellow trail marks disappeared but we kept going straight.  Came to another cross road and turned left away from the houses.  Got a hint that this might be the red trail because we saw one lone red trail marker.  In a short walk we came to a lake.  Saw some more red markers along the lake shore walk. 

Turned around and went back the way we came into the area.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney

* = plant found in bloom on date of field trip, 4/13/2005

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple) *
Ailanthus altissima (tree-of-heaven)
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Carya sp. (hickory)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)

Shrubs:
Alnus serrulata (smooth alder)
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Chimaphila maculata. (striped wintergreen)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush) *
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Vaccinium sp. (hillside or low bush blueberry)

Vines:
Smilax sp. (greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Apocynum cannabinum (Indian hemp)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)
Erythronium americanum (trout lily)
Geum canadense (white avens)
Gnaphalium obtusifolium (sweet everlasting)
Leonurus cardiaca (motherwort)
Myosotis sp. (forget-me-not)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Potentilla sp. (cinquefoil)
Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum (water cress)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Typha latifolia (broad-leaved cattail)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered sedge type)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)

Grasses:
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem grass)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Lycopodium obscurum (ground pine)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)