Wickecheoke Reserve and Wickecheoke Greenway
Rosemont-Ringoes Road (Route 604), Kingwood/Delaware Townships, Hunterdon County, NJ

Directions:

From Green Sergeant Covered Bridge (a one way bridge for cars heading west) on Route 604 there are two pieces of land that are part of the Wickecheoke Greenway.  One is the territory northeast of the bridge (parking available at a pull-off on Pine Hill Road a little north of Route 604).  The other property is the section southwest of the bridge along Rosemont-Ringoes Road (Route 604).

Geology:

The creek starts on the Croton Plateau in Kingwood Township; descends through Delaware Township; and joins  the Delaware and Raritan Canal and Delaware River at historic Prallsville Mills at Stockton. The creek goes past the Locktown Church and Green Sergeants Bridge (New Jersey's last remaining covered bridge).

In the cliffs one can see the layers of rock, reddish brown Brunswick shale that crumbles easily layered with the hard red shale: Brunswick shale, red shale, Brunswick shale, red shale.

History:

Wickeckeoke means Wikwam, "house" and mechoak, "old or great tree."

1872 --  Green Sergeant Bridge (the last remaining covered bridge in New Jersey) built.

1998  --  the New Jersey Conservation Foundation purchased 11 acres on Wickecheoke Creek in Delaware Township for $135,000 from Edmund and Elsbeth Soine of Clark. The historic Green Sergeants Covered Bridge is just north of the 11 acres.
(Source: Jean Mansur, ACREAGE ADDED TO WICKECHEOKE CREEK GREENWAY, Star-Ledger, 980215; in Garden State Environet; http://www.gsenet.org/library/11gsn/1998/gs80215-.php)

Donald B. Jones led the way to preserving the land for the greenway.  Under the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, over 500 acres are now preserved along the Wickecheoke Creek.  The final project is a partnership among the Delaware River Mill Society, the Friends of the Locktown Church, the New Jersey Green Acres and Farmland Preservation programs.

2002  --  a 20-acre property addition along the Wickecheoke Creek in Delaware Township was purchased by the New Jersey Conservation Foundation.  The property, which used to be a swimming hole and popular place for picnics, was owned by Larry and Rosa Johnson, and is adjacent to the Green Sergeant Bridge. Larry Johnson is a descendant of Green Sergeant, after whom the covered bridge and the community of Sergeantsville are named. The land had been in the family for eight generations.

Habitats:

floodplain; forest restoration project; steep forested slopes.

Trail:

Dedicated to Donald B. Jones, a Memorial Footpath, fashioned after centuries-old public walkways in Great Britain, extends almost 6 miles, from the Prallsville Mills complex to the Locktown Church.

5/08/04. Brief visit.  Beautiful and interesting red shale cliffs by the creek.  The setting gives one a real country feeling  We saw a red fox carefully crossing the stream. 

03/25/2005.  In the afternoon, I dropped the family off in New Hope, PA where they could do some shopping while I went in search of the Wickecheoke Greenway starting from Prallsville Mills.  I parked in the Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park parking area next to Prallsville Mills.  I walked around the area but could not find any footpath constituting part of any Wickecheoke Greenway.  I started to walk over the bridge crossing Wickecheoke Creek but it was just too dangerous as the traffic was heavy and there was no pedestrian walkway on the bridge. 

But I didn't give up.  I decided to drive my car over the bridge and then take Lower Creek Road (off  Route 519) that parallels the Creek   In a short distance I saw a small group of red diamond trail markers on the right near the road.  Encouraged, I decided to see if I could find more such markers.  I found many more as I drove along the road.  There were also a lot of signs indicating the land is part of the Wickecheoke Reserve and is owned by the New Jersey Conservation Foundation.  In many areas the NJCF signs alternated with No Trespassing - Private Property signs, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much land was public as opposed to private.  I decided I would have to come back to the area and actually start walking the path.  From Lower Creek Road and Green Sergeant Road, I traveled north up Pine Hill Road; turned left and traveled Old Mill Road to a left turn onto Upper Creek Road. that brought me back to Green Sergeant Bridge and Lower Creek Road.  (I had wanted to drive on to Locktown, but just did not have the time.  Oh well, another day.)  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

Info from:

Michele S. Byers, executive director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, http://www.njconservation.org/html/state/112200.html.

Garden State EnviroNews 021126 (www.gsenet.org); LAND DEAL SEEN AS BOON FOR ECOLOGY
From: http://www.injersey.com/By Chris Donahue, Courier News, November 24, 2002

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = date plants found in bloom, 5/08/04; very brief visit

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Carya sp. (hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood) *
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Ilex opaca (American holly)
Juglans nigra (black walnut)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Prunus avium (sweet cherry)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Tilia americana (American basswood)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle) *
Philadelphus sp. (mock orange)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Staphylea trifolia (bladdernut)
Taxus sp. (yew)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)
Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum) *
Vinca minor (periwinkle) *

Vines:
Hedera helix (English ivy)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Smilax herbacea (carrion flower)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (fox grape)
Wisteria sp. (wisteria)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) *
Allium canadense? (Canada onion)
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Aquilegia canadensis (columbine) *
Arctium sp. (burdock)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Barbarea vulgaris (common wintercress) *
Capsella bursa-pastoris (shepherd's purse) *
Cardamine concatenata (cut leaved toothwort)
Chelidonium majus (celandine) *
Circaea lutetiana (enchanter's nightshade)
Claytonia virginica (spring beauty) *
Erigeron annuus (daisy fleabane) * soon
Erythronium americanum (trout lily)
Galium aparine (cleavers)
Geranium maculatum (wild geranium) *
Hemerocallis fulva (tawny day lily)
Hesperis matronalis (dame's rocket) *
Heuchera americana (alum root) *
Hydrophyllum virginianum (Virginia waterleaf)
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)
Lysimachia ciliata (fringed loosestrife)
Narcissus pseudonarcissus (daffodil)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Podophyllum peltatum (mayapple)
Polygonatum biflorum (smooth true Solomon's seal) * soon
Polygonum sagittatum (arrow-leaved tearthumb)
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Ranunculus abortivus (kidney-leaved crowfoot) *
Ranunculus recurvatus (hooked crowfoot) *
Saxifraga virginiensis (early saxifrage) *
Sedum ternatum (wild stonecrop) *
Senecio jacobaea (tansyragwort)  yellow tall aster with leaves like tansy
Smilacina racemosa (false Solomon's seal)
Stellaria media (common chickweed) *
Taraxacum officinale (dandelion) *
Tiarella cordifolia (foam-flower) *
Trifolium sp. (clover)
Zizia aurea (golden alexanders) *

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

Grasses:
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Cystopteris tenuis (fragile fern)
Dryopteris marginalis (marginal woodfern)
Polypodium sp. (rock cap fern)