Orange Heritage Rail-Trail
West Main Street, Goshen, Orange County, NY

Directions:

US 287 to US 87 north to Route 17 (the Quickway) west; get off at exit 124 (Goshen); right turn onto Route 207 (West Main Street); left turn onto Railroad Street; park at the station.

History:

1832  -- Erie Railroad chartered (originating at Piermont, NY and to end at Dunkirk on the Lake Erie).  The railroad was a broad-gauge one (6 feet between rails).

1841  -- the line completed to Goshen.

1843  -- the section to Middletown completed.

1962  --  the Erie Railroad becomes the Erie-Lackawanna R.R. after its merger with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western R.R.  The Goshen-Chester-Monroe line downgraded to local freight service.

1983  --  commuter service moved out of Goshen.

1985 --  Goshen line discontinued.

1988 -- Orange County bought the right-of-way for the Goshen line.

1990  -- Orange Pathways, Inc. formed to promote a trail on the old line.

1991  -- trail construction begun.

2000 --  federal grant of $304,000 dollars to extend the trail  3.2 miles from the Museum Village in Oxford to the Harriman Train Depot.  Eventually the Orange Heritage Trail would go from Middletown to Harriman.

Trail:

The Trail now extends from Hartley Road in the Town of Goshen to the Village of Monroe. Eventually it is expected to run from Middletown to the Village of Harriman.

Goshen (West Main Street) -- start of trail
Goshen (right onto Market Street)
Goshen (right turn and quick left through village parking lot)
Chester  -- Chester Station, recently restored by the Chester Historical Society
Greycourt  -- old interchange with the Susquehanna & Western Railroad
Oxford  -- 
Monroe  --  access road for the Museum Village.
Monroe  --  park 'n ride parking lot.

(Source: Della Penna and Sexton, 2002:chapter 15)

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney, 10/13/02
* = plants found in bloom, 10/13/02

Trees:
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Ailanthus altissima (tree-of-heaven)
Carya sp. (hickory)
Catalpa speciosa (northern catalpa)
Gleditsia triacanthos (honey locust)
Juglans nigra (black walnut)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Morus alba (white mulberry)
Pinus strobus (white pine) planted
Platanus sp. (sycamore)
Populus deltoides (cottonwood)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus bicolor (swamp white oak) ?
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Salix sp. (willow tree)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Cornus racemosa (gray dogwood)
Euonymus alatus (wild euonymus)
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Rhamnus cathartica (common buckthorn)
Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Rubus sp. (dewberry)
Salix sp. (willow)
Sambucus canadensis (common elderberry)
Spiraea alba var. latifolia (meadow sweet)
Taxus sp. (yew) planted
Viburnum dentatum (arrowwood viburnum)

Vines:
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Polygonum scandens (climbing false buckwheat)
Sicyos angulatus (one-seeded cucumber)
Solanum dulcamara (bittersweet nightshade)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Acalypha sp. (three-seeded mercury)
Achillea millefolium (yarrow)
Aethusa cynapium (fool's parsley) *
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed)
Aquilegia sp. (garden columbine)
Arctium sp. (burdock)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Aster acuminatus (harp-leaved aster) *
Aster spp. (asters) *
Centaurea jacea (brown knapweed) *
Chelidonium majus (celandine)
Chenopodium album (pigweed)
Cichorium intybus (chicory) *
Cirsium arvense (Canada thistle)
Conyza canadensis (horseweed)
Dianthus armeria (Deptford pink) *
Dipsacus sylvestris (teasel)
Erechtites hieraciifolia (pileweed)
Erigeron annuus (daisy fleabane) *
Euphorbia maculata (spotted spurge)
Euphorbia nutans (upright spurge)
Fragaria virginiana (strawberry)
Gnaphalium obtusifolium (sweet everlasting) *
Hedeoma pulegioides (pennyroyal)
Hemerocallis fulva (tawny daylily)
Hieracium sp. (hawkweed)
Leonurus cardiaca (motherwort)
Lepidium virginicum (poor man's pepper)
Linaria vulgaris (butter and eggs) *
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)
Nepeta cataria (catnip)
Oenothera biennis (common evening primrose) *
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel) *
Penstemmon sp. (beardtongue)
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed) *
Saponaria officinalis (bouncing bet) *
Silene alba (white campion) *
Smilacina racemosa (false Solomon's seal)
Solidago canadensis var. (Canada goldenrod) * waning
Solidago rugosa (rough-leaved goldenrod)
Sonchus sp. (sow thistle) *
Taraxacum officinale (dandelion)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)

Sedges:
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)

Grasses:
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Digitaria sp. (crab grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)
Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail grass)

Ferns:
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)