Heritage Preserve features a unique trail experience that takes a visitor through several stages of forest succession—meadow, forested wetlands of red maples, mature forest, and a dense stand of sweet gum. The mature forest boasts a display of spring woodland wildflowers including spring beauty, Canada mayflower, and trout lily.
This trail is a long narrow loop that begins by going through a former farm field. It continues through young red maple forest and then a mature beech bottomland forest. This preserve has outstanding spring wildflowers. There are a number of vernal pools, small streams and old farm drainage swales. As the trail meanders through the forest, there may be some wet spots in spring and after rain.
The land of the Heritage Preserve was farmed for many, perhaps hundreds of years. The 1930 aerial photographs show that a little over a third of the land was forested. As you walk the trail you can easily identify the old forest by the large mature trees. About half of the rest of the property in 1930 was fields for crops and the remainder was pasture. Aside from two hayfields, farming ended in the late 1970s.
At that time the former fields and pastures began to succeed, first to shrub land and then to forest. Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space purchased the preserve from the Heritage Conservancy in 2008 with State Green Acres funds.
Click here to read the stewardship plan for detailed ecological information.
Click The Heritage Preserve has a grassy parking with room for 5-6 cars. For directions to the parking area, click here. You can use 1500 Reed Road, Pennington, NJ for GPS directions or the coordinates 40.2928, -74.7973.