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    Ward Pound Ridge Reservation
    Ward Pound Ridge Reservation
    Ward Pound Ridge Reservation
    Ebook209 pages1 hour

    Ward Pound Ridge Reservation

    By Beth Herr and Maureen Koehl

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    About this ebook

    Ward Pound Ridge Reservation s expansive landscapes and long-abandoned cellar holes tell a unique story. Its 4,315 acres, set aside by the Westchester County Parks Commission in 1925, hold within its boundaries a legacy left by the Native Americans and 18th- and 19th-century families who farmed the rolling fields and rocky hillsides. Marks of the 20th century include the remains of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) encampment and the stone walls, trailside shelters, and roads built by these young men. Thousands of trees planted by the CCC stand tall, shading the reservation s hiking and riding trails. Sitting amidst the park s streams, cliffs, and hills is the Trailside Nature Museum, which was enhanced by the efforts of local garden club women. Indian rock shelters and a cave used by the Leather Man lend an air of mystery to the beauty and wonders of the park s protected flora and fauna. Almost a century after its quiet beginnings, the reservation still invites visitors to enjoy and learn about the wonders of nature.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateMay 20, 2013
    ISBN9781439643365
    Ward Pound Ridge Reservation
    Author

    Beth Herr

    In Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, former Trailside Nature Museum curator Beth Herr and coauthor Maureen Koehl, Town of Lewisboro historian, have combined talents to celebrate Ward Pound Ridge Reservation and the 75th anniversary of the Trailside Nature Museum.

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      Book preview

      Ward Pound Ridge Reservation - Beth Herr

      Museum.

      INTRODUCTION

      Ward Pound Ridge Reservation is an extraordinary place, a gem of a park encompassing forests, meadows, wetlands, rocky ridges, and miles of walking trails. It sits like an emerald atop the map of the New York City metropolitan area, a wilderness within reach of Manhattan. Its history is rich: Native Americans left petroglyphs and place-names; the British and the New York militia skirmished here during the Revolutionary War; the legendary and secretive Leather Man camped here in a cave from 1858 to 1888; farmers changed the landscape with fields and stone walls; the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) called it home; and, since 1925, thousands of visitors have read this history in the land.

      The creation of the park in 1925 reflected the rising tide of America’s love of nature. At the turn of the century, Americans were in the midst of a nature renaissance. The popularity of the nature writers John Burroughs and John Muir, the invention of binoculars and bicycles, the declining costs of transportation, and the decreasing wilderness frontier put nature and wildlife in high demand.

      The Westchester Parks Commission, formed in 1922, was aware of the need for nature. It recognized the consistent public demand for a large reservation in the northerly part of the County, which can be reforested, if necessary, to amplify the existing forest and which would be available for camping and other forms of recreation on a large scale. The commission submitted a proposal to the county board of supervisors for the purchase of 3,000 acres at an estimated cost of $300,000. On March 30, 1925, the board voted to fund the acquisition of land for Pound Ridge Reservation.

      So successful was the creation of the core of an impressive reservation that, following intense review by environmental experts, the commission recommended expanding the park to its natural topography along ridge summits to include the slopes of the stream valley and four small secondary basins or valleys. That brought the total appropriation to $500,000 for a total acreage of 4,171.

      One man in particular led the effort to create this remarkable park. William L. Ward, Westchester’s Republican leader, had the vision and courage to acquire the land for the people. In October 1938, four years after his death, with pomp and ceremony, the park was renamed in his honor and forever became Ward Pound Ridge Reservation.

      From its inception, the reservation was managed for wildlife and for the enjoyment of people. Trees were planted (500,000 white and red pines, hemlocks, and spruces), stone camping shelters with fireplaces were built, 30 miles of old woods roads and paths were cleared for hiking trails, springs were cleaned and walled in, and an 85-foot fire tower was constructed on the highest point in the park.

      Established as a forest preserve, the reservation initially lacked interpretive trails, brochures, or exhibits. A local conservation group, the Bedford Garden Club, took an interest in the new park. In 1931, it hired a naturalist and local bird expert, William Wheeler, to blaze a nature trail, one of the first interpretive trails in New York State. Wheeler soon became quite popular and developed a devoted following.

      Two of Wheeler’s biggest fans were garden club members Delia West Marble and Eloise Payne Luquer. They had the idea to create a small nature museum in the park and to install Wheeler as its naturalist. Their greatest ally in this scheme was Hermann W. Merkel, then general superintendent of the Westchester Parks Commission. He was a botanist and clearly understood the value of such a museum. Merkel, at the urging of the garden club, traveled to Washington, DC, to petition the Department of the Interior for funds to construct a nature museum. He was successful, returning with $3,600 for building materials.

      The museum was built by the men of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) who were stationed in the park. The design was crafted by the architects of the National Park Service, already involved in developing other CCC projects at Pound Ridge. It was one of the first nature centers to be built in America, following a similarly named museum at Bear Mountain Park. Anchored in local stone crafted by the skilled masons of the CCC, topped with a slate roof, filled with custom-made cabinets, and nestled in the stony hills, the Trailside Museum was a remarkable sight.

      After the museum was completed in 1937, Wheeler wasted no time in filling the rooms with exhibits. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling with curiosities. Wheeler’s annual report from 1938 lists items on exhibit: conservation posters, colored pictures of bird and wildflowers of the current month, colored plates of fresh water fishes, a complete fern collection from the old Agassiz Association of Bedford, bird’s nests, deer antlers, mounted fish, an original Audubon print, insects balls, local snakes and salamanders, turtle shells and their eggs, rock and minerals, birds and mammals.

      The Bedford Garden Club continued to support the museum and its programs. It paid the curator’s salary for the first three years and even kept the museum open on weekends during World War II. The club helped publish a book about the reservation’s wildlife, sponsored nature lectures, and started a wildflower garden.

      The ecology movement was catching on all over America, leading to the first Earth Day celebration in 1970. People were hungry for information about ecology and local natural history. It was a pivotal era for the museum and marked the arrival of Nick Shoumatoff. Now called He Who Stands Firm, Shoumatoff was a charismatic and magnetic naturalist, linguist, artist, and ethnographer. Weekday and weekend programs were expanded and drew record crowds. Shoumatoff procured federal funding for two research expeditions to collect information and plant lore from living descendants of Westchester County tribes. During his tenure, the museum was enlarged (1976), the Delaware Indian Resource Center was established, and archaeological digs were carried out at sites within the park.

      Today, Ward Pound Ridge Reservation is treasured and managed for biodiversity. A biological inventory continues; rare habitats and species are monitored; vernal pools are mapped; species restoration projects and radio telemetry of endangered animals guide management toward wildlife protection. The stewardship lessons learned are shared with the public through weekend programs, school field trips, summer ecology camps, and student internships.

      Given the vast

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