Carolin’s Grove
Preserve Details
Amenities
Information kiosk at parking area. Two trailside benches and one circle of benches used as an outdoor classroom.
Features and size
This 5-acre preserve located on Stone Hill Road and abuts Pound Ridge Elementary School and the Town of Pound Ridge’s Lawther Preserve. The trail winds through a Norway spruce plantation that lends a cathedral-like appearance to the site. The trail system is managed jointly by the Town, Pound Ridge Elementary School, and PRLC. In 2017, PRLC cleared acres of storm-damaged and downed trees and created new seating areas and young plant enclosures. A trail wraps around the Town’s soccer fields and continues through the Pound Ridge Elementary School ball fields and playground. The path passes two outdoor classrooms for education and meetings.
Hikers should avoid crossing any school property during school hours.
History of the Preserve
In the 1930’s noted philanthropist and educator, Hiram Halle purchased this parcel, which previously had been part of the Scofield sheep pasture. As a part of a government-sponsored restoration program, Halle planted over 14,000 spruce trees in rows set three feet apart. They were never thinned. Robert Lawther eventually purchased the property from the Halle family, and in 1969 donated it to The Nature Conservancy in memory of his wife Carolin. In 2004, The Nature Conservancy transferred the preserve to PRLC.
Flora & Fauna
This formerly dense and shaded Norway spruce forest is opening up and transitioning to a mixed woodland with sunny glades. Young birch, maple and oak trees sprout among newly planted White and Pitch pines in designated forest restoration areas. Thickets of raspberry provide habitat for songbirds like the American redstart, Black-throated blue warbler, Brown thrasher, and Prairie warbler. Overhead, watch for woodpeckers, hawks, and owls, and listen for the chatter of a Red squirrel. Visitors are likely to spot a Mourning cloak butterfly here, which feeds off the sap of coniferous trees and emerges quite early in Spring. Other types of butterflies should become more numerous with the resurgence of wildflowers in this dynamic landscape.