Celebrating the Giving of Nature and People on the 50th Earthday

From this vernal pool, close by Herrontown Road, arises the stream that flows through Herrontown Woods. It is the cleanest tributary of Harry's Brook, fed by the rainwater of eastern Princeton on its journey to Carnegie Lake. Herrontown Woods is "lucky with the water." Even as we play the role of beasts of burden, hauling stepping stones up to muddy sections of trails deep in the preserve, there's a feeling of wealth as the slopes spawn rivulets that merge and nurture the life all around them.

There is an artistry and generosity too in rocks and wood, each boulder distinctively patterned with moss and lichen, and trees deepening in distinction with age.

There is artistry too in the volunteers who give so freely of their time in this timeless place. So many to thank, from our board members to Kurt who has volunteered from the beginning.

More recently, Victorino has brought his skills and vision to our evolving botanical garden next to the main parking lot. Crafting structures out of wood already onsite, he's constructing a welcoming arch,

and has completed a boardwalk

that kids follow on its whimsically meanderings towards a vernal pool inhabited this time of year by tadpoles.

Andrew has also been applying his artistry, adding trails and crafting borders and benches.

A volunteer who lives nearby, Rachelle, is using a fallen pine tree's massive rootball as a backdrop for a meditation garden.

During recent weekends, volunteers have maintained social distancing while cutting invasive shrubs and pulling the weedy garlic mustard from the grounds of Veblen House. The work feels all the more satisfying in this constrained but more peaceful time.

Herrontown Woods was born, first of the generosity of nature and then of the generosity of Oswald and Elizabeth Veblen, who brought together and then donated Princeton's and Mercer County's first nature preserve back in 1957, thirteen years before the first Earthday. Those are the wellsprings of generosity that we tap into and add to, feed and are fed by, in a very giving place perched high on the ridge.

Creative Reuse at Veblen House

Creative reuse is central to nature's vitality, and a central theme in our work at Herrontown Woods, where houses and a nature preserve, generously donated long ago for public use, had been left to languish for lack of care and attention.

As a formal lease moves towards town ratification early in 2020, we've been doing some small fixes at Veblen House and grounds, as part of our stewardship of the property. Most of the invasive species have been cut back, reopening vistas of the stonework and gardens. Some small berms and swales have nicely diverted surface runoff away from the house to feed raingardens. In preparation for last summer's Veblen Birthday BBQ, we expanded parking simply by cutting back vegetation that had long disguised the original width of the gravel driveway.

More recently, we collected lawn signs after the fall election and have used them as shingles to repair the wellhouse, which had lost its roof over the years. A few scavenged boards and the lawn signs were all that was needed to put the well house right again.

One of our board members, Peter Thompson, contributed a couple rainbarrels that are now catching runoff from gutters we added to the roof of the garage. Since there's no running water as yet at Veblen House, the collected rainwater will be handy for watering new plants during next year's growing season.

Also near the Veblen House, we've installed a leaf corral that holds leaves, but also has a critter-proof central cylinder that can hold food scraps. Once the corral is filled, the leaves will disguise the food scrap composting and provide insulation to speed decomposition. Earthworms and other decomposers rise up from the ground and into the leaves and food scraps to do their work. No turning of the contents is required.

The leaf corral, called a "Wishing (the Earth) Well" because it looks a bit like a wishing well for leaves instead of coins, made a good conversation piece at the end of our autumn nature walk.

Here's what it looks like with some snow and some leaves, which surround and disguise the inner cylinder of food scraps, brought by one of our board members who lacks a home compost bin.

Princeton Takes Ownership of Herrontown Woods

It's been a good week for Herrontown Woods. Princeton council voted on Monday, July 16, to approve acquisition of the 140 acre preserve from Mercer County, a nice article about our work appeared in the Town Topics, and early on the morning of Friday, July 13, a monarch butterfly was seen visiting the new native garden next to the parking lot. It was the first witnessed there, sipping nectar from a purple coneflower just planted this spring.

Mercer County has owned the preserve since the original gift of 82 acres by the Veblens in 1957. That unprecedented gift may well have prompted the county to form its parks commission, which at first used Herrontown Woods for educational programming, but has since focused its resources elsewhere in the county. The transfer to Princeton brings Herrontown Woods home to local ownership, where it is much more likely to be given the attention it deserves.

That first documented visit by a monarch fits well with the native garden's concept, which has evolved over the past year. Planted this spring, more than 80 native species now call the garden home, gathering solar energy that will then travel up the foodchain to insects and birds.

As if he had read the minutes from our board meetings in which we discussed how to get kids to use their cellphones to learn about nature, this boy led his mother from the parking lot to a flower graced by a butterfly, and showed her a photo he had taken of it.

The butterfly was an eastern tiger swallowtail, which lingered on this bottlebrush buckeye for more than an hour. Another premise of the garden is that pollinators like this butterfly are not currently well served by Princeton open space. Thick woods, though it serves some species well, provides few flowers in the summer, and this garden can be home to the many summer-blooming native flowers that thrive in sunny places.

Another appealing visitor was a clear-winged moth that hovers expertly like a miniature hummingbird.

That day we also witnessed a fledgling robin making perhaps its first, shaky flight, from one tree to another.

The garden, growing amidst the ruins of a white pine grove felled by storms in recent years, would not have been possible without a lot of removal of invasive brush over the winter, clearing the way for planting. It can be said that the acquisition of Herrontown Woods by the town also clears the way, for more good things to happen at Herrontown Woods.

2017 Accomplishments

Through community support and a lot of volunteer effort, 2017 was a breakthrough year for the Friends of Herrontown Woods. Some key acreage was added to the preserve, the Veblen House and Cottage were saved from demolition, and important steps were taken to restore and improve the preserve's trails and habitat. Thanks to all who have donated time, skills, and resources to make these achievements possible. 

Please consider a year-end DONATION to support our work, and may the new year bring a steady supply of positive energy and joy.

PRESERVATION

1. Convinced Princeton officials to accept a gift of land that expands Herrontown Woods by 7.2 acres. 
2. Completed proposal and cost estimate for repairing the Veblen House and Cottage.
3. Rallied community support to stop imminent demolition of the Veblen buildings, and convinced town officials to acquire the buildings along with Herrontown Woods, from the county.
4. Began meeting with town officials to work out an agreement for FOHW to begin repairs.

STEWARDSHIP

1. Introduced visitors to previously unseen areas of Herrontown Woods by rerouting the blue and red trails through drier and more interesting terrain. Trails previously unaccessible during the wet season should now be useable year-round.
2. More cutting of invasive shrubs, with new boulder-strewn vistas opening up in the preserve. 
3. Volunteers planted another pawpaw patch and some rescued hazelnut shrubs near Veblen House. 
4. Made the trail from the main parking lot up to Veblen House useable again.
5. Volunteers pulled up invasive garlic mustard on the Veblen House grounds before it could go to seed.
6. Made additional improvements to the trail map.
7. Got to know the black vulture family that resides seasonally at the Veblen farmstead.
8. Started clearing area for a botanical garden near the main parking lot.
9. Hosted a girl scout troop for a workday.

EVENTS

1. Hosted well-attended periodic nature walks, with 50 people showing up to learn about Herrontown Woods' magnetic rocks.

COMMUNITY

1. Began building list of entities interested in using Herrowtown Woods and Veblen House.
2. Maintained and expanded following on FOHW's Facebook page.

FUNDRAISING AND MEMBERSHIP

1. Received an anonymous pledge of $25,000 over three years, and a $1000 donation from the Whole Earth Center.
2. Added to our list of members.

HISTORY

1. Posted additional historical research on the Whiton-Stuart family at VeblenHouse.org.
2. Recovered some early history of Herrontown Woods a neighbor discovered a large binder with correspondence from a Herrontown Woods friends group from the 70s/80s.