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Thursday, August 6, 1998 On the discovery trail
Pack a picnic lunch and head to Union County's Watchung Reservation for a day of learning and hiking. My 4-year-old son, 1-year-old daughter, and I spent a beautiful afternoon at the Trailside Nature & Science Center on the 2,000-acre site in Mountainside, learning about New Jersey's Lenape Indians, how to identify venomous snakes, and how to follow a marked trail through canopied woods, escaping the intense heat of a summer day. We learned that the striking purple phlox in our back yard were ideal for luring butterflies, a tip we picked up at the Butterfly Garden. And we discovered that even the most industrious creatures slow down a bit in the peak of summer, as naturalists must add sugar water to the man-made beehive in the center's museum when honey production tapers off. Trailside offers loads of activities for families, including scavenger hunts in the woods, lessons on canoeing basics on the Rahway River, and the opportunity to observe summer constellations in a planetarium. These extra events are featured on Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday, and enhance a trip to the facility's museum, visitor center, trails, and a deserted village, a once-thriving mill town undergoing restoration. Start your trip at the visitor center across from the main parking lot, where you'll find maps of the area. Head downstairs for a view of snakes and turtles native to New Jersey. Two venomous snakes -- the copperhead and timber rattlesnake, both on the state's endangered species list -- are safely behind glass panels. How to tell a poisonous snake from those that aren't? Poisonous snakes have triangular-shaped heads to hold the venom sacs, while non-poisonous species commonly have oval-shaped heads, assistant director Patricia Bertsch told us. Poisonous snakes also have more cat-like eyes, Bertsch said. "It's probably the most common question we get when people look at the snakes." My son loved watching painted turtles Picasso and Van Gogh nuzzle, if you can call it that. One of the beautifully striped creatures had its head resting on the other's neck. In one of Trailside's Wednesday matinees, naturalist Ruth Yablonsky offered a glimpse of Lenape life through a slide show, artifacts, tales, and music. For children exposed to Native American culture primarily through such productions as Disney's "Pocahontas," Yablonsky dispelled a few myths. First, she said, the Lenapes were not warriors. Yablonsky quoted from explorer Giovanni da Verrazano's account of his discovery of the Lenapes, who he said were "taller than we are ... and their manner is sweet and gentle." After the program, we ventured to the museum, where the chrysalis of a monarch butterfly intrigued my son. A man-made beehive also caught my son's attention. It's flat with doors that open on both sides. When he opened one side, he jumped back, afraid the bees would swarm. But a closer look revealed a glass-enclosed honey-making hub he could safely observe. Several species native to New Jersey -- black bears and a variety of owls, woodpeckers, and other birds -- are preserved in cases with painted woodland scenes. The museum and visitor center are stroller-friendly and air conditioned. When my son and daughter grew antsy inside, we headed to the trails. We chose the green trail -- a two-tenths-of-a-mile stroll through a "forest," as my son called it. "Don't worry," he said to his sister and I as we descended the gravel and wood steps. "I'll protect you." He loved searching for the green squares -- trail markers painted on the trees -- that lead us through the woods. The trail offers the option of another half-mile walk, which we started but had to abandon once my explorer reported some fatigue. I regretted not having my daughter in the backpack -- strollers aren't advisable on this part of the journey. Once you're out of the woods, head to the Butterfly Garden where milkweed, phlox, and other plants attract a variety of winged beauties. For the more ambitious or energetic, there's an 11-mile path -- the white trail -- that rings the facility. Once back at the hub of Trailside, you can head to the deserted village. On foot with a 4-year-old, it's a 45-minute walk. You can also drive. Settled in the 18th century, the land was owned by the Wilcocks family, who ran a grist and lumber mill there. A small cemetery plot with four gravestones dating to the 1700s is the only evidence of the earliest settlers. In the mid-1800s David Felt rebuilt the mills and created a thriving village, Feltsville, which made paper products for his New York stationery business. The site later became a small resort known as Glenside Park. * * * Trailside Nature & Science Center, 452 New Providence Road, Mountainside 07092; (908) 789-3670. Visitor center and museum are open 1 to 5 p.m. daily. Directions: From Route 22, take Mountainside-New Providence Road exit. Proceed uphill on main road. Turn right on Tracy Drive. At traffic circle, take third right and proceed a half-mile to Trailside. Copyright © 1998 Bergen Record Corp. |
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