Hunterdon
Flemington
Quakertown Preserve
Flemington, NJ 08822
Last Updated: 01/12/2016
Overview of Selected Trail
This 35-acre preserve in Hunterdon County’s Franklin Township encompasses cultivated fields, meadows, cedar and hardwood forest, and a significant watershed protection area, with springs that form the headwaters of Capoolong Creek. The preserve is ideal for educational programs and recreational activities such as hiking, birding, and family picnics. A network of trails meanders through fields and woods to a restored wetland. The preserve is also used for horseback riding.
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Distance:
Total of a little more than one mile of trail.
Time:
A leisurely walk for an hour, but one could do the entire loop in 35-40 minutes.
Markings:
Trails marked with red HLT markers.
Trail Usage:
Waling/Hiking, Horseback Riding, Birding
Elevation:
Terrain is quite flat, with elevation ranging from about 625 to 715 feet.
Difficulty:
Easy
Parking:
Parking is available at the preserve entrance, in a grassy lot 80 yards in from Croton Road (Route 579) just south of Quakertown.
Tips:
Amenities:
None
Directions:
From Flemington: From the Flemington Circle on Route 31, take Route 12 west for 3.3 miles. Turn right (north) on Croton Road, and go about 3.8 miles. Turn right into entrance drive.
From Frenchtown: Go east 7.2 miles on Route 12, turn left on Croton Road, and go about 3.8 miles to entrance drive on left.
The preserve sign is partially obscured by evergreen trees; a good landmark is the auto body shop directly across the street.
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A mowed path leads from the parking area east, then around the southern edge of a field and into the woods. A turn to the right offers a loop, with two possible variants around the perimeter of the property or near it. From the northern end of the loop, the trail also goes further north to a pond and restored wetland.
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The restored wetlands are home to a variety of wildlife including frogs and other amphibians, turtles, and birds. In the mixed hardwood and red cedar forest, foxes, coyotes, red-tailed hawks, rose-breasted grosbeaks, great horned owls, and eastern box turtles have been sighted, as well as frogs and other amphibians. At the end of the hay field the trail makes a loop around a pollinator meadow where milkweed is abundant, and young cherry, oak, and maple trees attract birds. During the summer months the meadow hums with the activity of butterflies, bees, and dragonflies
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The Quakertown Preserve was created, in a partnership of Franklin Township, Hunterdon Land Trust, Hunterdon County, and the NJ Green Acres Program, from two parcels of land owned by landowners Hugo and Marilyn Pfaltz and Mary Bodine. Their motivations were well described by Bodine, who said, “I was born in Franklin Township and lived there for 81 years. My husband inherited this property from his grandparents who had a farm and pastured their cows here. The locals used to call the wooded area on the property “the pines” even though the trees were cedar … I always enjoyed watching the birds and other wildlife … I didn’t want to see the land developed.”
Do you have information about this trail?
Click Here to contribute.
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