Research on COVENTRY POND TRAIL & the surrounding area

updated 051130

In May 05 I was doing trail work with the AMC Mohican Outdoor Center trail crew on the Coventry Pond Trail near Millbrook village. I wanted to know more about this trail so I consulted my NYNJTC map and found out that the trail was not shown. I asked the crew chief and he said that this must just be an over site by the NYNJTC. The trail & ponds are shown on the NPS map identified as “DWG_section3_B.jpg, 5/20/02” and @ http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=2&S=12&Z=18&X=630&Y=5684&W=2&qs=%7cmillbrook%7cnj%7c

and is briefly mentioned in the 1994 “Delaware Water Gap Nation Recreation Area Hiking Guide”;051130

As best as I can figure the area that the Coventry Pond Trail accesses was a farming area when Millbrook village (the real one and not the re-creation) was economically successful, 1840-1880.  Around 1890 this area was very impoverished.  This is when Worthington accumulated the land comprising what is now Worthington State Forest (he called it Buckwood Park– about 6,000 acres) in the southern end of what was Pahaquarry(a) Township (merged into Hardwick township in 1997) and another group of individuals formed the Coventry Hunt Club (circa 1900-1960) in the northern end of the township. “L.L. Rue was chief gamekeeper for the Coventry Hunt Club for 21 years. Totaling 6,800 acres, it was the largest private hunt club in New Jersey”; source Leonard Lee Rue III, American Hunter January 1994 – Rue is a noted nature photographer residing in Blairstown, NJ, http://www.rue.com/.  As part of the Tock’s Island project the land controlled by the hunt club became part of the DWGNRA.

I plan to lead some exploratory hikes on this trail in the future. If anyone wants to explore on their own the trailhead is on Millbrook road past the Garis Grist Mill (closed 1900) across Vancampen’s brook from the Millbrook visitor center (DWGNRA map - http://data2.itc.nps.gov/parks/dewa/ppMaps/DEWAmap1%2Epdf ). The trail begins at a gated woods road with a sign just beyond the gate announcing the trail. This sign is the only way you will know that you are on the trail since it is not blazed.

The trail is a woods road that follows Vancampen’s Brook upstream for a little while. It turns off going east up the mountain a little past the stream that has a log bridge over it (this streams source is from Coventry Pond). At about .9 miles the woods road ends; off to the left are the ponds. Directly up hill and beyond the first pond is the second smaller pond. You have to walk the dam crossing at the overflow outlet to see the smaller pond hidden behind the bulrushes. The source of these ponds is a stream that enters the upper pond and has an overflow into the main pond; 051130. I have posted photos at “http://photos.yahoo.com/petebeck_00” in the album called Coventry Pond Trail.

I would greatly appreciate it if any of the readers have knowledge of this area or literature that they contact me so that I can learn more about this area.

Note: This article is hosted on the web at www.geocities.com/petebeck_00/coventry_trail