Warwick Valley Nature and Environment
Warwick, NY


Parks and Trails Geology--General Info. Rocks and Minerals



Parks and Trails

The Warwick Valley is home to numerous parks and hiking trails.

For information about the newly created Sterling Forest State Park, contact the park office (click on "Palisades" region and scroll down to Sterling Forest) .

Trails through the area include The Highlands Trail and The Appalachian Trail. The Appalachian Trail runs along the ridge of Bellvale Mountain, crossing into the Town of Warwick just north of the point where it intersects Lakes Rd., near Trout Brook. It continues along the ridge, intersecting Rt. 17A to the north of Mt. Peter. It crosses into New Jersey and intersects Warwick Turnpike just north of the entrance to Waywayanda State Park.

The Mt. Peter Hawk Watch is on Kane Rd. near the intersection of Rt. 17A. Situated along a major skyway for migrating hawks and maintained by the Highlands Chapter of the National Audubon Society, it draws many visitors, especially during the fall migration. A panoramic view of the valley is available, any time of the year.

The Village of Warwick includes several parks:

  • Stanley Deming Park (Off South St.) has play equipment, baseball, basketball, creek,
    bandstand, picnic areas.
  • Memorial Park (Off Forester Ave.) hosts several Little League fields, picnic area, and stream.
  • Railroad Green (Main St. at intersection of Railroad Ave.) has benches and gardens.
  • Lewis Park (Main St. at Church & South Sts.) has benches and historic structures.
  • Lewis Woodlands (End of Robin Brae, off Maple Avenue)

The Town of Warwick also maintains parks in the Warwick Valley area:

  • Warwick Town Park (Union Corners Rd.) is a large park with play equipment and picinic area.
  • Airport Rd. Park (Airport Rd. off Kings Highway) has baseball diamond, basketball court
    & play equipment.
  • Cascade Lake Park (off Cascade Rd.) is the newest town park, offering trails and outdoor recreation facilities that are currently being developed.

Orange County's park system includes Warwick County Park or Hickory Hill,(Rt. 17A) which has hiking trails, golf course, picnic area and ballfield.

 Geology

General Information

Warwick is located in the area described by geologists as the Hudson Highlands, part of the formation known as the Reading Prong. Most of the rock outcrops in the area are Pre-Cambrian, mainly composed of gneisses and other igneous rocks such as granite. This rock was formed early in the earth's history, then metamorphosed twice by heat and pressure (folding and faulting). This type of rock is the oldest in the area, having been formed between 11 and 9 million years ago. It was formed deep undergound and cooled. Erosion or other disturbances exposed it, and after further heat and pressure, the granite became gneiss. Gneiss contains the same minerals as granite, but now layered in bands. Both types of rock are excellent hosts for the uranium which prompted controversy in the late 1970's when oil companies began taking an interest in exploratory drilling in our town. Based upon studies and reports presented by the town Conservation Board, the exploration for uranium ("fissionable material") is was permanently banned by the Town Board on Dec. 10, 1980. (Code of the Town of Warwick Chapter 85) (Geologic information courtesy of Pat McConnell)

An in depth, technical description of the area can be found in Charles Mergerian's Trip 36: The Geology of Bellvale Mountain and Vicinity.
black dirt region Black Dirt
One of the principal treasures of the Warwick Valley is the Black Dirt area. Once a huge wetlands, the rich soil resulting has created an agricultural resource which is one of the enduring attractions of the area. Agricultural Records of this area have been carefully noted and cataloged.

The Franklin Marble formation in the vicinity of Edenville and Amity is another geologic treasure of the area. It is an underground formation that extends from the northern tip of Mt. Eve through the Amity area and down to Franklin, NJ. It includes the pre-Cambrian granitic knobs of Mt. Eve, Mt. Adam, and Pochuck Mountain. It contains an unusually high number of minerals including rare ones such as spinel, warwickite, edenite, and clintonite. It has been celebrated by geologists since the publishing of the 1842 Mineralogy of New York.

The Amity area of Warwick has the distinction of being the "type locality", or place of first discovery and naming, of several minerals.Warwickite, Clintonite, and Edenite occur here and were first studied and named in the 1800's. They are all rare minerals, being confined to a very few sites worldwide. As a result of reports and studies presented by the Town Conservation Board, the site of their occurence was made a protected preserve by the Town Board on April 30, 1986. The exact location of this preserve is generally not published in an effort to protect these valuable and rare resources.

Warwickite is dark brown or black mineral, occurring in prismatic crystals imbedded in limestone near Warwick. It was first described and named by Shepard in 1838-39.

Clintonite is a tri-octahedral brittle mica, first discovered in 1828 by Finch, Mather and Horton.

Edenite is named for Edenville, first written about by Shepard in 1832, and occurs as glassy brown crystals of amphibole.

More technical information about these minerals is available:

Kearns, Lance E. "The Amity Area, Orange County, New York." The Mineralogical Record. April, 1978. p. 85-90. (copy on file in the local history section of Wisner Library.)

 Iron
 Area iron mines played a large part in the economy of the area, particularly during the late colonial period. The links which formed the great chain across the Hudson during the Revolutionary war, preventing British ships from passing, were mined and forged by the Sterling Works.

An excellent source of information about the historical iron mines of the region is Ed Lenik's Iron Mine Trails: A history and hiker's guide to the historic iron mines of the New Jersey and New York Highlands.



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