Hutcheson Memorial Forest

The William L. Hutcheson Memorial Forest, a 500+ acre natural preserve, is located at 2150 Amwell Rd. (Route 514) about 3/4 of a mile east of East Millstone in Franklin Township, Somerset County, NJ.

History

The area that includes the 65 acre virgin old growth forest earlier known as Mettler's Woods was acquired from the local Lenape by Dutch settlers in 1701. The old forest was retained by descendants of the original settlers until the mid 1950's. Reportedly, no timber has ever been cut and the ground ever tilled within the forest. The average age of oak trees in the forest is said to be approximately 235 years. Some trees that have died recently have been found to be as old as 350 years.

In 1955, after the wood's owner, Thomas Mettler, considered selling the property, the Citizen's Scientific and Historical Committee for the Preservation of Mettler's Woods raised funds from private donors throughout New Jersey, many other states and even internationally and The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America made a major contribution to purchase it. It was turned over to the care of Rutgers University and The Nature Conservancy after being named for the union’s recent president, William L. Hutcheson. Franklin Township and the New Jersey Green Acres Program have also worked in partnership with the caretakers to help preserve and protect this locally rare and important natural resource.

The Forest was listed on the National Park Service Registry of National Natural Landmarks in 1976.

Hours

The preserve is open from dawn until dusk by appointment. Also, the public is welcome on the regularly scheduled tours given aproximatley every third Sunday at 2pm throughout the year. The tours are led by Rutgers University faculty volunteers and can run from an hour to two hours in length. Tours are free for groups of less than ten members. For more information, contact Rutgers University at 732-932-3388.

Map

*Geolinks-US-cityscale|40.500834|-74.563333

External links

* [http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/newjersey/work/art16400.html The Nature Conservancy page]
* [http://rci.rutgers.edu/~hmforest/ Rutgers University page]
* [http://www.nature.nps.gov/nnl/Registry/USA_Map/States/NewJersey/NNL/WH/index.cfm National Park Service National Natural Landmarks page]
* [http://nynjctbotany.org/njnbtofc/hutchesn.html General information with botanical lists near the end.]