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ROCKLAND LAKE NATURE CENTER OPENS MAY 22 2005 - 23 May, 2005
By IRENE PLAGIANOS
SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL NEWS
Visiting nature
Rockland Lake Nature Center, near Lot 1 of Rockland Lake State Park in Congers, is open for the summer season.
When: from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays through Tuesdays through Labor Day. After that, by appointment.
Etc: Guided tours and programs can be scheduled.
Information: 845-268-2503 or www.rocklandlakenaturecenter.org.
(Original publication: May 23, 2005)
ROCKLAND LAKE — Undeterred by the chilly, damp weather, a steady flow of visitors appeared to enjoy the trails and newly designed exhibits at yesterday's season opening of the Rockland Lake Nature Center.
"This gives me a better appreciation for the depth and richness of the whole area," said Kate Leppla of Garnerville, after she and her husband, Jim, studied the Nature Center's four displays.
An installation highlights the history of Rockland Lake's 19th-century ice industry. This year, exhibits were added on wildlife, the preservation work of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission and the contributions of the Davies family, whose farm once included the Nature Center's land.
The Nature Center received a $2,000 grant from the state to help pay for the renovation, as well as new trail signs along the main trail and woodlands swamp trail in the 5-acre preserve, said Barbara Thomas, Trailside Museum and Zoo environmental educator.
Niles and Jan Davies, who operate the last privately owned farm in Rockland, joined family and friends to commemorate the exhibition of the Davies family's history of service to the community.
According to the two-panel display, Arthur Davies, an acclaimed painter, and his wife, Virginia, a physician, were the first to settle on the 38 acres that bordered Rockland Lake. The exhibit describes the pioneering role Virginia Davies played as a female physician, farmer and philanthropist. Davies delivered more than 6,000 babies in the county and often took care of injured men working in the ice industry at Rockland Lake.
"I'm proud of our family heritage and thankful for all the work that has gone into the Nature Center," Niles Davies said.
The Nature Center opened in 1965 and was once home to a zoo. It closed because of budget cutbacks in 1999, then reopened in 2003.
"This provides such a valuable opportunity for environmental education," Thomas said. "If people don't get a chance to learn about what's in their back yard, they have no way to appreciate it."
Thomas said she hopes to further improve the two nature trails, which now have signs that describe the various animal and plant life that exist on the land, and reopen a third.
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