Existing comment:
Conservation Parks
Preserving our Natural and Cultural Heritage:
Dickerson Conservation Park includes and protects a variety of exceptional natural resources. Natural features include a mature floodplain forest along the Potomac River. This setting provides habitat for a variety of wildlife and plant species including the largest tree currently found in the State of Maryland, an American Sycamore.
Given its close proximity to Virginia, this land was inhabited by families, including that of Benjamin and Mary (Trundle) Shreve, who had ties to the South during the Civil War. Two of their sons, Daniel and Thomas, enlisted in Confederate cavalry units. This property was part of Cedar Grove, a 389-acre plantation owned by the Shreves where over 22 slaves labored in fields of wheat, rye, hops, corn, potatoes, and hay in 1860. Descendants of the Shreves retained ownership of the old homestead until 1944, when it was acquired by Edwin and Rita Cherrington. All that stands today from the Shreve estate is a large brick and fieldstone chimney that once heated a log house.
This 304-acre property, also identified as the Cherrington Cooperative Wildlife Management Area, became a conservation park in the late 1980s.
Montgomery County Conservation Parks:
Conservation Parks are large parks that are acquired to preserve specific natural, archaeological or historical features. These parks may include outstanding examples of natural communities, populations of rare, threatened or endangered plant or animal species, or unique archaeological and historical resources. Development is very limited in conservation parks to protect these sensitive resources. Activity is generally restricted to recreational opportunities like hiking, fishing, information picnicking and nature study. As of 2012, there were ten Conservation Parks in Montgomery County that protect more than 4,300 acres. |