Location: Cold Spring Harbor, NY
Size: 32 acres
Date of hike: Oct. 11, 2025
Wawapek Preserve features a short trail through a gorgeous hardwood forest that overlooks Cold Spring Harbor’s Inner Harbor. I learned about the preserve when I profiled an East Northport teenager named Abby Taft, who recently created a milkweed garden for monarch butterflies on the property, for Newsday’s “Hometown Hero” section that runs on Sundays. Since I hadn’t heard of the preserve before, I was eager to explore it. And I'm glad I did.
Prior to hiking, I researched the history and habitats of Wawapek Preserve, which is owned and operated by the North Shore Land Alliance. Apparently, Wawapek was once part of a 600-plus acre estate owned by the de Forest family that included the Wawapek Farm and the heirs of lawyer and philanthropist Robert Weeks de Forest expressed interest in having part of the property preserved in 2006. “This was their summer retreat while the family was based in New York City, where Robert Weeks de Forest had been instrumental in the initial growth of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and president of the institution in the early 1900s,” said a sign near the preserve's entrance. The alliance was able to acquire and permanently protect the environmentally-significant property in 2015, according to its website, and today the parcel is comprised of a small meadow that includes a pollinator garden as well as the "mature hardwood forest that comprises 60% of the preserve." “This was the first time in Suffolk County that a private organization shared title with the county,” the website said.
The preserve’s entrance is on Mowbray Lane near Spring Hill Road, with a parking area that consists of a gravelly lot large enough for about a dozen cars. For hikers, there is a nearly one-mile path that is identified by a concrete marker as the Augusta Reese Donohue Trail, which was designated in 2015. “When you visit Wawapek, its trails allow you to encounter the beauty of the mature hardwood forest, which comprises most of the preserve protecting air quality and stabilizing soil through its steep ravines,” stated a sign, with another adding: “Wawapek’s winding woodland trails, breezes off the harbor, and sights and sounds of the canopy create a memorable experience for all its visitors.” The website AllTrails describes the trail as a grassy loop that provides “a short, quiet hike through both forest and an open meadow," while the Hiking Project website calls it “relaxing and perfect for the whole family.”
The hike’s highlight for me was the aforementioned trail, which offers silence and seclusion, as well as a fallen black walnut tree that will “delight children who scramble onto its trunk,” according to a sign. Other sights included remnants of greenhouses – including a nearly intact structure known as the Hitchings Greenhouse, which is “under restoration for future propagation of plants for various Land Alliance preserves,” a sign said. From what I read, these restoration efforts were initiated by a $50,000 grant from the Gerry Charitable Trust. "Standing tall within the preserve is a historic greenhouse," the alliance's website stated. "Over time the greenhouse had fallen prey to weather... The difference now is amazing."
With regard to wildlife, you'll see everything from box turtles to red foxes to screech owls, while trees include American beech, black birch and red maple. As for plant life, there is everything from trumpet honeysuckles to highbush blueberry bushes that are "laden with delectable fruit in summer,” according to the alliance’s website. Meanwhile, a pollinator garden attracts insects like bees and butterflies, while mountain laurel, spicebush and American holly help to "promote biodiversity and create wildlife habitat,” a sign stated.
In closing, I’d definitely recommend visiting the preserve if you live near Cold Spring Harbor. It’s an easy and quiet hike, which is the exact opposite of the harder and heavily-trafficked trail in the neighboring Cold Spring Harbor State Park. If the state park's hilly hike is your main course, you should make this pretty preserve your dessert. You’ll be glad you did.
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