Sourland Mountain Nature Preserve

Back	Menu	Next
Welcome to Sourland Mountain Nature Preserve. The Park consists of 273 acres of the Sourland Mountain range and is comprised of a deciduous forest with a swamp surrounded by two streams. This area was known as Pero Hill and was valued by commercial industries for its large boulders composed of gray diabase or “trap rock,” which produced railroad ballast, concrete aggregate, and surfacing for road beds. There is speculation that some of the road beds in Trenton were constructed from blocks taken from this site. Evidence from quarrying can still be found embedded along the fissures of some boulders as a testimony to the park's past activities.The Sourland Mountains are also steeped in mysticism and history. Some say compasses do not work in these hills; others say the mountains are haunted. John Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, hid in these hills while fleeing from the British during the Revolutionary War. The Lindbergh Estate, the site of the famous baby kidnapping-murder, is an adjacent property.

Photographs by Valerie Lykes