We have already posted on our website some photos of a family of swans which we found living almost next to our
hotel in Andover, Massachusetts.
Male swan with ruffled feathers
Quite a few hotels designed for traveling businesspeople have learned that a
location deep within a business park can be quite an attraction. The inconvenience to a traveler arriving by
plane of needing a taxi or rental car to reach her hotel is more than offset by the peace and quiet of a neighborhood
which empties in late afternoon; often, it's possible to walk to
Entrance to the Marsh land walk
work because the client company is in the same park.
In Andover, several large, glass-fronted, corporate buildings are scatted in Minute Man Park. We had the benefit of a
walking path which led not only to the swan family but, in the opposite direction, into a wooded lane where we could
hear frogs and birds, and enjoy a variety of wildflowers.
We felt very fortunate to have this natural setting. We're pleased to have found another such preserve, in a much
more urban milieu.
Secaucus, New Jersey, was polluted a hundred years ago. Considered unsuitable for building, the swampland was
used for garbage dumps, which in turn supported large populations of rats and also pig farms. The pig farmers were
happy to have the boys from neighboring communities practice their marksmanship shooting the rats with their .22s.
By fifty years ago, industrial chemical companies added to the stench and pollution.
But the Jersey swamps around Secaucus were too close to New York City to ignore.
The city seems distant here
The land was valuable. When traffic was light, it was ten or fifteen minutes to midtown Manhattan via the Lincoln
Tunnel. At the same time, the wetlands were being recognized as an important habitat for migrating waterfowl. With
its small, relatively crime-free community, Secaucus was a convenient location for air crews overnighting at Newark Airport.
Large acreage was available to tempt real estate developers.
In the blocks near our hotel we have found the Expo Center, apartment buildings, office parks, sports complexes,
restaurants, more hotels, and shopping malls. The stench is only a memory now. The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission
insured that environmental uses were not forgotten as Secaucus boomed. At the end of one of the shopping malls is the
Mill Creek Marsh.
We walked on the marsh trail one morning after breakfast, leaving from a supermarket parking lot and making our
way to the edge of several large ponds which are dotted with bird feeders and
Wild lilies
bird houses. We enjoyed views of trees and flowers set off by the Manhattan skyline in the distance. Winter
is the big birding season, but we spotted herons and wading birds and numerous song birds. There's still a lot of trash that ought
to be removed from the water and its surrounding banks. No doubt there's some conflict between the need to clean
the area up and the desire to leave the marsh unmolested in consideration of the wildlife. The trail was attractive,
the vegetation lush (there's been a lot of rain, in case you didn't know), the flowers colorful, and the feeling of
being in a natural setting was not diminished by the propinquity of turnpikes, airports, and business centers.