Greenway Meadows, which surrounds D&R Greenway Land Trust’s home in Princeton, is a wonderful place to explore and play. In 2001, D&R Greenway Land Trust led the preservation of the 60-acre Robert Wood Johnson estate. When completed, 55 acres were deeded to Princeton, creating Greenway Meadows park.
The remaining acres surround a circa-1900 barn that D&R Greenway retained and renovated. In 2006, the Johnson Education Center opened to provide a home for D&R Greenway and a focal point for land preservation and stewardship activities throughout New Jersey. Here, state, county, and municipal officials, non-profit organizations, individuals and landowners partner to formulate landscape-scale preservation projects to benefit communities throughout New Jersey.
Princeton owns and manages Greenway Meadows park. Walking paths, playgrounds, picnic areas, playing fields and public restrooms mingle with the rolling, natural landscape. D&R Greenway has installed native meadows, the Edward T. Cone Grove, the Hartman Garden Path, the Carroll K. and Frederick P. King, Jr. Terrace, the Ellsworth Terrace, and Meredith’s Garden for Inspiration – filled with native plants and nature-inspired sculptures – integrating the public park with the Johnson Education Center.
In autumn 2010, the Scott and Hella McVay Poetry Trail was dedicated in Greenway Meadows park. The mile-long Trail begins at an allée of century-old hybrid sycamore trees, moves up the hill past newly planted American chestnuts and loops a meandering mile down through a meadow. Forty-nine poems feature the work of poets from fourteen countries and cultures. The common thread is the poet’s close read of some aspect of the natural world. The Scott and Hella McVay Poetry Trail speaks to the symbiotic relationship between art and nature. The trail is easily accessed from the lower parking lot at Greenway Meadows. Walk up the path, past the playground and soccer fields. Look for an allee of large Hybrid Sycamore Trees to start exploring the Poetry Trail.
