Edward S. Thompson State Nature Preserve
@ Sharon Woods Metro Park
1069 W Main St. Westerville
This Nature Preserve has nice wide paths and a variety of environments. We loved the surprise creek last summer. And the pond at Sharon Woods is close to the trail, great for watching ducks and fishing. We also enjoyed reading the signs about the areas as we hiked.
This nature preserve, named in honor of Edward S. Thomas, the renowned Ohio naturalist, lies within the boundaries of Sharon Woods Metropark in northern Franklin County. The paved path in the metropark is a multi-use trail for bicyclists and pedestrians and provides excellent opportunities to view the preserve.
The northern segment of this preserve lies essentially within the Spring Hollow Outdoor Education Center lands. The ravine bottom supports sycamore, butternut, black walnut, Ohio buckeye, pawpaw and red elm. The ravine and upland have excellent populations of forest herbaceous plants. A small spring-fed swamp in the bottomland supports skunk cabbage, marsh marigold and turtlehead.
In the remainder of the preserve, the mesic areas support an oak-hickory association with scattered beech, while wetter areas support excellent recovering elm-ash swamp forest associations – red elm, white, green and blue ash with silver maple. The mesic woods contains eight species of oaks, some more than 250 years old.
Source- ODNR website
