Twelve small QR codes went up on posts along the Sheldrake River Trails at the end of the summer. Scan one with your phone and it opens a flora and fauna guide that started as a walkbook written in 1984. According to Larchmont Loop, more than 150 people had scanned the codes on the trail by mid-October, and another 400 had visited the companion Sheldrake River Trails website.
Larchmont had a bigger outdoor project planned for this fall: rebuilding Fields A and B at Flint Park. That work has been paused since August 19 while the Village waits for guidance from the state. So the outdoor change that actually reached residents this fall came from volunteers and a high school senior. It sits in the woods and around the water behind Weaver Street, and November is a good month to use it. The leaves are down and you can see much further through the trees.
A 1984 walkbook, rebuilt for a phone
About a year ago, the Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative decided to update the old walkbook. The Collaborative is a volunteer committee that advises the Town of Mamaroneck on environmental preservation and community education. Co-chair Mark Kramer asked for a fix, and Scarsdale High School senior Raphael Sutiono suggested the QR codes.
Larchmont Loop reported that Sutiono spent several months organizing the original text, checking it against recent data and updating it. The Town and the Sheldrake Environmental Center approved the posts, he installed them on August 30, and he presented the finished guide to the Collaborative on September 1. He told the outlet that the basic idea of the walkbook still holds, but some plants and other natural features have moved over the past four decades.
That matters if you walk with an old paper copy. Some of the plants and features the 1984 version describes have moved since it was written, and the phone version was updated against recent data. Each section is split into five short parts: caution, observe, learn, context and interact. That means you can read a quick note at a post and keep walking. Sutiono explained the format to Larchmont Loop this way:
He said he wanted to show "how technology can be used for accessibility and can help people learn instead of using it as a distraction."
Larchmont's reservoir is mostly in New Rochelle
The QR posts are on the Sheldrake trails, but the larger stretch of woods next to them is the Larchmont Reservoir, formally the James G. Johnson, Jr. Conservancy. A 2020 trail write-up on Scenes From the Trail describes it as a 60-acre wildlife sanctuary and nature study area. The Village of Larchmont owns all of it, but only 12.76 acres are in the Town of Mamaroneck. The rest is in the City of New Rochelle. The Town of Mamaroneck maintains it under Village supervision, in cooperation with New Rochelle.
That split explains why two of the three parking spots for a Larchmont-owned preserve have New Rochelle addresses:
- Sheldrake Environmental Center, 685 Weaver Street, Larchmont. Park by the white building or drive a little further to the gravel lot.
- The end of the Dennis Drive cul-de-sac, New Rochelle.
- Pinebrook Tennis Center, Albert Leonard Place, New Rochelle. The 2020 write-up recommends this one because it has the largest lot.
The reservoir is really two bodies of water, separated by a dam and spillway. The upper one is Sheldrake Lake and the lower one is Goodliffe Pond. The trail write-up also points out the dams at both, boardwalks, and a stone gatehouse that now serves as a bird blind. These are fixed landmarks and haven't moved. Trail surfaces and boardwalk conditions do change, though, and that description is from 2020.
There's also a separate trailhead for the Sheldrake River Trails on Rockland Avenue. A Sheldrake event listing puts it at the stone wall along the road, near 90 Rockland Avenue.
A November loop from Pinebrook
If you want one walk that takes in both bodies of water, the 2020 write-up describes a lollipop-shaped route of about 2.5 miles that starts at Pinebrook. Here it is in order:
- Start at the Pinebrook Tennis Center lot and take the Upper Trail toward the southern dam of Sheldrake Lake.
- Follow the paths around Goodliffe Pond, where the Leddy Trail runs beside the river and the pond.
- Continue around Sheldrake Lake. Parts of this section share a route with the Colonial Greenway and the Cliff Emanuelson Trail.
- Return the same way along the stick of the lollipop to Pinebrook.
The same source describes a slightly shorter loop of about 2.35 miles. It connects Dennis Drive and Pinebrook using local streets.
Two details from Sheldrake's own pages will help you plan. The trails are open every day from dawn to dusk, and dogs are welcome on a leash. The Center also warns that the trails are unpaved, uneven and hilly in places. In November, dusk comes before the end of a normal workday, so weekend mornings and lunch breaks are the realistic times to walk. Sheldrake also has a printable trail map on its Visit page.
What's on the calendar through early December
The QR guide works whenever you walk. On top of that, Sheldrake has a full November calendar, and the Town has rescheduled a volunteer cleanup into the same month. Here are the dated events from the Center's upcoming events listing and a Town notice:
| Date | Event | Time | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tue., Nov. 3 | Fairy and Gnome Fun in the Forest | 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. | Sheldrake |
| Thu., Nov. 5 | Wild in the Woods | 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. | Sheldrake |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Town Fall Cleanup: collecting and tallying litter, cutting back invasive vines | See Town flyer | Hommocks Conservation Area |
| Wed., Nov. 11 | Veterans Day nature programs for grades K to 2 and for ages 3 to 5 | 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; 10:00 a.m. to noon | Sheldrake |
| Sat., Nov. 14 | Loving the Leaves, free | 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. | Sheldrake |
| Sun., Nov. 22 | Mindful Community Forest Connections: Day of Gratitude | 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. | Sheldrake |
The Town originally scheduled the cleanup for October and moved it to November 7 because of bad weather, according to a Town of Mamaroneck notice posted October 15.
Wild in the Woods meets on Thursday afternoons from 3:30 to 4:30, and each week has a theme. The theme is creative writing on November 12 and a nature scavenger hunt on November 19. On December 3 the session covers how animals get ready for winter, and on December 10 it's holiday crafts made from nature. The Center notes that topics may change. Several longer series also run past Thanksgiving. The weekly Little Sprouts classes run through November 19, and Forest Friends, Nature Detectives and the weekday Mindful Community Forest Connections sessions all continue into the second week of December.
The fields wait, the trails stay open
At Flint Park, the plan for Fields A and B was a reinforced natural turf system and a new stormwater collection system, and the Village had hoped to have them ready for the fall season. On August 19, crews installing a stormwater manhole uncovered material believed to be municipal solid waste in one localized area. NYSDEC came to the site the same day, and work stopped.
In its update on the project, the Village says the site is fenced and locked, the soils have been covered, and "the rest of Flint Park remains safe and enjoyable for residents and visitors alike." The Village says it will restart the project once NYSDEC's guidance is in place. Larchmont Loop reported on October 2 that the pause had lasted six weeks, with the fall sports season well underway.
While the fields project waits on the state, the trail guide is finished and ready for anyone with a phone at any of its twelve posts on the Sheldrake River Trails.
If you head to the reservoir this month and want to talk about how the woods and water behind Weaver Street fit into everyday life in Larchmont, Cindy Schwall is always glad to hear about a good walk. Let's Connect.
