Questing

Volunteer Dave Gufarotti builds a walkway on a portion of a Rose trail that tends to get a little wet.

The Quest at the Frederick  P. Rose Preserve, on Route 121 in Cross River, will introduce you to a fascinating, capsule history of how this beautiful preserve was used by its human inhabitants when it was a farm.

Questing is a sort of combination treasure hunt-education game that lets you learn about the natural and human history of a community or place while wandering about the countryside.

Anybody can participate. At the preserve, you can pick up a guide to the Quest (you can also download one here). It will lead you to 15 places worth knowing about - old farm roads and foundations, stone walls, fences, the remains of a chestnut tree killed by the blight.

At each stop there will be a box with a letter of the alphabet. Jot the letter down on your guide.

Here, for example, is the description of one of the stops on the Quest:

 "Look on the left for the tree that has a VERY large base and three smaller shoots (called "leaders") growing out of it. This is evidence of logging. When the tree is cut down and the base remains, the tree sprouts two or three new shoots. The base of this tree is probably 200 years old and was here when the land was a farm.

Four-year-old Zach Bertin, who won the "treasure hunt" drawing at the grand opening of the Rose Quest, in November 2008. He participated with his mother, Elizabeth McGoldrick, and his father, Mark Bertin.

"When you find this tree, write down the letter you see there in the box below corresponding to #11."

When you complete the Quest, the letters will spell a sentence that sums up all the information from each stop.

The whole thing shouldn't take more than an hour. It's purpose is to get you to look at elements of the landscape that you might otherwise overlook, and to see how they cohere to tell a story, in the case about the history of the land.

We developed the Rose Preserve Quest in partnership with the Lewisboro Land Trust (Westchester Land Trust's local chapter) and with Beth Herr, the conservation program administrator for the Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation.