West Holly Avenue, Pitman, NJ
Phone: (856) 589-4665
www.co.gloucester.nj.us/about/historical/default.asp
Borough of Pitman
From Ceres Park Nature Preserve, turn Right onto Main Street/CR 553 South. Turn Right at the first traffic light onto Lambs Road/CR 635. After 0.7 miles, turn Left onto West Holly Avenue. Make the first Right onto Track Avenue and proceed to the parking area for Alcyon Lake Park. DIRECTIONS FROM NEAREST HIGHWAY: From Route 55, exit at 50B for Route 322 West. Turn Right at the first traffic light onto Lambs Road/CR 635. After 1 mile, turn Right onto West Holly Avenue. Make the first Right onto Track Avenue and proceed to the parking area for Alcyon Lake Park. Map
New Jersey Transit Bus Lines No. 412 Sewell/Glassboro/Philadelphia stops at North Broadway & Woodland Avenue. Walk 1 block on West Holly Avenue. Turn Left on Elm Avenue. Walk 1 block on Elm Avenue. Turn Right on West Woodland Avenue and walk 2 blocks. New Jersey Transit Bus Lines No. 313 Cape May/Wildwood/Philadelphia & New Jersey Transit Bus Lines No. 408 Millville/Philadelphia both stop at South Broadway & Pitman Avenue. Walk 3 blocks on West Holly Avenue. Turn Right on South Oak Avenue. Walk 1 block on South Oak Avenue. Turn Left on North Avenue and walk a short distance. Bear Right on North East Avenue and walk a short distance. Turn Left on 2nd Avenue and walk a short distance. Turn Right on South Broadway and walk a short distance. New Jersey Transit Bus Lines No. 408 Millville/Philadelphia also stops at South Broadway & Ballard Avenue. Walk 2 blocks on West Holly Avenue. Turn Right on Webb Avenue. Walk 1 block on Webb Avenue. Walk straight on 5th Avenue for 1 block. Bear Left on Circle Avenue and walk a short distance. Turn Left on 12th Avenue. Walk 1 block on 12th Avenue. Turn Right on South Broadway and walk 1 block on South Broadway. All walking distances are less than 1 mile.
The Park features baseball, football and soccer fields, a picnic pavilion, picnic tables, benches, a viewing platform and a boat ramp (permit info available).
| | Alcyon Lake Park is an easy-to-reach, scenic neighborhood park located among tributaries to the Chestnut Branch of Mantua Creek. Through the late 1990s, the lake and surrounding streams were contaminated by leachates from a nearby landfill, which was subsequently contained and cleaned-up through the Federal Superfund program. The lake has bounced back, and now provides a beautiful backdrop to the ball fields, playgrounds and picnic areas of the park. A half paved/half gravel trail meanders through attractive lakeside trees, an arboretum, butterfly garden and wildflower meadow, where a variety of suburban wildlife can be found.
Visit the wildflower meadow and butterfly garden in September or October, when butterflies are still abundant and migrant songbird variety is at its peak.
Great Horned Owls sometime nest in the vicinity. Listen for the low pitched hoots of the male and the higher pitched response of the female at dusk. Great Blue Heron, Mallard and Canada Goose may be present on the lake. Check the meadow in the Southeast corner of the park for Swamp, Song and White-throated Sparrows, as well as Eastern Towhee, Northern Mockingbird and mixed flocks of Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle and Brown-headed Cowbird.
Pin oak, river birch, wild cherry and various shrubs bloom by the lakeside. Common Yellowthroat, Pine Warbler, Baltimore Oriole, Scarlet Tanager and Chipping Sparrow fill the trees with song. Gray Catbird and Brown Thrasher join the Northern Mockingbird in mimicking other songbirds. Watch for green frogs, water snakes and red-bellied turtles by the water's edge.
Early morning is the best time to visit, as the park gets crowded with ball games and picnickers by afternoon. Eastern Phoebe, Kingbird and Great Crested Flycatchers hawk insects from branches over the lake. Fishing is very good for pickerel, crappie and sunfish. Carp, yellow perch, largemouth bass and catfish may be caught as well. Look for silver-spotted skipper, cabbage white, yellow sulfur, monarch, tiger swallowtail, spicebush swallowtail, red admiral and red-spotted purple in the butterfly garden and wildflower meadow. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds can be found here as well.
Songbirds stir with migratory restlessness. Eastern Bluebirds pass in loose flocks of eight or ten. Tree Swallows gather in the hundreds and sometimes thousands. Pied-billed Grebe, Ring-necked duck, Hooded Merganser and Ruddy Duck are among waterfowl stopping over on the lake. Red-tailed and Coopers Hawks, Black and Turkey Vultures, and an occasional Bald Eagle pass overhead. The trees turn dazzling colors, peaking in late October.
|