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Constitution Marsh Audubon Center & Sanctuary is located at 127 Warren Landing Road, Garrison NY 10524, Putnam County in the Hudson Valley. Constitution Marsh is located approximately 55 miles north of New York City. It is on the east side of the Hudson River, two miles south of the village of Cold Spring.
Constitution Marsh Trail, moderate hike, 2 miles. This out and back hike in the Constitution Marsh Audubon Center and Sanctuary has a short difficult section leading to a boardwalk into the marsh. For information about the hiking trail and more about Constitution Marsh, call the Center at 845-265-2601.
The sign reads:
Constitution Marsh
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No habitat nurture more life than a tidal marsh. Marsh plants feed animals such as Muskrats and Snapping Turtles. Decomposed plants provide food for countless shrimp, crabs, and even tinier animals which in turn support many species of fish. Young fish feed in the rich marsh "nursery" and then ventue down the Hudson to the sea.
"Constitution Marsh teems with life at all times of the year and changes with each season. The summer begins with the annual ritual in June of female Snapping Turtles climbing the hill to lay their eggs on Boscobel's grounds. From June through September, the marsh below is green with cattails, Wild Rice, Pickerelweed, and Arrowhead. Marsh Wrens, Red-winged Blackbirds, Least Bitterns, Yellow Warblers, and colorful Wood Ducks nest in the marsh. White-tailed Deer visit the wetlands to escape from biting insects.
"The cattails turn from green to reddish brown in the fall, and migratory birds stop on their way south for the winter. Osprey, Marsh Hawks, Swallows, Black Ducks, Mallards, and Green winged Teal rest and feed amoung the cattails and bulrushed before continuing on the migrations. In winter, plans die back in preparation for a new round of growth, and the marsh turns a brownish straw color. Bald Eagles are often spotted at this time of year surveying the marsh from their perches in the trees at Constituion Island. Finally, with the coming of Spring, the cycle begins anew. Migrants reappers, plants sprout new leaves, and the marsh again teems with life.
"Contstitution Marsh was purchased in 1969 by Lila Wallace and Laurance Rockefeller. Now a part of Hudson Highlands State Park, it has been managed the the National Audubon Society since 1970.
"Constitution Island was part of an original land grant made by the British crown to the Philipse family and remained in its possession until Henry Warner, a New York City lawyer, purchased the property and the adjacent marsh in 1836. His unsuccessful attempt to convert the marsh to a wild rice farm left the numerous tidal chaneels visible today. Warner's daughters Susan and Anna lived in the family home on Constitution Island until Anna died in 1915 at the age of eighty-seven. Due to financial losses suffered by their father in the 1840's, they both started writing to help support the family and became knows as the 'Bronte sisters of America.' Together, the sisters had over one hundred books published. Susan's first novel The Wide, Wide World (1850) sold more than a million copies in numerous editions. Anna Warner wrote the well know religious hymn Jesus Loves Me, which was published in 1860.
"Philanthropist Margaret Slocum [Mrs. Russell] Sage purchased the Island in 1908, and she and Anna Warner presented it to the United States governement as a joint gift with the stipulation that it be an addition to West Point. In 1917, West Point cadets created the Martlaer's Rock Association (now the Constitution Island Association), a not-for-profit organization which maintains the property for the enjoyment of the public."
Location: Garrison
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Constitution Marsh Audubon Center & Sanctuary is located at 127 Warren Landing Road, Garrison NY 10524, Putnam County in the Hudson Valley. Constitution Marsh is located approximately 55 miles north of New York City. It is on the east side of the Hudson River, two miles south of the village of Cold Spring.
Constitution Marsh
