As summer heats up, the forested Pawpaw Trail provides welcome shade from the sun. Tulip trees, oaks, and sycamores stand tall, but the trail would not be complete without an appearance by the tree that bears its name. Its long, thin trunk looks silver in the shade. Its oblong leaves bring to mind the tropics. And its light green fruit hangs too often just out of reach. It is the pawpaw. Often translated to mean place of the wild fruit, referring to the pawpaw, Accokeek itsel

As stewards of more than three miles of hiking trails in Piscataway Park, the Accokeek Foundation had much to celebrate on National Trails Day. But as plein air painters captured on canvas the sweeping fields and shaded forests of the site, as writers found inspiration in the plants and insects on the Pumpkin Ash Trail, I wondered: isn’t it time we pay some attention to the ground itself? So often overlooked—and overstepped—soil is a complex ecosystem filled with countless cr

This pair of Canada geese and their goslings were spotted in the pond that leads up to the Pawpaw Trail. The bright rump of a white-tailed deer, the snow white chinstrap of a Canada goose: both are common sites in Piscataway Park, present here year-round. Even when the animals themselves are elusive, the tracks of a deer’s graceful step or a goose’s awkward-on-land waddle can be found in our muddy fields. But as deer over-graze forests and landscaped lawns, as geese damage ag

The jack-in-the-pulpit, left, is just one of the spring ephemera that blooms in Piscataway Park. Right, a redbud and pawpaw tree are in bloom. After a short winter, April has brought with it an early welcome to wild signs of spring. The once dull Pawpaw Trail is now alive with soft greens and pinks, as new growth shoots forth from the forest floor and tall trees begin to leaf out. Spring ephemera are the first signs that warmer weather is here, although these signs do not las

Seemingly ancient barbed wire wrapped around an old wooden fencepost serves as a reminder of just one way that humans have interacted with the landscape of Piscataway Park. Hidden in a line of trees just off the Pawpaw Trail sits an old wooden fencepost, rotten with age but still wrapped with barbed wire. No longer in use, this lone piece of fence serves now to remind us of the pastures where farmers felled trees and put up their livestock in the decades before this landscape

The Pawpaw Trail offers wintertime views of Mount Vernon and the Potomac River. Whether it’s from the Saylor Grove fishing pier or the highest point on the Pawpaw Trail, one of the most cherished features of Piscataway Park is our view of Mount Vernon. In late winter, bare branches frame the blue Potomac River and the red and white of George Washington’s iconic home. But Mount Vernon’s view of Piscataway Park is just as important–and what led to the park’s authorization more

The Pawpaw Trail travels through a mature forest, offering a glimpse of what this land was like before European settlers arrived. On a walk in winter, there is so little to look at that the little things are allowed to impress. With no oppressing heat or overwhelming greenness to distract from the details, the colors and textures of a trail in winter—so alone in their ability to spark interest—stand out. The Pawpaw Trail, located at the western end of our grounds, travels thr