Public to gain access to farm for recreation
WEST VINCENT » Plans to open large portions of the Bryn Coed Farms to the public are proceeding on schedule, officials with Natural lands and West Vincent Township have announced.
On Tuesday, Molly Morrison, president of Natural Lands, said in an interview that the organization would most likely have a dry run or soft opening this fall for the public preserve that spans West Vincent, East Vincent and West Vincent in the north of Chester County near Eagle.
Last week, the land conservation group transferred 72 acres of the Bryn Coed property to West
Vincent for use as a township park with passive recreation, including hiking trails that will connect with the Natural lands preserve.
“We are very pleased with the way that the project has progressed,” Morrison said in a telephone interview. “We are looking forward to having the property available and accessible to the public.”
West Vincent’s park system doubled in size with its acquisition of the 72-acres nestled in the middle of the 1,500 acre Bryn Coed property, along St. Matthews Road. Natural Lands, which purchased the property from the Dietrich family in June 2017 to protect it from development, sold the future park land to the township for $950,000, using the township’s dedicated open space fund, according to a press release.
Plans for the township’s new passive recreation park include the construction of a loop trail that will connect to the larger 10-mile trail system that Natural Lands is establishing on its adjacent 520-acre Bryn Coed nature preserve. Two trail connections between the park and the preserve are slated to open to the public in late fall 2018. The third trail connection is projected to open to the public in 2019. The township also plans to raze several long-abandoned structures constructed in the 1960s for Bryn Coed’s dairy operation.
“It was a pleasure working with Natural Lands over the course of several years to accomplish saving Bryn Coed from the residential development of 600 to 700 potential homes,” said supervisor’s Chairman John Jacobs, in the release. “Protecting this property has long been a concern of our residents. All will now enjoy the benefit of this open space and trails.”
“The effort to save Bryn Coed Farms could not have happened without the support we received from a myriad of partners, including West Vincent Township,” said Morrison. “Together, Bryn Coed Preserve, the township park, and the surrounding preserved lands, creates an extraordinary open space resource for the residents of West Vincent and beyond.”
Morrison said Natural lands had been busy plotting the trails that will eventually run through its preserve, not an easy task.
“It is not a simple matter,” she said. The trails must skirt natural boundaries and protected areas such as the numerous small waterways that run through the property, as well as other concerns such as an existing eagle’s nest. The organization employs staff landscape architects and land planners to map out the 10 miles of trails, insuring that those who purchase land easements as part of the entire farms property have access to the preserve. The township must also approve a plan for parking on the property.
She estimated that residents would be able to walk the preserve as the leaves turn their autumn colors, but said a formal opening would not be held until spring.
In the 1970s, the three Dietrich brothers, heirs to the Ludens couch drop fortune, began assembling Bryn Coed by acquiring adjoining farms as they became available. One of these properties was the 700acre former homestead of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts. Roberts moved there in 1929 and named his farm Bryn Coed, which means “wooded hill” in Welsh. The Dietrichs amassed what was one of the largest remaining undeveloped, unprotected tracts of land in the Greater Philadelphia region.
The preserve, once opened, would complement the other open lands that the organization maintains, such as the Stroud Preserve in East Bradford, ChesLen in Newlin, and the Binky Lee preserve in West Pikeland.