The Preakness Range is a range of the trap rock

Watchung Mountains The Watchung Mountains (once called the Blue Hills) are a group of three long low ridges of volcanic origin, between high, lying parallel to each other in northern New Jersey in the United States. The name is derived from the American Native Lena ...

on the western edge of the

Newark Basin The Newark Basin is a sediment-filled rift basin located mainly in northern New Jersey but also stretching into south-eastern Pennsylvania and southern New York. It is part of the system of Eastern North America Rift Basins. Geology Approximatel ...

in northern

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. A large portion of this range is included in

High Mountain Park Preserve High Mountain Park Preserve is a protected area of the Preakness Range of the Watchung Mountains in Wayne, New Jersey, United States. Established in 1993, it comprises of woodlands and wetlands owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy. It is on ...

, offering miles of hiking trails with vistas overlooking New Jersey and New York City. The peaks of the Preakness Range, the highest of the Watchung Mountains, shelter endangered ecosystems, including perched wetlands and rare trap rock glade communities.Joseph Dowhan et al. Significant Habitats and Habitat Complexes of the New York Bight Watershed. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1997.
Available via the US FWS National Conservation Training Center

Geography

The Preakness Range generally refers to the peaks of Preakness Mountain, the section of Second Watchung Mountain north of the

Passaic River Passaic River ( ) is a river, approximately long, in Northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey, ...

. Packanack Mountain, a section of Third Watchung Mountain west of Preakness Mountain, is sometimes included in the Preakness Range.

Goffle Hill Goffle Hill, also referred to as Goffle Mountain and historically known as Totoway Mountain and Wagaraw Mountain, is a range of the trap rock Watchung Mountains on the western edge of the Newark Basin in northern New Jersey. The hill straddles pa ...

, historically known as Totoway Mountain, flanks the Preakness Range in the east and is usually not included in the range, but it is mentioned in association with it, being part of the northern extent of First Watchung Mountain.Thomas Francis Gordon. Gazetteer of the State of New Jersey – A General View of its Physical and Moral Condition, together with a Topographical and Statistical Account of its Counties, Towns, Villages, Canals, Railroads, &c. Published by D. Fenton, 1834.
Available via Google Books
/ref> Preakness Mountain begins in

Totowa, New Jersey Totowa (pronounced "TO-tuh-wuh" ) is a borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 10,844,Ramapo fault The Ramapo Fault zone is a system of faults between the northern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont areas to the east.Oakland, New Jersey Oakland is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States and a suburb of New York City. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 12,754,Wayne, New Jersey Wayne is a Township (New Jersey), township in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. Home to William Paterson University and located less than from Midtown Manhattan, the township is a bedroom suburb of New York ...

. Mount Cecchino, the southernmost of the three and also the lowest, rises to 755 ft (230m).Mountain Zone – Mount Cecchino Summit, New Jersey
/ref> Immediately to the north, High Mountain reaches 879 ft (268m), becoming the highest peak of the Watchungs.Joseph Volney Lewis & Henry Barnard Kümmel. ''Geological Survey of New Jersey - Bulletin 14 The Geology of New Jersey''. 1915. See Page 29 ''Geographic Provinces: Piedmont - Watchung Mountains''.
Available via Google Books
/ref> Northwest of High Mountain, the second highest peak of the Watchungs, Beech Mountain, rises to 869 ft (265m).

History

The Preakness Range was originally inhabited by the Munsee (Minsi)

Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...

. Today, this Native American heritage lives on in the range's name. ''Preakness'' appears to be a modernized form of ''per-ukunees'', a Lenape term thought to mean ''young buck''.Nelson, William. ''The Indians of New Jersey: Their Origin and Development; Manners and Customs; Language, Religion, and Government''. The Press Printing and Publishing Company, Paterson, NJ, 1894. See Page 127.
Available via Google Books
/ref> For a time, Dutch settlers referred to the range as ''Harteberg'', which appropriately translates to ''Deer Mountain''. As with the majority of the Watchungs, the Preakness Range saw use as a lookout during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. In October and November, 1780 General Arthur St Clair’s men were camped at the base of the mountain. For most of modern history the Preakness Range remained a wilderness providing recreation to the inhabitants of surrounding towns. Only the southern section of the range was particularly built up, with

William Paterson University William Paterson University, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 and was named after American ju ...

acting as buffer to hold back development from encroaching northward across the main ridge of Preakness Mountain. In the 1980s, when development began to threaten the remaining wilderness of the range, a push by local citizens to preserve the Preakness Range for the public interest was begun, ultimately resulting in the creation of

.North Jersey Record Obituaries – Ethel Kauffman, open space activist.
Note: Ethel Kauffman organized a group which blocked residential development on High Mountain.

Geology

The Preakness Range formed as molten rock extruded onto the surface 200 million years ago. At that time the range occupied the northern section of an active rift valley running through northern and central New Jersey and part of Pennsylvania. After the rift failed in the early Jurassic, the range was elevated as erosion removed the sandstone and shale surrounding the basalt lava flows of Preakness Mountain and Packanack Mountain.
/ref> An interesting trait of the Preakness Range is its alternating north-south valleys. These valleys, which form two major divisions, are a result of three separate eruptive events which laid down three closely spaced basalt ridges which combine to form the main section of the Preakness Range on the northern end of Second Watchung Mountain.USGS Mineral Resources On-Line Spatial Data – Preakness Basalt
/ref> These ridges decrease in height from east to west, which mirrors the order in which the ridges, really successive sheets of lava, were formed. Here, as in the rest of the Watchungs, the easternmost ridge was extruded first.Nelson Horatio Darton. ''Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey No. 67 – The Relations of the Traps of the Newark System in the New Jersey Region''. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1890. See Page 24 ''Watchung Traps – Succession of Sheets''.
Available via Google Books
/ref>

Ecology

The Preakness Range may be the most environmentally sensitive section of the Watchungs, hosting a variety of ecologically diverse areas of wilderness. The New Jersey National Heritage Program has given the Preakness Range a rating of B2, meaning it has priority as a site with very high biodiversity significance. Nine different ecological communities have been cited in the Preakness Range, including globally imperiled trap rock glade communities and increasingly rare hickory-ash red cedar woodlands. Seven state-listed endangered plant species call the Preakness Range home, including a globally endangered species, Torrey's

mountain mint ''Pycnanthemum'' is a genus of herbaceous plants in the mint family (Lamiaceae). Species in this genus are often referred to as "mountain mints" and they often have a minty or thyme-like aroma when crushed. All species of ''Pycnanthemum'' are ...

(''Pycnanthemum torrei''). Twelve other rare plants survive in forested uplands and the range's perched wetlands. Some of the rare plants are reasoned to take root in the range due to the calcareous secondary minerals in the range's trap rock which may serve to increase soil alkalinity relative to the surrounding acidic soils of the piedmont region. The mountains of the Preakness Range also provide significant habitat to wildlife. In particular, sixty species of birds are thought to breed in the range's various environs.

References

External links