Schooley Mill Park
12975 Hall Shop Road, Highland, MD 20777
Amenities: Restrooms. Tot lot, horseback-riding ring, and equestrian jumping field, tennis and basketball courts, baseball, soccer, and football fields, picnic facilities. Marlow House is a historic, restored farmhouse. There is a beaver-created wetland unless the beavers have moved on.
Handicapped Access: Paved access to sports fields and buildings.
Habitat: Size: 192 acres. The wooded stream valley is along the perimeter; there are open fields in the interior beyond the soccer fields, a large beaver pond, and a sediment pond. There are mulched trails through the woods (1.96 miles), mowed paths around and through the open fields (2.48 miles), and paved walkways to the athletic fields.
Layout: Most human activity centers around the athletic fields and courts, and the buildings in the center of the park. Activity in the remainder of the park tends to be walkers, joggers, horseback riders, and those interested in natural history. Wooded stream valleys form most of the outer boundary. The central section is primarily open fields; those between the athletic fields and the entrance are grass, but the areas beyond the soccer and baseball fields are brushy open fields with an abundance of goldenrod, spreading dogbane, milkweed, and some warm-season grasses. Shrubby areas and honeysuckle/multiflora rose thickets are scattered along the edge of the woods. A sediment pond is on the right just past the riding ring; two other small ponds (both on private property)—one in the woods below the campfire area and one close to the riding ring—are visible from the park in the winter.
Trails wind through the woods along the streams bordering the park. There are three major entrances to the main trail through the woods if you want to circle the park from within. These are shown as Trail Markers (TMs) 1, 2, and 18 on the Large Site Map. Secondary trails lead off the main trails; these either loop back, dead-end at private property, or lead you to the open fields in the center of the park. Although the woodland trails are mulched, there may be some muddy areas after heavy rains. In addition to the wooded trails, wide mowed paths border the perimeter of the woods and crisscross the fields. These provide access to extensive edge and open field habitat. TMs 2, 22, and 40 are good access points, as are the paths leading out beyond the soccer and baseball fields. Wooded deciduous stream valleys form the perimeter of the park and are shown as light green on the park map.
Open unmown fields planted with warm-season grasses form the interior area of the park beyond the ball fields; the areas around the buildings and the equestrian jumping field are mowed grass. Both are shown as white on the map. The unmown interior fields (TM 23 through TM 34) can be very productive—here you can find field birds and edge birds, and it’s a great place to watch for flyovers of all sorts.
The aquatic habitat consists of a sediment pond, a beaver-created wetland (the extensive dams are a thing of beauty), and two small tributaries to the Patuxent River that wind through much of the perimeter of the park. Schooley Mill Park’s proximity to the Patuxent River sometimes produces flyovers such as loons, cormorants, gulls, and waterfowl moving to or from Duckett (Rocky Gorge) Reservoir and Triadelphia Reservoir.
The wetland created by the beavers (TM 10) is “terraced” into several levels—it is truly an architectural marvel. The architecture is best viewed during the winter months when the undergrowth has died off, and you can walk through the woods to various vantage points. The area includes open water, large swaths of cattails, smaller amounts of Phragmites, and dead trees and snags. Small trickles of water seeping through the dams are ideal for bathing birds. There is a good view of the sky here, so watch for flyovers (e.g., Common Raven!). Some of the other quality birds that have been found in this wetland are Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Virginia Rail, and Sora. The potential for something special to show up here exists at any time of the year.
Howard County Recreation and Parks information
Compiler: Nancy Magnusson
