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How to Recognize It
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This is the most common forest in the park, found high on many of the hills surrounding the historic town of Harpers Ferry. Many of the biggest trees are chestnut oak and northern red oak. Shrubs include blueberries and wild azaleas. The variety of plants here is limited by the dry and infertile soil.
Can you find this combination of key features?
Identifying This Natural Community
- Northern red oaks and chestnut oaks
- (Optional) Hickories, red maple, black oak, white oak, and blackgum
- Sassafras, blackgum, red maple, and American beech growing beneath the taller trees
- Hillside blueberry, pink azalea and other heath family shrubs Ecobit: Heaths
- Spindly mapleleaf viburnum shrubs
- (Optional) Patches of wild sarsaparilla
- Location: high on a slope or on the top of a ridge
If so, welcome to the Dry Chestnut Oak - Northern Red Oak / Heath Forest at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.
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