Virtual Tour

A Virtual Tour of Cheverly's Streams

Cabin Branch - Lower Beaverdam Creek

Begin at the Boyd Park parking lot off 64th Avenue.

Walk toward a wooden fence to begin walking to your right on a paved walking/fitness trail. Beyond the fence you will be able to spot Cabin Branch downhill on your left. You may continue along the trail as it leaves the stream, passing pawpaws and mature hickories, as well as May Apples and Jack-in-the Pulpit in spring. The trail will bring you back to the parking lot.

Walk north along 64th Avenue to the bridge which crosses Cabin Branch.

A desire path just south of the stream follows it westward to Trent Street. Follow Trent Street and continue nearly straight, entering a woods road through M-NCPPC land. Be careful – you may step on a bobwhite’s roost.

The road ends at a PEPCO right-of-way; You will see the row of power line poles. Turn right and continue to the stream. You will see the point where Cabin Branch and Lower Beaverdam Creek meet.

River Otter tracks at Lower Beaverdam Creek

Cabin Branch to Tributary 1: Columbia Park Rd west, Cheverly Avenue north, Forest Rd west, Greenleaf Rd west.

Tributary 1

There is little ready access to Tributary 1. It is recommended that you go with a guide. Here are some ways to view the stream.

From the west end of Greenleaf Road. Parking along Greenleaf Road.

Continue west through a swale, sometimes moist. Stormwater from 56th Street and the west end of Cheverly Avenue enters Tributary 1 through this swale.

Bearing slightly right, keeping shrubs at your left and a timber retaining wall to your right, walk a short distance to the stream. About 170 feet to your right is the large outfall structure which brings in stormwater from the hospital parking lot and the west end of Hawthorne Street.

Hop across the stream to the west bank. You may see county health department warning signs – heed them. Walking to the right (north), you may view the outfall and its sedimentation pool in a steep ravine. You are on Town of Cheverly buffer land, intended to shield the residential area from the Cheverly Industrial Park. Vegetation on the hill to the west is mainly blackberry bramble and callery pear. Walking to the left (south), you come to the “Millbrook” wetland, with “Darnall’s Spring” uphill. The area supports arrowhead, cattail and other wetland vegetation.

From the west end of Hawthorne Street. Parking along the street.

Enter a wooded strip and bear left onto an old dirt road. You will see a platform storm drain inlet on your left. The outfall is about 175 feet south. Continue as above.

From Euclid Park. Parking in the lot.

Cross the sports field to its northwest corner. Take a narrow path in the same direction. It will join a better-trodden path leading to the stream. Here the woods are open and trees free of invasive vines thanks to the work of Matt T. Salo. Like forests of other natural areas in Cheverly, Euclid Woods is a mid-successional hardwood mix. There are tulip trees, red maples, black gums (tupelos), southern magnolias, American beech, and several species of oaks and pines. Shrubs include several viburnums, spicebush, and sweetshrub. Wild yam is an interesting vine growing here.

At this point the stream runs through a deep ravine, having plunged about 18 feet from its level at Greenleaf Road. If you bushwhack north you may see the wall of large riprap which is intended to slow the water. Across the tributary you will see a concrete apron which directs runoff from a business directly to the stream. Several types of ferns, dogwood, and native azaleas may be seen in and near the gorge.

On a guided tour of Euclid Woods you may see native grasses and partridgeberry. A small area, the “Red Desert,” supporting vegetation typical of pine barrens, is unique in Cheverly. The pines there were planted by Cheverly Boy Scouts in 1973.

Euclid Park and woods belonged to North Kenilworth, an African-American subdivision, and your tour will pass the foundations of one of its buildings.

Tributary 1 to Quincy Run: Greenleaf Rd east, Tremont Ave north.

Quincy Run

Begin at the north end of Tremont Avenue. There is room to park on the east side of the street.

The sidewalk becomes a path through Cheverly Nature Park. Turn right at the blue plastic bridge. You will now be on a circular path that generally follows streets originally platted for Cheverly Section 7. You will walk through an open woods where chestnut oaks, mountain laurel, and American beech trees predominate. The path will take you downhill toward a subtributary of Quincy Run that receives runoff from Lockwood Road. If you choose to walk along the stream when it is watered you will notice that the water alternately flows underground and surfaces again. The stream course was platted as a road for Cheverly Section 7.

Bear left to continue on the circular path. About where the ravine levels off, you may bushwhack down to the stream and Crawford’s Adventure Spring. This may be the only water you see.

Just north of the spring the stream again drops underground. Walking a few steps over sand and under a fallen tree you will arrive on a land bridge built to connect Spring Road, which had been platted for the 1901 Crawford’s Adventure subdivision, with the roads platted for Cheverly Section 7. In the stream bed you will see terra cotta pipes intended to put the stream under the planned road.

[image]

If you want to explore Cheverly Nature Park, you may see ground pine, partridge berry, and Indian cucumber.

The stream, now the main branch of Quincy Run, continues northwest past the planned Igbo Anglican Church site, to be piped under the Baltimore Washington Parkway on/off ramp and the parkway itself. If you cross the ramp you will see a short open stretch of Quincy Run in a grove.

Quincy Run continues west of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway behind the properties along Landover Road and Newton. You may see its course at 58th place, although the stream is piped until it leaves the Town of Cheverly.

Photo Dave Kneipp

Quincy Run to Tributary 4: Tremont Ave south, Lockwood Rd east, Belleview Ave south, Kilmer St east, Cheverly Ave north, Kilmer St east, 63rd Ave south, Joslyn Pl east.

Tributary 4

Begin at Cheverly Hills Court near 63rd Place. Parking on the streets.

On the south side of the street enter a mowed area belonging to the Town of Cheverly. You will see where the stream comes in from under the street. The stream begins to the north of the street, in an area also belonging to the Town of Cheverly.

Along the stream to your right you will see several outfalls carrying stormwater from the nearby streets.

You can make your way along the stream or bushwhack through greenbrier southwest, keeping the stream on your right. You will be on land belonging to M-NCPPC. The area was formerly part of Cheverly Gardens, a 1904 subdivision of full and half-acre tracts “specially adapted for chicken raising and truck gardens.” Across the stream you will see yards backing up to the tributary. Here there is too narrow a tree buffer to absorb water and prevent erosion.

About 585 feet from the starting point you will cross a “desire path” running between the two parts of Hillside Avenue. Across the stream to your right is a strip between houses that is actually part of the park. You will see more stormwater outfalls.

Continue ahead, entering open woods on a hillside, with some old and large trees. This area is very walkable. Among shrubs the strawberry bush is most abundant. Invasive plants – honeysuckle, oriental bittersweet, English ivy, multiflora rose, and Japanese knotweed -- are confined largely to the streamsides and the area closest to 63rd place/Cheverly Hills Court.

Tributary 4 to Tributary 3: 63rd Pl south, Jason St south, 64th Ave south, Forest Rd west, Parkway south, Wayne Pl east.

Tributary 3

Tributary 3 is Cheverly’s most accessible stream, thanks to the work of Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek. In comparison with our other streams, consider this tributary the “after” picture, showing what can be done to maintain and preserve our natural assets. You will be following the trail FLBC has created.

Begin at Cheverly Park Drive and Wayne Place, where there is a tot lot. Parking on the streets.

Enter through the opening in the wooden fence, noting butterfly gardens. Go down wooden steps and bear right. The stream will be on your left. You will see the large outfall that carries the piped portion of Tributary 3 as well as stormwater from the streets of a large part of Cheverly. A trap collects trash washing down from those streets.

Woodworth Park is distinguished by its great variety of oak trees. Watch for the markers which identify the trees and other plants.

Photo Dave Kneipp

Continue on the path, noting seeps entering the stream. Where the trail makes a right turn, after a downhill slope covered with May Apples in spring, the former beaver pond will be on your left. Here you will see swamp mallows, elderberries and catalpas. You may continue to Arbor Street, where there is another entrance to the trail. Bridges cross several seeps on this part of the trail. Notice the pawpaws at the first bridge. West of Arbor Street the Cub Scouts are working to extend the trail to Cheverly Avenue.

If you wish you may return to the beginning and take the east trail to Town Hall. To your right is an area in the flats where ferns, May Apple and Jack-in-the-Pulpit appeared the spring following the removal of Japanese Honeysuckle and English Ivy. The trail crosses several seeps and takes you to an overlook where you can view the former beaver pond. Along the way you may see sweetbay magnolia, Solomon’s seal, bellwort, Indian cucumber, and partridgeberry. The upland area features native azaleas, blueberries, and Devil’s Walking Stick. There is another butterfly garden where the trail ends at Town Hall.

Photos Matt T. Salo unless otherwise indicated