The Sherwood Mill Pond Preserve is a Westport gem.
Located on the site of the old Allen’s Clam House, on Hillspoint Road a few steps from Old Mill Beach, it’s an oasis of wetland plants, vegetative buffers and walking paths.
Painters, bird watchers, book readers, flower lovers, parents with kids, lunch breakers — all find peace and beauty there.
Hard work helped make the Sherwood Mill Pond Preserve what it is today.
Unfortunately, they’re not the only ones who know about it.
Though the tiny parking lot is reserved for people enjoying or tending to the preserve, neighborhood and visiting cars — some very large — and trucks belonging to workers on nearby property often take up every spot.
Police occasionally ticket, but that doesn’t stop people from parking there.
That’s bad enough. What’s worse is the drivers who, when asked to move their cars, get belligerent toward the volunteers — mostly older women — who weed, water and pick up trash.
The scene below is typical. Not only were the drivers not preserve-goers — but one car parked on the paths, in the midst of the ecologically sensitive plantings.
This truck is pushed up against equipment used to care for the park.
I am fully aware that publicizing preserve parking may exacerbate — not solve — the problem. And I know that entitled parkers sometimes look upon these photos as badges of honor.
I’m posting this anyway.
Call me stupid or naive. But I truly believe that human nature is inherently good.
Particularly where Mother Nature is involved.