On Saturday, July 19th, a dozen hikers joined AMC and our friends from Wildlands and Friends of Johnston Estate to explore nature and history at the Johnston Estate.

Despite its location just off of noisy Route 191, the Johnston Estate is a quiet park with a wealth of wildlife and connections to local history.

Vicky Bastidas led the group in an interpretive tour of the grounds where Archibald Johnston, the first mayor of Bethlehem, lived with his family. A volunteer from Wildlands also ran a macro-invertebrate sampling exercise of the Monocacy Creek, which yielded a number caddis flies and one little fish. During our walk, we enjoyed handfuls of wild wine berries that we picked along the path.

This short hike was one of a series of events  in partnership with local outdoors groups, aimed at getting children outdoors and promoting local parks and trails. The next event in the series will take place August 23rd and will feature an urban loop hike on the D&L Trail and the South Bethlehem Greenway. For more information on how to join the next hike, please email Cathy Reuscher at creuscher@outdoors.org.