About 15 hikers turned out on November 8 for a guided walk through Brenner-Penfield Emmaus Preserve, where Wildlands Conservancy guide Chase Newhard led them past the remnants of an ancient travel route and warned them to watch their footing on leaf-covered, uneven rocky paths. The tour introduced participants to the 34-acre preserve's natural features, its historical significance and its connection to the broader South Mountain landscape.
The preserve opened to the public last month, becoming Wildlands Conservancy's 10th nature preserve in the Lehigh Valley, according to Lehigh Valley Press. It is one of four preserves connected to the South Mountain corridor. Together with neighboring borough-owned land, the preserve and its surroundings provide nearly 50 acres of accessible open space, and separate reporting from lehighvalleylive.com specifies that the 34-acre preserve connects with the borough's South Fourth Street Recreation Area and the historic Shelter House property to form that combined open space.
Walking a Path Older Than Written History
Among the three trails that wind through the property — the Charcoal Trail, Foundry Trail and Oley Path — it's the Oley Path that carries the deepest history. The trail follows an ancient travel route believed to have been used by Lenape people, and according to Newhard, that route was used to transport jasper and to facilitate trade and communication between communities. Wildlands Conservancy describes a section of the Oley Path as at least 8,000 years old, and the conservancy's own guide to the preserve notes it was used by early Lenape people to carry jasper to the Lehigh and Delaware rivers.
The preserve contains remnants of these historic Indigenous pathways alongside evidence of a very different era. The property's land history includes Indigenous travel routes, colonial settlement, iron-making operations, mining activity and recreational uses layered atop one another over centuries. Donaldson Iron Works operated at the site from 1883 to 1945, per Wildlands Conservancy's guide, and the conservancy notes that charcoal production at the property predated the iron production tied to the Foundry Trail.
From Footpaths to Pastureland to Public Trails
That industrial chapter fits into a longer arc described by lehighvalleylive.com, which reported that Native American footpaths once crossed the steep northwestern face of South Mountain before industrialists clear-cut the forest, partly to produce the charcoal that fueled a local pig-iron furnace, and farmers later used the cleared hillside as pastureland for livestock. The Shelter House, which sits on the adjoining borough-owned property, is considered the oldest continuously inhabited log structure in the Lehigh Valley.
Emmaus Borough has already acquired rights of way to extend trails through the area, with plans to eventually connect them to Upper Macungie and Salisbury townships, according to the same lehighvalleylive.com report. The preserve's own trail network already stretches more than 1.5 miles, giving hikers, bikers, trail runners and birders room to explore terrain that supports birds, foxes and other wildlife.
Honoring a Family's Tie to the Land
The preserve's name reflects its own story of stewardship. Brenner-Penfield Emmaus Preserve is named for Merrill and Nancy Brenner, with the Penfield portion honoring Nancy Brenner's late father, a tribute inspired by his appreciation for nature. Wildlands Conservancy has noted separately that the Brenners previously preserved 18 acres on their own Longswamp Township property through a conservation easement.
Wildlands Conservancy plans additional guided hikes and educational programs at the preserve, aimed at introducing more of the community to the land and its role in preserving open space along South Mountain. The November 8 outing, led by Newhard and reported by Lisa Weber for Lehigh Valley Press, offered an early look at what those future programs hope to build on — a landscape where ancient trade routes, 19th-century ironworks and present-day conservation efforts all share the same 34 acres.
