Nature Done Wright

Incorporating the Celery Farm and Screech Owl Companion blogs

July 17, 2025

My Column: The ‘New’ Lorrimer Sanctuary

New Jersey Audubon's Lorrimer Sanctuary in Franklin Lakes is named for Lucine Lorrimer, who bequeathed the 14-acre property 70 years ago. Image courtesy of NJ Audubon

My latest column for The Record and Herald News is all about the "new" Lorrimer Sanctuary in Franklin Lakes.

Thanks to some generous donors, New Jersey Audubon has completely revamped the main house while still keeping its historic vibes.

Also included: The memories of Ned Mueller, a birder who was at Lorrimer as a 14-year-old volunteer on opening day back in 1956..

You can read more here:

By Jim Wright

Special to The Record | USA TODAY NETWORK – NEW JERSEY

Ever since it opened in 1956, New Jersey Audubon’s Lorrimer Sanctuary has been one of Northern New Jersey’s birding gems, especially during the spring warbler migration.

The 14-acre property in Franklin Lakes has always been a family place, with a large nature center, a half-mile-long nature trail, and a picnic area that makes it a great spot for summer day-campers.

The parcel received a major upgrade in 2017 when NJ Audubon enclosed 11 of the acres with an eight-foot-tall fence to prevent the local white-tailed deer population from devouring the native plants.

I am pleased to report that Lorrimer recently received an even more substantial upgrade. Thanks to large grants from the Winifred M. and George P. Pitkin Foundation and an anonymous donor, the main building that’s home to the nature center and its turtles and snakes recently received a major overhaul.

The 16-room, two-story building has always had a comfy feeling – it was built as a center-hall colonial home way back in 1906 – and now it has been vastly improved. The interior has a new electrical system and plumbing and air-conditioning for the first time. The building also has a new roof, siding, windows and septic system

The home and property, once known as Applewood Farms, were bequeathed to NJ Audubon in the will of Lucine Lorrimer, who died at age 38 in 1955. She lived on the farm with 11 dogs, seven bantam chickens, two goats and two exotic birds. She is buried on site.

The sanctuary opened with great fanfare a year later, back when Franklin Lakes was considered rural. According to a news account of opening day in The [Wyckoff] News, several hundred people attended the ceremony, including local dignitaries and a senior vice-president of the National Audubon Society. In short, the grand opening was a big deal.

Ned Mueller was a 14-year-old New Jersey Audubon volunteer from Ridgewood back then, and he has fond memories of the day.

“In 1956, my ‘life bird’ of indigo bunting was the one released at the Lorrimer opening ceremony,” Mueller recalls. “It was so lovely from the start, with meadowlarks singing in the entrance’s hay field.”

Mueller still has his diary from his teen years, and notes that he added three more birds to his life list that day – a great crested flycatcher, a red-eyed vireo and a chipping sparrow.

In 1958 and 1959, young Mueller helped run Lorrimer while the sanctuary director and his wife went to Maine on summer vacation. Although Mueller now lives in Italy, he hopes to visit Lorrimer during a stateside visit later this summer, although not in time for an open house next Thursday to celebrate the reopening.

NJ Audubon, meanwhile, plans to continue upgrading the sanctuary. It recently received site-plan approval to build an 1,800-square-foot, ADA-accessible addition next year. It’s also adding a paved driveway with 31 parking spaces and room for bus parking.

Can’t wait.

The Bird Watcher column appears every other Thursday. Email Jim at celeryfarm@gmail.com.