How to Prepare for Your Visit
For more information on visiting this or any other Pennsylvania preserve, call the office at (717) 232-6001.

If you would like to lend a hand at this site, check out our volunteer workdays for currently scheduled activities.

Directions
From U.S. Route 1 south:

• Approximately 2.5 miles past the Maryland State Line, turn right onto Red Pump Road
• Continue straight on Red Pump Road (past Freemont Road and Pleasant Drive intersections) to the powerline and the well-marked Goat Hill parking lot on the left.

What to See: Plants
Among the rare plants found at Goat Hill are the long-hairy barrens chickweed, the serpentine aster, prairie dropseed, and round-leaved fameflower. Goat Hill also hosts a diverse fern community, including marginal shield, hay scented, Christmas, interrupted and maidenhair. In addition, a wide variety of southern plants all reach their northernmost extremes here.

What to See: Animals
Vast acres of wildflower meadows, cliff outcroppings and pitch pine forests are prime habitat for the many rare species of moths and butterflies found here, including the cobweb skipper, barrens buckmoth, and mottled duskywing. An unusual assemblage of birds nest at Goat Hill, including the declining whippoorwill, the bobwhite quail and barred owl, along with seventeen species of warblers.

Why the Conservancy Selected This Site  
Botanists believe that Goat Hill contains the greatest diversity of plant species in all of the Chester County barren sites. Goat Hill was once mined for its magnetite and chromium. In 1979, neighbors of the barrens learned that an excavating company was interested in quarrying the serpentine rock. They organized to form the "Concerned Citizens of West Nottingham Township" and opposed not only the quarry, but all further damage to the barrens wilderness surrounding it.