Nottingham Serpentine Barrens


Chester County generally boasts a green and gentle landscape, but then you come across this swath of scrub and sandy soil and wonder if you made a wrong turn and ended up in New Mexico. These are the largest 'serpentine barrens' – a desert-like, sun-kissed biome with its own specialized flora – in the eastern USA. The Nature Conservancy manages these 600 acres of land, cut through with biking trails, prairie fields and savannah-esque grasslands.


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