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A Guide to Brenner-Penfield Emmaus Preserve

Trail Guide for Brenner Penfield Emmaus Preserve

Out here, there’s 1.5 miles of fresh, new trails for hikers, mountain bikers, trail runners, birders, and simple peace and quiet.

Oley Path

Miles: 0.49-mile lollipop trail, or a trail with a straight out-and-back “stick” that leads to a loop
Difficulty: Moderate
Activities: Hiking, mountain biking, birding, trail running, dog walking
Entrance: 330 Fairview Street

Footsteps over thousands of years shaped this trail. The Oley Path is a trail as old as time, or really, at least 8,000 years old. This is a section of the Lenni Lenape’s Oley Path, an ancient transportation corridor from Bethlehem, through Emmaus and the Vera Cruz jasper quarries, through Macungie, Oley, and Reading, to where it paralleled the Schuylkill River. Indigenous peoples carried jasper along this route to trade on the river. Today, you can walk along the Oley Path at Brenner-Penfield Emmaus Preserve. It’s a moderately difficult hike with some rocky sections. In the canopy, deciduous tulip poplar and maple trees stand tall.

Foundry Trail

Miles: 0.62-mile lollipop trail
Difficulty: Difficult
Activities: Hiking, mountain biking, birding, trail running, dog walking

During the industrial era, this section was an ironworks or foundry, a factory that melted and poured metal into molds or castings. Donaldson Iron Works operated here from 1883 to 1945, providing not only the foundation for the community’s structures but also its economy and livelihoods.

Today, the Foundry Trail passes through a diversity of habitats at Brenner-Penfield Emmaus Preserve. The forest is a mix of hardwoods and conifers, speckled by ferns throughout. Pro Tip: Along the trails, you’ll see some of the landscape’s signature boulders, reminiscent of the ones at the nearby South Mountain Preserve.

Charcoal Trail

Miles: 0.41-mile lollipop trail
Difficulty: Difficult
Activities: Hiking, mountain biking, birding, trail running, dog walking

Charcoal flats are flat, circular areas cut into the otherwise hilly landscape where mounds of wood were burnt and smoldered in a chimney-like pile. Charcoal production came before iron production, so this history predates the iron history of the Foundry Trail.

The Charcoal Trail is on the farthest reach of the upper north side of Brenner-Penfield Emmaus Preserve. Pro Tip:  Keep an ear out for the babbling brook along the rocky part of the trail where it parallels Chestnut Hill Rd.

Wildlands Conservancy’s 14th Nature Preserve

Scissors met ribbon, and the gift of our newest nature preserve was unveiled at the 300 Fairview St. block in Emmaus on October 14, 2026.

But what does it take to open a new nature preserve for the weeks, months, and years leading up to the grand opening? It takes land acquisition, trail design, and construction, and moreover, it takes a committed community of support (people like YOU!).

And people like Merrill and Nancy Brenner—two visionary people with a strong conservation ethic, who realized their legacy of opening a nature preserve with the help of Wildlands Conservancy.

“Being in nature has many health benefits as well as importance for wildlife and the environment,” Nancy said. “Having preserves very close to where people live gives everyone the opportunity to experience these places.”

“We’ve now conserved 99.4 acres — a wonderful, yet frustrating, total,” Merrill said, chuckling. “So, we definitely want to conserve more and be able to say, ‘Well over 100 acres.’”

Then, Wildlands Conservancy’s nature preserve management team designs the trails in mapping software, considering landmarks, slope/grade to gauge erosion, and, in this case, any existing trails. After that, it’s time to start building the trails.

Stewardship Crew, or “Stew Crew” for short, is a team of curious college students and aspiring conservation professionals that Wildlands employs every summer, and they built many of Brenner-Penfield Emmaus Preserve’s trails last season. They built so much more than trails, though; they trailblazed a path forward in their career—and a special outdoor place for you to enjoy, right here at home

YOUR SUPPORT makes conservation like this possible, today, tomorrow, and always.

Acknowledging our Community of Support

Wildlands acknowledges the support of its giving community, especially Merrill and Nancy Brenner and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, for making Brenner-Penfield Emmaus a public nature preserve.

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