A CAFÉ AT A CLEARING: Accompanied by their dogs Benjie and Ziggy, Joanna Poniz, left, and Nicole Bergman welcomed visitors to May’s Barden Café on a recent Sunday. The spot for coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and home-baked pastries is open again on Sunday, March 6 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Proceeds go toward the renovation of the Veblen House and The Cottage.

By Anne Levin

During a weekend visit to New York’s Hudson Valley, Nicole Bergman went on a hike along the 7-mile stretch known as the Rail Trail. Along the way, she stopped for coffee at the Rail Trail Café, which is nestled in the woods. And she got an idea.

“It reminded me so much of Herrontown Woods, which I have been going to for years,” said Bergman, who lives with her family in the neighborhood near the nature preserve along the Princeton Ridge. “This little café was so nice. There was a spot for performances and music, even a wood-fired pizza oven. I got inspired.”

Bergman proposed the idea of a café in Herrontown Woods to Stephen Hiltner, president of the board of directors of Friends of Herrontown Woods. Hiltner and fellow board members gave Bergman the go-ahead to give the café a try. In collaboration with neighbors Joanna Poniz and Liz Barbosa, May’s Barden Café was launched last November at the Barden (short for Botanical ARt garDEN) in the woods. It has been open since on the first Sunday of the month, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

With coffee and tea from Small World Coffee, hot chocolate for children, and pastries baked by Bergman (the former purveyor of Simply Nic’s shortbread) and others, the café has become a popular gathering spot. Proceeds help fund renovation of the Veblen House and The Cottage, focal points of the woods.

“It has grown every month,” said Bergman. “It’s just been wonderful. The first time we did it, I was surprised at how many people came out. And as it has almost doubled each month.”

Bergman, who manages two global programs at Princeton University, has been taking her children to Herrontown Woods for years. “My husband grew up here, and he spent his youth catching salamanders and frogs in the woods,” she said. “My oldest son’s bar mitzvah community service project was connected to the park. I walk my dog there all the time. The woods are important to us.”

May’s Barden Café is named for British-born Elizabeth Veblen, known as May, who initiated the longstanding tradition of afternoon tea at the Institute for Advanced Study. She and her husband, mathematician Oswald Veblen, acquired the site in 1936, and bought the nearby house five years later. They donated 82 acres to Mercer County to form the Herrontown Woods Preserve in 1957, a few years before Oswald Veblen died. When Elizabeth “May” Veblen died in 1974, the couple’s remaining 14 acres, including the house, were added to the preserve.

The café’s openings are timed to coincide with the weekly workday in the garden of the preserve. “We get regulars, new people, and families,” said Bergman. “Some people work for a bit, then come for coffee, and others have coffee before they start to work. Mostly, it’s a nice place for people to reconnect with each other, especially during the pandemic. It’s been exactly what I had hoped for.”

Visit fohw.org for more information.