Reserva Florestal de Recreio da Silveira, São Jorge Island
Facts and practical information
Silveira Forest Park is a Portuguese forest park that is located in the parish of Ribeira Seca, municipality of Calheta.
This forest park was created along the course of a water line where several water mills had been built in previous centuries.
This park has been classified as a Recreational Forest Reserve since 1989 along with the watercourse and its water conduction channels for the water mills.
These mills consist of a wheel placed horizontally, with the blade also placed horizontally under the construction.
These ancient azanhas are very rudimentary constructions made of dry stone, which were used exclusively as equipment for producing flour. These old water mills represent an important ethnographic heritage for the island of São Jorge.
Water is the backbone of this park, everything is concentrated around it, are the paths, the bridges and a varied flora that from a botanical point of view is rich and exotic.
Closely related to the watermills, there is an old traditional path for ox carts and the oven house. This park includes several forest nurseries where various types of bushy plants are grown for planting, a children's playground and picnic area. It also has a small zoo where you can see: ostriches, fallow deer, Vietnamese pigs, pigeons, rabbits, Piriquitos, guinea pigs, among others.
The main lawn of this park lies in a sheltered valley, shaded by the canopies of old oak trees.
The flora is quite varied and various botanical species coexist in the same space, such as Araucaria, Pine trees, Tulip trees, Oak trees, Cypresses, Fern trees, Sycamores, Metrosideros, among a great variety of other smaller plants.
Azores