Serpentine Barrens Conservation Park is made up of three units: East, North, and South. The units total more than 350 acres.
The Serpentine Barrens Best Natural Area is considered one of the most important natural areas in the county because of its unique geology and plant community. Serpentine ecosystems are globally rare and occur intermittently in an arc east of the Appalachian Mountains from Alabama to Maine. The largest serpentine ecosystems on the east coast are found in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The Serpentine Barrens Conservation Park Best Natural Area is south of Travilah Road and extends west from Piney Meetinghouse Road and is directly south of the Rockville Crushed Stone Quarry.
The name Serpentine is attributed to the soil’s resemblance to a mottled greenish brown snake dwelling on a similar soil in northern Italy. The greenish color comes from magnesium in the bedrock. Many locations on the Barrens exhibit exposed bedrock on the surface where this pattern can be observed. Serpentinite rock was popular as a building material in the 19th and early 20th century. The bedrock still yields high quality materials for construction as the adjacent Rockville Crushed Stone Quarry can attest- a vast excavated canyon of nearly 500’ depth.
Because of the sensitivity of the interior of the Serpentine Barrens, horseback is limited to the park edge along existing established roadbeds.