Exton Park is a 727-acre park located in West Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania. Previously owned by the Church Farm School, Exton Park was purchased jointly by the township and Chester County in 1994.  The park is to be completed in phases. Current improvements include a gravel parking area and picnic tables off Swedesford Road, west of Church Farm Lane, and a trailhead for the Chester Valley Trail with paved parking, restrooms, picnic grove and two multi-use fields at the south end of Church Farm Lane.

 

The pond and wetland area of the Exton Park site have been of interest to naturalists for at least the past hundred years. Area residents report birding there as children, some half a century ago. In the last thirty years, over 190 species have been observed at the pond, adjacent wetlands, and upland woods, making the location one of the best birding hotspots in southeastern Pennsylvania. Among those birds are species endangered, threatened, or of special concern in Pennsylvania, including osprey, bald eagle, pied-billed grebe, American black duck, great egret, Northern harrier, black crowned night-heron, American bittern, Virginia rail, sora and willow flycatcher.  For some species, Exton Park is the only possible breeding ground in Chester County. For others, the park is an essential migration stop-over through an intensely developed area.