Silveira Forest Park is a Portuguese forest park located in Ribeira Seca. (São Jorge Island, Azores, Portugal).
This forest park was created along the path of a waterline where in several centuries several watermills had been built.
This park has been classified as a Recreational Forest Reserve since 1989 along with the watercourse and its water-conduit channels for watermills, which are scattered along the various waterways.
These watermills consist of a horizontally placed wheel (caster or roller mill), with the horizontal blade also placed under the construction.
Silveira Forest Park, vegetation aspect.
Silveira Forest Park, large tree ferns.
These ancient spiders are rather rudimentary constructions made of unrigged dry stone, which were used exclusively as equipment for producing flours that could be maize, wheat, barley, oats, etc.). These ancient watermills represent an important ethnographic heritage for the island of São Jorge.
The water in this park is the backbone of it, everything is concentrated around it, are the paths, the bridges and a varied flora that from the point of view of botany is rich and exotic.
Absolutely related to water mills, there is an old traditional way for ox carts and the oven house. This park includes several forest nurseries where various types of shrub plants are grown for planting, childrens play area and snacking. It also has a small zoo where you can see: ostriches, fallow deer, Vietnamese pigs, pigeons, rabbits, guinea pigs, among others.
The main lawn of this park lies in a sheltered valley shaded by the crowns of old oak trees.
The present flora is quite varied and there are several botanical species living in the same space, thus appearing Araucarias, Pines, Tulipeiros, Oaks, Cypresses, Tree Ferns, Plantains, Metrosideros among a wide variety of other smaller plants.