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2-2023 East Side

What’s your level of Will Power?

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A few years ago, we learned one of our members felt so passionately about conservation here in Roxbury that she gifted RLT a bequest for land acquisition.  RLT has since purchased three properties with that generous legacy gift from Joan M. McMahan.

These conservation lands further protect the integrity of Roxbury’s vital Shepaug River watershed. 

Other members felt similarly and enthusiastically shared that they wanted to donate funds to see more Roxbury land protected. However, they did not take the formal step of adding their honorable intentions to their will.  As a result, those funds were not gifted for conservation purposes. 

RLT was discussing this conundrum at a recent meeting and one of our donors created this little poem as a reminder for our “to do” lists.  We enjoyed its light-hearted spirit and hope you will too:

“If our preserves have provided some rest,

If being with nature has made you less stressed,

Consider a move that we humbly suggest:

And honor us with a most welcome bequest.”

We’re never too young or old to add a legacy gift to our favorite land trust. We just need to formalize it through a legal process. If you feel the same, please take the steps today. Thank you for your support.   

If you would like to learn more about how to add RLT to your will, see RLTWillPower (roxburylandtrust.org), contact [email protected], or call 860-350-4148.

Tierney Preserve

Take a Wonder Walk

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Take a wonder walk, just 20 minutes in nature improves cognitive function and memory.  And you will feel better too.  Listen to the birdsong, the rushing water, breathe in the natural scents from the woodlands and meadows and enjoy the calming effects.  There is a trail near you, Roxbury Land Trust has over 30 miles of trails.  I wonder where you will go?

beardsley bridge - square

Emily Griffith Beardsley Preserve, Humphrey Preserve & Moosehorn Access

Emily Griffith Beardsley Preserve, Humphrey Preserve & Moosehorn Access

Emily Griffith Beardsley Preserve, Humphrey Preserve & Moosehorn Access

Located off Route 199, about 0.75 miles from the Route 67 intersection, the Emily Griffith Beardsley Preserve and adjacent Humphrey Preserve offer hikers a 3-mile hike of moderate difficulty. Beginning at the white barns, the Blue Loop passes an historic sawmill site and includes steep climbs over wooded rolling terrain.

A second trail begins off Moosehorn Road. This Red Loop is 1.6 miles long. Both trails skirt Moosehorn Brook and lead to Caroline’s Glen.

The 121-acre Emily Griffith Beardsley Preserve was a gift of Caroline H. Beaumont, Elizabeth Boardman and Hugh Hazelton, Jr. in 1977. John H. Humphrey donated the adjacent 15-acre Humphrey Preserve in 1978. In 1985, Joseph T. Foster gifted the 2-acre Moosehorn Access to the Roxbury Land Trust.

Allen Kovac and Nicole Tongue donated 25 acres off Moosehorn Road in 2016. The property expanded the area of the Beardsley Preserve and held diverse upland forest, extensive stonewalls, and prime early successional habitat. In addition, the donation increased protected water resources in the area including intermittent streams and a large vernal pool.

These beautiful preserves offer two long loop trails with steep climbs over ridges and glacial boulders, rolling terrain and hemlock forests. Both trails pass by an historic sawmill site and Caroline’s Glen, where the brook cascades through a rocky gorge.

Emily Griffith Beardsley Preserve, Humphrey Preserve & Moosehorn Access
Hiking
Historic Site
Download PDF Map
Battleswamp-square

Battle Swamp Brook Preserve & Raven Rock Preserve

Battle Swamp Brook Preserve & Raven Rock Preserve

Battle Swamp Brook Preserve & Raven Rock Preserve

From the small parking area off Judd’s Bridge Road, a trail passes alongside Battle Swamp Brook for two-thirds of its length, then continues through light forest and over a stone wall to come out on Battle Swamp Road. Hikers may either double back or turn left off Battle Swamp Road and walk on the quiet dirt road back to Judd’s Bridge Road. At the bridge, turn left and head back to the parking lot with the Shepaug River on the right and Raven Rock Preserve on the left. The relatively flat trail is 1.35 miles from Judd’s Bridge Road to Battle Swamp Road and back. The hike is about 2.2. miles if Battle Swamp Road and Judd’s Bridge Road are used to create a loop.

Tucked in along scenic Judd’s Bridge Road, a dirt road that runs along the Shepaug River, Battle Swamp Brook Preserve was established in 1987 with a gift from Ethan Allen. A decade later, the Roxbury Land Trust was able to extend the preserve by 18.5 acres with gifts from Robinson Lacy, John F.P. Lamb, James Taylor, Jeffrey Tindell, and James H. Worth. Rod Thorne gifted the adjoining 20-acre Raven Rock Preserve to the land trust in 1990.

Battle Swamp Brook Preserve & Raven Rock Preserve
Battle Swamp Brook Preserve & Raven Rock Preserve
Hiking
Download PDF Map
Gavel-square

Gavel Family Farm Preserve

Gavel Family Farm Preserve

Gavel Family Farm Preserve

With a peak elevation of 870 feet and broad expanses of gently rolling meadows, the Gavel Family Farm Preserve commands stunning views to the south, east and west. Walkers may enjoy a perimeter path around the edge of working farmland during the growing season. The yellow trail on the east side connects to the Lilly Preserve, with a picnic table and viewing platform of meadow habitat.

The Roxbury Land Trust acquired the preserve with the help of Frank Gavel in 2001 as part of the “Save Our Farms” campaign.

Gavel Family Farm Preserve
Hiking
Farm Fields
Cross Country Skiing
Picnic Table
Bird Watching
hiking-blaze

Lilly Preserve

Lilly Preserve

Lilly Preserve

For the Blue Loop, park at the entrance on Good Hill Road (Route 317) 2 miles east of the Roxbury Green. For most direct access to the Red Loop, use the Old Tophet Road entrance. This can be reached by continuing on Good Hill Road another mile past the first entrance, turning left onto Welton Road and then left onto Tophet Road for 0.5 miles to the parking lot.

Thomas Robert Lilly donated 128 acres to the Roxbury Land Trust in 1975. In 1980, Dione Todd Lilly Bowers gifted 4 acres to the preserve and Thomas R. Bowers and Stewart M. Bowers donated 8 more acres in 1981.

The Lilly Preserve’s Blue Loop is 1.5 miles and of moderate difficulty. It passes through marshes and wooded swampland near Jack’s Brook. Hikers may encounter cattle grazing in the field off Good Hill Road and will see mounds of tussock sedge and red maples.

The 1-mile Red Loop traverses the upper wooded portion of the preserve and features mixed hardwoods, an apple orchard, sawmill site, mill pond, historic stone walls and rock outcroppings. Of moderate difficulty, it includes some steep climbs.

From the Red Loop, a half-mile Yellow Trail connects to the Gavel Family Farm Preserve.

Lilly Preserve
Hiking
Historic Site
Farm Fields
Horses Allowed
Picnic Table
Bird Watching
Download PDF Map
baldwin-square

Baldwin Preserve & Bray Preserve

Baldwin Preserve & Bray Preserve

Baldwin Preserve & Bray Preserve

The Roxbury Land Trust purchased the 59-acre Baldwin Preserve in 2001. The acquisition was made possible by the generosity of its owners Richard and Sheila Gross; contributions made by the family and friends of Henry deForest Baldwin, a founding director of the Roxbury Land Trust; and a grant by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection.

Baldwin Preserve & Bray Preserve
Baldwin Preserve & Bray Preserve
Baldwin Preserve & Bray Preserve
Hiking
Picnic Table
Bird Watching
Download PDF Map
goodhill-square

Good Hill Farm Preserve

Good Hill Farm Preserve

Good Hill Farm Preserve

Beginning at the trailhead at Good Hill Farm Preserve on Good Hill Road, the 3.31 Blue Trail meanders through an old orchard, across streams, into the woodlands and across open meadows with much up and down, connecting to the Painter Hill Red Loop. The Red Farm Loop east of the barnyard gives a glimpse of the working farm. Please respect the farmer, their livestock and crops by remaining on the trails.

Now part of the 720-acre Greenbelt, Good Hill Farm was acquired by the Roxbury Land Trust from the descendants of Sebastian and Marguerite Pond as part of the “Save Our Farms” campaign. The trust purchased the historic farm in two phases in 2003 and 2004 with two grants from Connecticut’s Open Space and Watershed Acquisition (OSWA) Fund, a grant from the Town of Woodbury’s Open Space Fund and many private donations. In 2014, the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office’s Historic Preservation Council placed Good Hill Farm on the State Register of Historic Places and considers the property to be one of the 200 important state agricultural properties.

The small airstrip that runs along Upper Grassy Hill Road is under conservation easement but remains privately owned. Please do not trespass and respect our farmers.

Good Hill Farm Preserve
Hiking
Farm Fields
Cross Country Skiing
Bird Watching
Download PDF Map
hiking-blaze

Miller Preserve Addition

Miller Preserve Addition

Miller Preserve Addition

Featuring beautiful undisturbed woodlands, this preserve is part of the Greenbelt Blue Trail with a Painter Hill Red Loop of 0.88 mile. Rebecca Miller, daughter of playwright Arthur Miller, donated nearly 100 acres along the Woodbury-Roxbury border in 2015. The gift followed her successful challenge to the Roxbury Land Trust to raise the funds necessary to buy a 20-acre parcel adjacent to the land she wanted to donate to connect the land to Painter Hill Road. Her donation, coupled with the generosity of neighbors, created an extended 720-acre greenbelt that now stretches from Painter Hill Road to the Good Hill Farm Preserve.

Miller Preserve Addition
Hiking
Download PDF Map
Hurlbut-Woods-Preserve

Allen S. Hurlburt Preserve

Allen S. Hurlburt Preserve

Allen S. Hurlburt Preserve

From the trailhead off Flag Swamp Road, follow the blazes through the gently rolling wooded hills and past stone walls and pristine wetlands for 0.5 miles until the trail joins the main trail along the high rim of the Tierney Preserve.

Allen S. Hurlburt Preserve
Hiking
Download PDF Map

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