Hatfield Easement
8 acres
Hatfield Drive
The Trust holds a conservation easement on this property which is located behind the westernmost house on Hatfield Drive. The property abuts the Blackledge River on the west. It was given to the Bolton Land Trust by the Mohegan Land Trust in 2009. Wooded wetlands and upland woods are the predominant characteristics. This easement is part of a chain of preserved land along the Blackledge River corridor which includes the Phillips Easement, two easements held by the Town of Bolton and land preserved by the State of Connecticut in Gay City State Park.
Freddo Family and Blackledge Marsh Preserves
43 acres
Cocconi Drive and Deming Road
Public Trail
The Blackledge Marsh and Freddo Family Preserve consist of 43 acres along the northern end of the Blackledge River corridor. The Blackledge Marsh parcel was given to the Bolton Land Trust in connection with the adjacent Strawberry Ridge development in 2004. The Freddo Family Preserve was added in 2022 when the Freddo Family donated 23 acres in honor of four generations of the Freddo family – Italian immigrants Frank and Rose Freddo, their daughter Adrianna and son Joseph, Joe and his wife Ellie’s sons Thomas and Steven, and Steven’s and Thomas’s children. The preserved land is a permanent remembrance of the Freddo family.
The Blackledge River and a tributary merge near the center of the Freddo Family Preserve where the stream continues south and eventually meets the Jeremy River. The Preserves continue a chain of preserved land along the Blackledge River corridor, helping maintain excellent water quality and providing diverse habitat for birds and mammals. Beautiful old stone walls run through the properties and the marsh is aflutter with bird activity.
The trail terrain is generally flat but there are two places where the stream has to be crossed by stepping on stones. During high water flows these stones might be underwater and crossing should not be attempted. To access the trail park at the end of Cocconi Drive and follow the short set of steps to a kiosk. Parking is also available along Deming Road.
Bobcat Woods
Near intersection of Brandy Street and School Road
68 acres
Public Trail
Bobcat Woods was acquired by the Bolton Land Trust on December 29, 2019 with a matching grant from the U.S. Forest Service under the Community Forest Program. Under this program the land trust is encouraging community involvement in planning how the property will be used, such as for cycling and hiking trails and education. A forest management plan will suggest the best ways to manage the woods for wildlife habitat and long term forest stand improvement.
Parking for the trail is on High Ridge Farm Road. Walk along the gravel road about a quarter mile to the beginning of the trail on the left. A kiosk holds the map shown below and a map of Lombardi Ridge Preserve. The trail is marked with yellow trail markers. No vehicles are permitted on the gravel road. The trail terrain varies from flat to rugged and includes a high point atop a boulder outcropping. The trail meets the Lombardi Ridge trail in the natural amphitheater near a stone bench.
No vehicles allowed on the property.
Castlerock Lane
27.66 acres
Public Trail
This 25-acre parcel is located at the end of Castlerock Lane, off Webster Lane, in the southern area of Bolton. The parcel was given to the Bolton Land Trust in 2005 by Carl McAllister, and consists of wooded wetlands and upland forest. There is a hiking trail on the property accessible by stairs located at the end of the cul-de-sac. The ¾-mile long trail is marked with orange blazes and exits onto Hebron Road (it does not form a loop, so walk back the way you came). Park on the Castlerock Lane cul-de-sac.
Bolton Meadows
19.2 acres
Tumblebrook Drive
This property is dominated by a portion of Warner Swamp, a large marsh located in the south-central part of Bolton valuable for retaining flood waters, filtering pollutants and providing wildlife habitat. This property was donated to the Trust in July, 2007 and is located just south of a town-owned open space parcel and contiguous to the Trust’s Duhaime property.
Lombardi Ridge Preserve
90 acres
Near intersection of Brandy Street and School Road
Public Trail
This parcel offers diverse terrain and scenery including marsh, wooded wetlands, ledges, streams and woods. A public trail begins about ¼ mile east of the intersection of Brandy Street and School Road. The orange trail is about 1 1/2 miles long and is marked with orange painted blazes. The outer loop trail (blue on the map) is about a half-mile long and is marked with orange and white markers A memorial stone dedicated to Frank Lombardi’s memory and a bench donated by the four Bolton churches is located in the natural amphitheater, a beautiful resting spot. To access the trail park on High Ridge Road and walk east down the gravel road about ¼ mile. At the kiosk, turn right.
Lombardi Ridge Preserve was created from three parcels: 21 acres donated by Rita Lombardi in memory of her husband, Frank, in May, 2003; 51 acres given by High Ridge Farm, LLC in December 2007; and 24 acres donated by the Northern Connecticut Land Trust in September 2010.
Phillips Property
2.25 acres (fee simple)
4 acres (conservation easement)
Corner of Camp Meeting Road and West Street
Located at the intersection of Camp Meeting Road and Clark Road, this wooded property preserves approximately 450 feet along the Blackledge River and a brook that originates in Herrick Park to the east. Donated by Bolton resident and native Bill Phillips in early 2004, this 6-acre property consists of a 2.25 acre piece which the Bolton Land Trust owns outright and a 4-acre piece on which the land trust holds a conservation easement (a conservation easement places restrictions on how the land can be used, such as no building).
The Phillips Easement is one of a number of preserved open space parcels along the Blackledge River corridor. Directly south of the easement, across Camp Meeting Road, the Town of Bolton holds a 1-acre conservation easement along the west side of the river. Less than half a mile farther south the Bolton Land Trust owns a 19.5-acre parcel (the Deming Road parcel) which protects another section of the river. A few thousand feet south the Bolton Land Trust holds an 8-acre easement whose western boundary is the Blackedge River, and less than a half mile farther south the Blackledge flows into Gay City State Park.
Brook Hollow Easement (Loomis Road)
2 acres (conservation easement)
This easement straddles and protects about 500 feet of the unnamed brook that flows from a pond north of Herrick Park south and eventually to Warner Swamp. Received March 20, 2006.
Coffin and Toomey Properties
2 acres
Bailey Road
These contiguous parcels are located on discontinued Bailey Road, off Route 6. Dr. Laura Toomey and Nancy Fleming donated one parcel in November, 2006 and sisters Joan Swanson and Julie Coffin donated the other in November, 2005. The area is hilly and wooded.
Duhaime
7.89 acres
Hebron Road
Larry and Joan Duhaime donated this land to the Bolton Land Trust in November 21, 2011. Located about ¼ mile south of School Road, this property is contiguous to the Trust’s Tumblebrook Road property and about one-half mile north of the Trust’s Castlerock Road property, thereby creating a block of about 55 preserved acres in close proximity to each other. The Duhaime property is primarily marshland and is part of Warner Swamp.
Brandy Street
1.24 acres
Members of the Stangeland family donated this wooded land to the Bolton Land Trust in March, 2018. Located just north of Bolton High School, the parcel is situated near 53 acres of open space purchased by the Town of Bolton in 2017 and also near historic Bailey Road where Rochambeau's troops marched in 1781 on their way to camp at the Bolton Heritage Farm.
Edith Toomey Clark Property
40.03 acres
Public Trail
This property was donated to the Bolton Land Trust in October, 2018 by longtime Bolton resident Jim Clark and former Bolton resident Nancy Fleming. In the Clark/Fleming family for 46 years, the land was given in memory of Edith Toomey Clark who died in September, 2017. Jim and Nancy felt that Edie would have wanted the property to become part of the preserved landscape of Bolton which Edie so loved. The 40-acre parcel is adjacent to the Hop River State Park Trail and Camp Johnson and is across the rail trail from the Heritage Farm. Two hiking trails cross some small streams and are steep in some areas. One trail is marked with solid orange markers and the other, which brings you along the banks of the Hop River, is marked with orange and white markers. Trails are open year-round for non-motorized uses. Park at the Steeles Crossing Road trailhead and walk about 1,000 feet along the Hop River State Park Trail to the beginning of the Clark Trail.