Essex Land Trust
Essex, Deep River, & Old Saybrook
Psst! Wanna know a secret? Everyone loves Essex. Hey! I said ESsex. It’s a beautiful little town near the mouth of the Connecticut River. It’s quaint, even. It’s historic. Artistic. Well-kept. Tony.
And it has greenspace and a very active land trust to keep up with it all. Sure, Essex wins all sorts of “best little town” type awards, but I’m telling you – a big reason why Essex is so great is because there are places to go for a walk. In actual woods and along creeks and ponds.
If I sound jealous, that’s because I am. I live in West Hartford – another “best of” winner for lots of things, but my town views greenspace as development opportunity. We have nowhere to go walking in the woods besides the MDC reservoirs.
So hats off to Essex and especially to the Essex Land Trust! Their trail guide and online resources are as good as any other like-minded organization in the state.
Essex Land Trust
Excellent Trail Guide
The Preserves/Hikes:
If linked, I’ve hiked it.
* = Town of Essex property
** = The Nature Conservancy property
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Bushy Hill Nature Preserve*
Canfield/Meadow Woods*
Cross Lots
Falls River Preserve
Fern Ledge & Farm Hill Estates
Heron Pond Preserve
James Glen
Jean’s Island
Johnson Farm
The Millrace
North Cove
Osage Trails
The Preserve
South Cove
Tiley Pratt Pond
Turtle Creek Preserve**
Viney Hill Brook Park/Preserve*
Windswept Ridge
Water Trails
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Jean’s Island
North Cove
South Cove
CTMQ’s Land Trust Trails Page
Jim Denham says
March 4, 2020 at 4:27 pmThere is a new Essex Land Trust Trail Guide just published. Available free of charge to members or for sale in several local outlets. All maps have been created from scratch using GPS to improve both the precision and the quality of the maps and include trails, significant stone walls, access points and points of interest; the Town of Essex Open Space map has been updated to provide an overview to all properties located in the villages of Centerbrook, Essex and Ivoryton; individual descriptions have been revised and updated to ensure more current information about each preserve; new pictures specific to the preserves have been incorporated.