Three Sisters Preserve

Three Sisters… Three Disappointments
Bethany Land Trust’s Three Sisters Preserve, Bethany & Naugatuck
May 2024

Hiking newly acquired, newly trailed properties is great. You get to be one of the first people to see and experience something new.

Hiking newly acquired, newly trailed properties is terrible. You are often confronted with unfinished trail work and poor signage.

Hiking newly acquired, newly trailed properties is both.

Actually, the most bothersome part of this situation to me (and only me) is that while I successfully completed the single short half-mile loop trail in Three Sisters Preserve which straddles the Bethany–Naugatuck border, I have this nagging thought that I’ll need to return in a few years to hike an expanded trail network.

I just know it.

The preserve itself does extend north up into Prospect (barely). And hiking north from the established trail (2024) would require a fairly steep slog up a ravine with no other way back down than retracing steps. So maybe there won’t be any more official trail mileage here, but there will always be unofficial trail mileage up the hill.

More on that in a minute.

The trailhead is right off busy Route 63 very near the Naugatuck border. There’s parking here on the south side of the road. It’s not ideal, but it works. Some steps lead down from the road and the yellow-blazed trail immediately crosses Beacon Hill Brook.

There are two crossings. The eastern one requires rock-hopping which I can’t imagine is remotely easy during high water. I kept dry because I’m so awesome and began the loop trail. Built as an Eagle Scout project by Ryan Hendrick of Bethany, the trail leaves the brook and climbs over a ridge to the bottom of the ravine. The Land Trust is a bit more florid than I in its description of the area: “featuring steep escarpments on both sides of a spectacular ravine.”

Mmmm, there are steep bits, but I’m gonna lay off the “spectacular” claim.

When I reached the tippy top of the blazed trail, I noticed a fairly well-defined herd path continuing uphill. I walked it for a bit, saw it didn’t seem to be leading me anywhere, ahem, spectacular, and returned to the official trail.

And I’m glad I did, as only disappointment loomed ahead.

Climbing up the steep ravine off trail will bring you to the location of a long-gone chestnut tree [Disappointment 1] with three trunks that served as a reference point for Native Americans, and later the colonies. The tree was known as both the Three Sisters Tree and the Three Brothers Tree. In 1673, the New Haven Colony and the Milford Colony disputed the boundary and agreed to settle the dispute through physical combat, which apparently ended in a draw. Today, the site of that tree marks the boundary between Bethany, Naugatuck, and Prospect.

As much as I enjoy a tree in want of gender-affirming therapy, I enjoy a town tri-point marker even more. So why did I say that a climb up to it would be disappointing?

Because people suck, that’s why:

It is with extreme sadness and disappointment that the Bethany Land Trust trail crew reports that a historical boundary marker stone has been removed from the Three Sisters Preserve [Disappointment 2]. This ancient stone engraved with dates and initials was removed from its long-standing location at the top of a steep ravine marking where the boundaries of Bethany, Prospect and Naugatuck converge. This historical site was also the location of a long gone chestnut tree with three trunks that served as a reference point for Native Americans, and later the colonies.

Since a search of the surrounding area was unsuccessful, we ask that anyone who may have taken possession of the boundary stone return it to the Land Trust by dropping it off at the end of the driveway of 53 Falls Road in Bethany, no questions asked.

Sigh.

Back to the blazed trail, which simply returns south towards the brook. It does pass an old stone foundation and then a rather cool site of what appears to be an old mill. The trail’s path through it is pretty fun.

There’s some boardwalk work here and then the site of second brook crossing and its bridge:

Or not. [Disappointment 3]

Historic amounts of rain in the winter of 2023-24 washed it downstream. Fortunately, it was well-built and remained intact when collected retrieved. I have no idea how humans are planning to move it back to where it belongs, but that’s why I write about this amazing volunteer work rather than actually do it.

I continued to where I initially crossed the stream, did it again with the skill of a mountain goat, and returned to my car.

Three Sisters is yet another short, but satisfying Bethany Land Trust hike. It’s really quite fun to find this little properties, as even though they’re all in Bethany, they’re all quite different from each other.

Bethany Land Trust
CTMQ Hikes Bethany Land Trust’s Trails