Freddo Family and Blackledge Marsh Preserves
43 acres
Cocconi Drive and Deming Road
Public Trail
The Blackledge Marsh and Freddo Family Preserve together form a 43-acre preserve along the northern end of the Blackledge River corridor. The Blackledge Marsh parcel was given to the Bolton Land Trust when the Strawberry Ridge development was built in 2004. The Freddo Family Preserve was created 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 Joe, Joe and wife Ellie’s sons Thom and Steven, Thom and wife Janice’s children Matthew and Catherine, and Steven and wife Sharon’s daughters Heather Modzelewski and Christy Martinez.
The property continues a chain of preserved land along the Blackledge River corridor, helping maintain excellent water quality and providing diverse habitat for birds and mammals. The Blackledge River and a tributary merge near the center of the Freddo Family Preserve, continues south and eventually joins the Jeremy River. 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 stream crossings via stepping stones which might be slippery and possibly underwater during high water flows, at which time crossing should not be attempted.
Parking for access to the trail is at the end of Cocconi Drive. A short set of steps leads to a kiosk containing a map. Parking is also available along Deming Road.
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.
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.
The maps on this website were created by Ken Geisler. A former Bolton Land Trust director, Ken has done mapping projects for state and national environmental organizations. Ken's mapping expertise has been invaluable in enabling the Bolton Land Trust to provide the public with guidance about trail locations and to visually convey the land trust's preservation successes. The land trust board is grateful to Ken for his generosity with his skills and expertise.
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.
Bobcat Woods Community Forest
and Lombardi Ridge Preserve
Near the intersection of Brandy Street and School Road
170 acres
Public Trail
Together, Bobcat Woods Community Forest and Lombardi Ridge Preserve form a 170-preserve with hiking trails.
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. In 2023 about five acres of the property were selectively cut according to a professionally prepared forest management plan to create early successional habitat. Under the guidance of Bolton Land Trust director and Trinity College faculty member Jonathan Gourley, students from Trinity College have monitored the before-and-after condition of the conservation cut including identifying the trees in the cut area, sampling and mapping soils to determine changes in carbon/nitrogen ratios and installing interpretive signage explaining the purpose and benefits of the cut.
The hiking trail on Bobcat Woods is easy to moderate, covering terrain that is level but uneven in places, with some ledges. The trail is marked with yellow blazes and is approximately 1.3 miles.
Adjacent to the south of Bobcat Woods is Lombardi Ridge Preserve which was the result of a merger of three parcels: 21 acres donated by Rita Lombardi in memory of her husband, Frank, in May, 2003; 51 acres donated by High Ridge Farm, LLC in December 2007; and 24 acres donated by the Northern Connecticut Land Trust in 2010.
Two hiking trails on Lombardi Ridge Preserve cross diverse terrain and scenery includes marsh, wooded wetlands, ledges, streams and woods. A memorial stone dedicated in memory of Frank Lombardi and a bench donated by the four Bolton churches is located in the natural amphitheater, a beautiful resting spot.
The Lombardi Ridge trail is marked with orange blazes and is 1.2 miles.
The Rock Hollow trail, a loop off of the Lombardi trail, is marked with orange and white blazes and is approximately .6 miles.
Parking for the properties is on High Ridge Road. Walk east down the gravel road about ¼ mile. No vehicles are permitted on the gravel road or on the trails. A map of the two properties is posted on a kiosk at the beginning of the trails.