Middlesex Land Trust

The Middlesex Land Trust has recently acquired a rather unique property located in the Maromas section of Middletown. Comprising 22 +/- acres, the property is characterized by steep outcrops and ledges enclosing deep ravines. The donors wish to remain anonymous, so MLT has gone back in time to find a suitable name for the property. Land records research revealed that the parcel was historically known as the “Shailer Tract”, named for an early 19^th-century owner. Combining this reference with a physical description, MLT has named the property the “Shailer Ledges Preserve”.

The property is bounded westerly by Maromas Road, southerly by Aircraft Road, easterly by land of Pratt & Whitney (the jet engine plant) and northerly by CL&P powerlines. Best access to the property is made from an old highway (part of the original River Road) that climbs easterly from the southerly terminus of Maromas Road to a steep ridge on the southeasterly boundaries. The ridge provides a sporting scramble, but an easier approach follows another old road into the central ravine. Steep and bold ledges overlook the ravine and provide more scrambling opportunities for adventurous visitors. A loop trail will be established that will lead hikers up and over the top of the ledges along the northerly boundary. The trail will be blazed and mapped and ready for travel by late spring or early summer 2013.

This part of Middletown was formerly occupied to a much greater extent than it is today, as evidenced by the Maromas Cemetery opposite the Preserve on the south side of Aircraft Road. The poignant epitaphs on many of the gravestones harken back to an earlier time, when many lives were cut short by disease and preparation for the afterlife was a primary concern. Prior to the colonial era, the riverbanks and hillsides were home to bands of Wangunk Indians, and the central ravine may have been occupied by native wigwams and hogans. The evidence is circumstantial, but the topography resembles locales in Portland and on Haddam Neck where deep-sided ravines provided secure flanks and an easily defensible front, where the historical record notes that small groups of Wangunks made their last resorts up to the end of the 18^th century. An overhanging rock shelter on the westerly flank of the ledges contains an ancient hearth, and seems likely to have been occupied in pre-contact times as a hunting camp.

In the past year the Middlesex Land Trust has preserved four new parcels of land for the passive recreation and enjoyment of present and future generations. These preserves, totaling over 90 acres combined, are located in Middletown (56 acres), Portland (27 acres) and East Hampton (8 acres).

Two of the preserves are east of the CT River: the Cedar Meadows Preserve is on Penfield Hill Road in Portland, and Union Hill the new East Hampton preserve is just down Rt 156 from the Rt 66 intersection in Cobalt. We hope you will check them out as we build trails and work to improve them for use over the next few seasons.

The two preserves in Middletown are at opposite ends of town – about as far apart as can be and still be in Middletown. These include the Boardman Preserve to the North, which this year was expanded by 34 acres (for a total of 88 acres), and a 22 acre parcel in the Maromas region – our first preserve in that far southeastern area of Middletown – called Shailer Ledges! There will be more on Maromas in our future, so keep an eye out to learn more about the new Shailer Ledges Preserve and the area called “Middletown’s Last Great Place”.

The Middlesex Land Trust held a tag sale at the Palmer Barn as part of Portland’s Annual Town Wide Tag Sale Event May 12th, and it was a terrific success. The funds raised will help the continue the maintenance and repair of the historic barn at MLT’s Palmer Preserve located on  Middle Haddam Road.

Among the hundreds of items donated and sold were several pairs of snowshoes,  lots of kids toys, tools old and new, furnature and knickknacks, antiques, useful materials,  and lots and lots of cool stuff! Most tagsaler’s managed to bargain for some great deals, and not just the early birds as donations came in for the sale throughout the day!

It seems a  good time was had by all.

We were also treated to a visit by Mr. Mclean who had spent a portion of his youth milking cows in that very barn! He was able to tell us all about the original layout of the barn, and of buildings and fields that no longer exist on the property. Walking around the barn with Mr. Mclean, we were able to get some answers to some questions that had long puzzled us. It was a wonderful history lesson that might have been lost had he not happened by the sale!

The day was a great success! Our sincere thanks go out to the many donors and volunteers who contributed to the wonderful success of the effort.

November 9, 2011 marked a first for the Middlesex Land Trust in its 24 year history – we closed on a property, but we didn’t buy it. We sold it!
The Pine Brook Falls Preserve now has a new home with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as part of the expanding Salmon River Division of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. This helps both the Middlesex Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy to free up funding for additional conservation work, while also ensuring continued
protection of this property for future generations. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) first approached the Land Trust on partnering with them to purchase Pine Brook Falls in the fall of 2002, with our purchase
from TNC occurring in 2007 a few years after they bought the property. TNC retained a conservation easement on the property at that time. This sale to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continues
the momentum in the Refuge. It is the second parcel added to the Salmon River Division of the Refuge, joining the 290 acre Johnson parcel that USF&W purchased in 2009 from The Nature Conservancy and the Town of Haddam. Consolidating parcels under Fish & Wildlife will allow for more comprehensive professional management of the area in support of specific conservation goals. Already this summer, an assessment of invasive plant species was conducted by a team of specialists. Our donors can be proud of their role in the Middlesex Land Trust’s participation in this collaboration,
and in other efforts in the Pine Brook corridor where we still hold over one hundred acres in the Kruger Farm , the Pine Brook Markham, and Pine Brook (Chestnut Hill Rd) Preserves. With your continued
support we look forward to more successes along Pine Brook.

More than a year of effort on the part of the Land Trust and key partners has paid off with the purchase of Kruger Farm in Haddam Neck — a former dairy farm encompassing woodlands, a hayfield, wetlands and a feeder creek to Pine Brook.

The years-long project — a collaboration  between the Land Trust, the Haddam Neck Spirit, the town of Haddam and the DEP — has created a 50-acre preserve near the confluence of the Salmon River and the Connecticut River. It is contiguous with the 289-acre Johnson Preserve, which fronts on both Pine Brook and the Salmon River and is held by the town of Haddam and The Nature Conservancy; this preserve is contiguous with the Haddam Land Trust’s 22-acre preserve on Pine Brook. It lies within one of two areas in Connecticut identified by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for additions to its Silvio O. Conte Refuge, which protects migratory fish and birds in the Connecticut River Watershed.