Welcome

Welcome to the latest edition of Redding’s Book of Trails! Here, we continue a tradition which began in 1982 with the Book’s first printing. The fourth physical edition of The Book of Trails was published in 2005 and is still available at the Mark Twain Library. This digital edition was begun in 2018. Enjoy!

In 2025, the year of our sixtieth anniversary, we are excited to announce work on The Book of Trails V.

Introduction
Read Before You Go
Saving the Land - History & Ecology
Dogs on Leash
Horseback Riding

The Trails

Explore Land Trust-, Town-, and State-owned preserves on this clickable map (full list below):

… or search the trails (please limit search to one word at a time).

The southern half of Redding was first settled by colonists as part of the town of Fairfield. The border of these Fairfield “Long Lots” ran a little north of present-day Seventy Acre Road and along Cross Highway, roughly 13.5 miles from the shore. North of this line was “The Oblong,” partially settled but not part of any town.

There, in the Northeast of modern Redding, we have the homestead of John Read (early colonial settler and Redding’s namesake), a Revolutionary War encampment, two State Parks (including Connecticut’s first), and the headwaters of the Little River.

Limekiln Natural Area, The Marcus Gift & Todd's Wood
Gallows Hill Natural Area
Drummer Lane Yovan Tract
The Reeve Biggers & Dan Beard Trails
Turkington Falls Natural Area
The Joan Plishner Wildlife Preserve
Putnam Memorial State Park
Lonetown Marsh Sanctuary
Little River North
Stephenson (in Bethel)
Huntington State Park
Couch Hill Preserve

In the Southeast, we have the hamlet of Redding Ridge, the Joel Barlow High School, and a good chunk of the Aspetuck River watershed to the east, and Redding Glen’s ravines to the west. The foundries on the Aspetuck are long gone, but the waterfalls remain.

Ground Pine Sanctuary
Mahony Gift
Samuel E. Hill Little River Preserve
Ravine Trail
Mary Anne Guitar Preserve
Barbara and Anthony Delia Preserve
Saugatuck Trail
Aspetuck Trail

The Southwest includes Redding’s densely populated hamlet of Georgetown, but also some of the town’s largest preserves, and the iconic Great Ledge. The Norwalk River flows along the town’s Ridgefield and Wilton borders, while much of the Weston border is the huge Devil’s Den Preserve.

The Rock Lot and the Mary Evelyn Scott Nature Preserve
Stormfield
The Peter and Nell Fitzpatrick Preserve and Jean's Trail
Arthur F. Brinckerhoff Nature Preserve
Reservoir Trail
Dayton Road to Devil's Den
The Great Ledge
Lucius Pond Ordway Preserve (Devil's Den)

Coming back around to the Northwest, we have the lands of another original colonial settler, Nathan Gold. The Gold lands included present-day New Pond Farm and Umpawaug Pond, the largest natural lake in town. This area flows almost entirely into the Saugatuck Reservoir.

Col Alfred McCormack Preserve
Henry and Lotte Fields Preserve
Poliak Pond Preserve
Bogus Brook Preserve
Sidecut Trail
Ives Trail
The Saugaway
Saugatuck Falls Natural Area
Norwalk River Valley Trail
Westway
Marchant Farm
Huckleberry Swamp (The Steichen Preserve)
Windy Hill
Topstone Park

Earlier editions of the Book of Trails organized trails by their river watersheds.

Next: How did we get here?