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| A trail to the Pine Rock Park "Swimming Hole" had to be fenced off due to rampant misuse and mountains of litter |
Here are some trails we used to have in Shelton and now we don't. The reasons for the trails being abandoned vary, but we've learned to think hard about whether any new trail should be built. Is it on protected land? Who will maintain it? Is there parking? Will anyone want to use the trail? But even if the trail is used and maintained, other issues may shut it down, as in our first example:
Far Mill River Trail at Pine Rock Park This trail to the so-called "swimming hole" at Pine Rock Park was around for decades in one form or another, mostly following a sewer line to a deep pool below gorgeous falls in the river. It's one of the prettiest spots in Shelton. But with the rise of the Internet, word got out, and growing crowds of people began to descend on the swimming hole. They came from as far away as New York or New Jersey, and caused all sorts of problems in the neighborhood, clogging the streets, leaving piles of litter, and keeping people up at night. The City of Shelton spent years enforcing 'no parking' signs from the adjacent Pine Rock Park neighborhood. When a commercial development proposal for 865 River Road came before the Planning and Zoning Commission in 2006, an arrangement was made to provide parking spots there in the hopes that people would stop parking in Pine Rock Park. That did work for awhile.
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| Trail to the Pine Rock Park "Swimming Hole," now fenced off from the general public |
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| The old part of the trail follows a sewer line |
This was always a frustrating and complex issue because the open space property in question, north of the river, is within the boundaries of Shelton, but owned by the Town of Stratford as part of their Far Mill River Park. So the City of Shelton didn't have authority to manage it, but the Town of Stratford didn't have good access and considered it to be a nature preserve, not a public facility that needed intense daily management. For a couple years, Stratford had an access trail on their side of the river, with a tiny parking spot, but the trail was covered in thorny overgrowth and the tiny parking lot became a problem. Everyone finally just gave up and fenced it off. It was a real loss because the river is absolutely gorgeous. And this is why we can't have nice things.
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| Trail at Well Spring Estates, now overgrown. The parking area was closed to the public, ending interest in maintaining the trail. |
This particular trail still has some potential. It officially ended at the border with private properties, although an old fishing path continued along the edge of the river. On the other side of these private properties (0.4 mile) is some Shelton Open Space and then Stratford's Far Mill River Park, which continues for over a mile along the steep river bank to Rt 110. Conservation & Trails have long hoped to extend the Paugussett Trail from Buddington Road to the Far Mill River and out to Rt 110, ending at the old landfill (which was supposed to have a public access/boating component to it on the river side), but there are many hurdles that would need to be cleared.
Wakelee View Trail (Waterview Drive): This trail was formally proposed by the Open Space Committee in 1996 (this committee no longer exists) for the Shelton Heights Industrial Park area off of Constitution Blvd South. The details are lost to time, but people involved seem to remember that it was in response to a request by Pitney Bowes. The industrial park was mostly still vacant at the time. The Trails Committee had not yet been established, but a few years later the committee was created and the 0.9-mile Wakelee View Trail became their first project. No idea why it was called that. The trail traversed the periphery of the industrial park through a 100-ft conservation easement area up on an open hillside.
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| Wakelee View Trail (most of the buildings had not been constructed yet) |
It was a big project but almost immediately became overgrown. Trails Committee members had been under the impression that Pitney Bowes employees would help out with maintenance, but it didn't happen. The trail never seems to have gotten much use, probably because it was unimproved (a paved or crushed stone path would be more attractive for people on their lunch hour, like the popular paved corporate path near Trap Falls Reservoir). Also, this was the same year that the Shelton Lake regions became open space, and the Trails Committee's volunteers were enthusiast about getting some new trails there established, including the Rec Path.
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| Wakelee View Trail |
Land Trust/Boy Scout Trails: A number of trails created by Boy Scouts have been lost over the years, including a network of trails across the Stockmal and Willis Woods properties. Prior to the creation of Nicholdale Farm in the 1990s, the Stockmal family hosted a Boy Scout camping area on their private land, which abuts the Land Trust's Willis Woods property. A number of hiking trails were blazed, but after the Scout camp was moved to the new Nicholdale Farm property, those trails were not maintained and became impassible. Some sections of the newer Stockmal Trail and Willis Wood Trail coincide with these lost trails. The Scout camp was located at the current end of Stockmal Trail.
Another Land Trust/Scout trail in danger of being lost is the one off of Commerce Drive leading down towards the Far Mill River. A kiosk marks the spot. This was a great project and benches were installed. A general challenge of hiking trails created by Scouts is there is often no maintenance program in place to keep those trails clear, so they become overgrown quickly, especially if crossing sunny areas with lots of vegetation.
CFPA's Paugussett Trail, Hook-Up Trail, and the Birchbank Access Trail: Built in the 1930s, the Paugussett Trail used to stretch from the Stevenson Dam in Monroe all the way through Shelton to Roosevelt Forest in Stratford. The trail was managed by the non-profit Connecticut Forest and Park Association (CFPA). Everything south of Indian Well was abandoned in the 1970s or 80s when land was cleared for new housing developments. The trail was originally built largely on private property with only a handshake agreement, so when suburbanization ramped up, the trail was lost. The construction of Aspetuck Village was a major disruption, as were the office parks along Commerce Drive. Note that a portion of the trail was re-established in the 2010's using a new, protected route. Read more. Many other sections of the Paugussett from Birchbank to Webb Mtn were also lost or shifted in response to subdivisions. Lesson: Route trails on preserved lands where possible, or otherwise try to preserve a corridor for them.
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| 1946 CFPA Map showing the Paugussett, Pomperaug, and Hook-Up Trails (click to enlarge) Surviving routes are in blue |
The Hook-Up Trail linked the Paugussett Trail in Shelton to the Pomperaug Trail in Monroe. It passed through farmland of the White Hills. We don't know much about this trail, but assume it was lost when private properties were subdivided. Much of the southern Pomperaug Trail was also lost, and one orphaned stretch south of the Stevenson Dam was became part of the Paugussett Trail. Read more.
The Birchbank Access Trail to the Paugussett, blazed blue/yellow, was official abandoned due to unchecked ATV damage. After the City of Shelton purchased the land in 1998, the trail was re-opened (now blazed white), and ATV use was enforced.
The Bluff Walk at Riverview Park: A section of Shelton's first recreational trail was lost when it was buried under fill for a ballfield and the basketball parking area. The trail goes way back to the at least the early 1900s and can be seen on an aerial from 1934. The two ballfields were in place by 1965 and the basketball court by 2004. The section in the photo below still exists behind the large ballfield, while a new trail was dug into the fill slope behind the small ballfield. The Bluff Walk currently crosses the pavement at the basketball courts because the fill slope is too steep for a trail (a portion collapsed in a landslide a few years ago).
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| Old post card showing the Bluff Walk at Riverview Park, looking down on the canal. |
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