Spotlight on Curtiss Brook

Curtiss Brook is an overlooked and under-appreciated feature of the Shelton Lakes Greenway. Did you know that Pine Lake, Hope Lake, and Silent Waters are all dammed sections of the Curtiss Brook or its branches? Most of the major hiking trails in the Shelton Lakes Greenway feature this brook, and we've built a number of pedestrian bridges across it.  

Curtiss Brook (Click image to enlarge). 
The heavy blue highlighted section is the channel shown on  
a Shelton map dated 1867. The red line is Shelton Ave.

So here's a trailside tour of the brook, starting at the mouth of the river where it empties into the Housatonic River and progress upstream to its source near Willoughby Road.  Upstream from Pine Lake, the brook splits into three main branches. I'm showing the middle branch as Curtiss Brook proper because that's what an old map from 1867 shows. I've labeled the other two major branches as the North Branch and South Branch of Curtiss Brook for this blog post.

The Shelton Canal & Locks: Before we begin our tour at Shelton Lakes, let's start by driving downtown to the north end of Canal Street, parking, and walking through the gate to the Shelton Canal & Locks (see trail map). That water you see spilling over the locks is Curtiss Brook!  The brook had entered into the canal a bit to the south. Everyone should visit this spot at least once! The canal was the source of water power that allowed for industrialization downtown in the late 1800's. Curtiss Brook was a critical water resource for these industries. That's why the reservoirs were built. 

Curtiss Brook spills down the locks

Curtiss Brook Trail: Now drive over to Pine Lake and park. Note the big hill you drive up on your way there. When you get to the top of the hill, that's where the Pine Lake parking lot is, along with the dam across Curtiss Brook that created Pine Lake. Park here. 

The top of an old dam near Curtiss Brook Trail,
just before the brook leaves public open space

Don't get on the Rec Path just yet. With your back to the highway, turn right and follow the orange blazes of Curtiss Brook Trail. The stream is spilling over the Pine Lake dam and entering a deep ravine. The trail follows the brook but is up on the steep slope. After about a quarter mile, the slope eases and an unmarked side trail leads down to the water's edge. Just below this point are the remains of another dam. 

A spur off of Curtiss Brook Trail leads down to the water

The Rec Path at Pine Lake: Return to the parking lot, and walk across the Pine Lake dam spillway bridge. The elevation here is quite a bit higher than down along the canal where the factories used to be. All the water company needed to do was open a valve and water rushed through the pipes at high pressure because it was going down a big hill. This water pressure could be used to fight fires.  The concrete remains of a gatehouse foundation that housed the valve can be seen in the water near the bridge. There is also a red building below the dam. We're not entirely sure what this was, but have heard it was perhaps a filtration facility.  For many decades this reservoir was known as Shelton Reservoir #2. 

Pine Lake dam and pedestrian bridge
(photo taken before the old gatehouse collapsed)

The Rec Path School Campus Section: Walk along the Rec Path and cross Meadow Street. As you head up the hill, Curtiss Brook is now babbling just off to the left of the trail under tall White Pines, quite scenic in a few spots. 

Curtiss Brook as it runs 
between the Rec Path and
Shelton Avenue

Part way up the hill, with a ballfield just off to your right, the brook splits. The main brook crosses Shelton Avenue via a pair of 4-foot culvert, while the North Branch continues alongside the Rec Path all the way to Constitution Blvd North. 

Curtiss Brook goes under Shelton Ave via twin culverts, 
while the north branch continues along the Rec Path

After crossing Constitution Blvd, the North Branch is not seen from our trail system again unless you take the Paugussett Trail north and cross Independence Drive. We call this section of the Paugussett the "Indy Link" where it crosses the headwaters of Curtiss Brook's North Branch. The terrain is poorly drained and we've had a number of challenges maintaining the trail through here. After a heavy rain, the land is filled with little channels of water coming together, seemingly from every direction, and collecting. There are multiple bridges and bog walks, and the trail has been shifted a few times in an effort to find better footing. 

North Branch Curtiss Brook after heavy rain. 
Paugussett Trail north of Independence Drive.

The Rec Path at Silent Waters: Back to the tour. After crossing Constitution Blvd North, continue along the Rec Path to where the path takes a sharp left and begins to follow the top of the old Silent Waters dam constructed in the late 1800s. What's left of the reservoir is off to the right. The water level used to be much higher and you would have been walking right along the shoreline, but the water was mostly drained for safety reasons. Continue to the Silent Waters bridge over the spillway.  This used to be called Shelton Reservoir #1 and the modest spillway is where Curtiss Brook flows out of the reservoir.  If you look downstream, you'll see smaller Rec Path bridge over the brook, and then the brook just seems to just disappear. It's gone underground, piped beneath the big intersection between the Dog Park and the Intermediate School. From there, it flows along Shelton Avenue, but on the other side of the highway from the school and trails, so you don't see it. Eventually it recrosses the highway at the two culverts we saw earlier. 

Curtiss Brook at Silent Waters spillway
(2007 photo during Rec Path construction)

To find the headwaters of Curtiss Brook, continue along the Rec Path to the end of the dam and take a right onto Turkey Trot Trail, blazed white. You'll be going around the loop clockwise. Follow this trail past the powerline and you'll see Curtiss Brook once again on your right, babbling away if there's been enough rain. After a few hundred yards, a section splits off and crosses under Shelton Avenue. This is the outlet from Cranberry Swamp, the vast wooded swamp that Oak Valley Trail circles around (the name comes from old deeds, but we have no idea if there were actually cranberries in the swamp at one time). 

The Cranberry Swamp outlet (Oak Valley Trail)
crosses Shelton Ave and empties into Curtiss Brook 
near Turkey Trot Trail

Curtiss Brook continues along Turkey Trot Trail for a bit then turns away from the trail and is no longer seen. The trail bends to the right with Willoughby Road to your left, then meanders off to the right again, away from the road for a bit. As it circles back to the left towards Willoughby again, there will be some rock features on your right and a sharp drop off down to a wooded swamp down below. That's the source of Curtiss Brook. The trail will circle around the swamp clockwise. 

Source of Curtiss Brook, near Turkey Trot Trail

Old land records show that a portion of this swamp was once owned by George Cam, a Native American who owned several tracts of land along Oak Valley Road in the late 1700s. This particular property was entirely swampland, and there is conjecture that it was originally a cedar swamp and George Cam harvested the cedars for making cedar shingles (tools used for making shingles were found on his farm). Northern White Cedar is pretty rare in Connecticut now, but used to be much more common before it was overharvested. 

If you are literally walking this route, then continue following the white blazes of Turkey Trot Trail until the trail rejoins the Rec Path. Go left onto the Rec Path and follow that back to Pine Lake. 

The South Branch of Curtiss Brook: Park at the Dog Park on Nells Rock Road. Curtiss Brook is on the other side of Nells Rock Road and has just split into the main branch and the south branch, the latter of which goes underneath Nells Rock Road shortly. Head up the Rec Path towards Hope Lake.  You should start seeing the southern  branch of Curtiss Brook off to your left as it drains out of Hope Lake.  Continue up hill on the Rec Path and when you get closer to the Hope Lake dam, you should see the waters of Curtiss Brook cascading over the spillway. 

Curtiss Brook South Branch flowing out of Hope Lake

Paugussett Trail at Hope Lake & Eklund Pond:  Take a left onto the Paugussett Trail at the dam and follow the blue blazes along the shoreline all the way to the far end of the lake. Imagine the long, deep valley that was here before the brook was dammed. The valley made for deeper waters once the brook was dammed, which is why this is the only one of the three Shelton reservoirs that is stocked with trout. The other reservoirs are too shallow and warm to support trout. 

When the blue blazes take a sharp left and join Oak Valley Trail, you'll cross a bridge over a small stream that feeds Hope Lake. This is the south branch of Curtiss Brook. We'll come back to it further upstream shortly. 

The Hope Lake inlet
Bridge is for Oak Valley Trail & the Paugussett

Continue following the blue blazes to cross Oak Valley Road. Take a quick right onto the blue/red blazes of the Eklund Bypass Trail, and follow that down to a tiny pond formed by damming up, you guessed it, the Curtiss Brook South Channel. This is the same channel that you recently crossed as it flowed into Hope Lake. The Eklund Pond is a high quality vernal pool, filled with salamander and wood frog eggs each spring, but no fish. It's not much to look at, so enjoy this photo of a very tiny baby salamander: 

Salamander larvae from the 
vernal pool at Eklund Garden