Joshua’s Trust

Joshua’s Tract Conservation and Historic Trust
(Andover, Ashford, Chaplin, Columbia, Coventry, Eastford, Franklin, Hampton, Lebanon, Mansfield, Mansfield Center, Scotland, Storrs, Tolland, Willington, Windham & Willimantic)

Whoa! Before I even read up on this land trust, I’m going to guess this is the largest one in Connecticut. FOURTEEN towns?! And three Connecticut non-town towns?! (Storrs, Mansfield Center, and Willimantic.) Many of which aren’t much more than woods and farms? Sheesh, if I’m really to hike through this land trust, I have my work cut out of me.

JT-Meadow-Header-Bright

Joshua’s Trust — officially, Joshua’s Tract Conservation and Historic Trust — is the largest land trust in Northeastern Connecticut, protecting more than 4,000 acres. Some properties are owned by the Trust and others are protected by easements; both methods assure that those lands will not be developed in perpetuity. Joshua’s Trust serves an area roughly conterminous with the Windham Region and extending into Tolland County, including the towns of Andover, Ashford, Chaplin, Columbia, Coventry, Eastford, Franklin, Hampton, Lebanon, Mansfield, Mansfield Center, Scotland, Storrs, Tolland, Willington, Windham and Willimantic, CT.

Ok. Slow down. Only the largest in northeastern Connecticut? Hm. I love the “historic trust” part of this whole thing, and I love that I learned a new word – “conterminous”, which mean “having a common boundary” which, to me, is an “either-or” sort of thing, not a “roughly” thing. But whatever… And I’m still annoyed that they say that Mansfield Center and Storrs are separate from Mansfield somehow. But I know, I know; that’s just me- and I’ll follow their convention below. Back to the historic part of this thing –

In addition to land, we also maintain two sites of historic significance: The Gurleyville Gristmill and the Atwood Farm. Cool. But why the weird name?

Our CT land trust is named for Joshua, son of Uncas, Mohegan Sachem, who in 1676 bequeathed his hunting grounds in the heart of eastern Connecticut to “16 men of Norwich”.

And I’m sure that was a fair deal. Hey, at least Joshua’s Trust is honoring the guy and keeping his former hunting grounds as “hunting groundsable” as possible I guess.

The trust was organized and incorporated in 1966. It grew out of a joint initiative of the Mansfield Historical Society and the Mansfield Conservation Commission, and the support of a number of residents in Mansfield and beyond.”

Feel free to click below and read more about this fairly unique organization. In the meantime, I’ll be trying to sort out which properties are mapped and/or trailed. The trust has a ton of unmapped “wild” tracts “more suitable for wildlife than humans.”

Joshua’s Trust
Preserves and Maps

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The Preserves/Hikes:

If linked, I’ve hiked it.
*No current map, but potentially can be explored

Andover

Polomski’s Parcel*

Ashford

Abraham R. and Samuel H. Friedman Forest Preserve
Church Farm
Fliegel Farm Woods
Iron Mine Valley
Josias Byles Sanctuary
Whiting Lot*

Chaplin

Two Sisters Tract
Bernard Church Woods
Hubbard Sanctuary

Columbia

Utley Hill Preserve
Potter Meadow

Coventry

Broadway Meadow*
Elizabeth Couch Preserve

Hampton

George and Margaret Hemphill Woods*
Warren Stone Preserve*
H.E. Preston Nature Sanctuary

Lebanon

Pigeon Swamp Preserve

Mansfield

Gurleyville Gristmill and Barn*
Nate and Theora Whetten Woods
Jacob’s Hill Preserve (Town of Mansfield)
Löf Woodlands
Knowlton Hill Preserve
Dunham Woods (Town of Mansfield)
Michael’s Preserve and Ysebaert Sanctuary*
Owen’s Mere
Proposal Rock
Tinkerville Brook Preserve
Wolf Rock Nature Preserve (Town of Mansfield)

Mansfield Center

Bradley-Buchanan Woods
Echo Woods Beach & Echo Woods
Pond Lot
Center Meadow *
Harriet E. Babcock Preserve
Holt-Kinney Woods

Scotland

Pappenheimer Preserve

Tolland

Tobiassen Memorial Forest

Willington

Chenes Roches Preserve

Windham

Atlantic White Cedar Bog*
Allanach-Wolf Woodlands

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CTMQ’s Land Trust Trails Page
CTMQ’s Non-CFPA Trails page

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