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Description
Williams Preserve
55 acres in Coventry, CT
Parking: Small pull-off near 179 Cooper Ln Coventry, CT
Trail Map Trails: 2 miles Rating: ★★☆☆☆
The Williams Preserve is Coventry’s newest town park, officially opening at the end of September 2018. I visited shortly after to explore the new trails. Williams Park is a welcome addition to the short ‘lollipop’ loop at the adjacent Couch Preserve (the trail map above combines the two). It is a nice simple walk in the woods with views of the Willimantic River.
Hiking
There are just over 2 miles of official trails that head from Cooper Lane downhill to the banks of the Willimantic River at Eagleville Lake. From the small parking area the trail cuts through an open field was very wet on my last visit from recent rains. The trail crosses a small stream and can either continue downhill or turn right to connect to the Couch Preserve. Heading downhill through the pines the trail forks. Both forks are roughly the same distance and pass similar stone walls and old trees.
They re-converge near the river, but never quite give a good view, which was a little unsatisfying. I did find, however, that another trail continues to the right soon connecting to the houses along Pine Lake Drive and it seems likely that this one was here well before the new loop was put in.
From here is an old rutted woods road that travels to the end of Whites Hill Road. This means that taking either Pine Lake Drive or White Hill Road to Rt 275 would offer a connection to the Eagleville Preserve. I’m getting a bit ambitious and purely speculative here, but this could offer a further southern extension to the Willimantic River Trail whose current start is as River Park in Mansfield.
History:
Established as a park in 2018 when it was purchased by the Town of Coventry for $404,000 after nearly four years of negotiations.
Links:
Peter Marteka – Making Connections Along The Banks Of The Willimantic River (2018)
Michelle Firestone – Preserved land to be celebrated in Coventry (2018)
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Last updated October 2nd, 2018
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