Blackledge Marsh / Freddo Family Preserve
43 acres in Bolton, CT
Parking: At the cul-de-sac near 47 Cocconi Dr, Bolton, CT
Trail Map Trails: 1.22 miles Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Trails at Blackledge Marsh have expanded! What was once a very simple and short 0.42 mile loop has expanded with the addition of the Freddo Family Preserve in 2022 adding another 0.8 miles. This fantastic addition is a great quick hike with some unique views.
I started from the kiosk off the cul de sac on Cocconi Drive taking the yellow blazed loop right at the fork and heading up a small hill close to a private property driveway. You’re close to a house but thankfully the trail turns at the stone wall to meet the orange trail at a small embankment along the marsh. Crossing through the stonewall enters the new Freddo Family Preserve and is passable thanks to stairs and a bridge built by Eagle Scout Davin Duffy in Spring 2024.
This new trail follows the bank of the marsh before splitting off on the the orange/white trail. The route is well selected catching interesting sights at each turn. Stone steps over a stream, crawler tractor tracks, rocky hummocks, marsh views, and tall old pines. The trail map also notes a blue patch at the backside of the loop though in November I missed it. The orange white recrosses the stream and reconnects with the orange trail to head back along the Blackledge Marsh all the way to Deming Drive for alternate parking or hop off onto the yellow trail again to return to Cocconi Drive.
History:
The 19.5 acres Blackledge Marsh property was acquired in 2004 as an open space set aside from the Strawberry Ridge development. The 23.5 acre Freddo Family preserve was acquired in 2022 when it was donated by the Freddo Family in honor of Italian immigrants Frank and Rose Freddo, their daughter Adrianna and son Joseph, Joe and his wife Ellie’s sons Thomas and Steven, and Steven’s and Thomas’s children.
Links:
- CTMQ – BLT: Blackledge Marsh (2020)
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Last updated November 20th, 2024
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