Maurice and Rita Edwards Preserve

Maurice and Rita Edwards Preserve

Hampton Town Park

57.3 acres in Hampton, CT

Parking: Medium sized lot at the end of 135 Old Town Pound Road, Hampton, CT

Trail Map          Trails: 1.8 miles     Rating: ★★☆☆☆

The 57 acre Edwards Preserve is only a tiny corner when compared to its 2,000 acre neighbor the Goodwin State Forest but it offers some nice loop extensions for longer hikes.

Hiking

Very few people start from the surprisingly nice parking area at the end of Old Town Pound Road and instead likely think of these trails at different connections between the Brown Hill Marsh and Governor’s Island sections of the state forest.  However from the parking area you can take the abandoned stretch of Old Town Pound almost directly down the island on Pine Acres Lake or head off onto narrow trail teeming with bittersweet.

The trail loops slightly uphill without much to note beyond thick forest and the occasional stone wall until reaching a trail junction at a rock noted on the trailhead map.  Near here, just off trail, is an rusting Ford F-350 burly built with steel and fading chrome.  It was roughly clear in Peter Marteka’s 2019 visit, but on my 2022 visit several trees had fallen across it in a thicket of bittersweet and vines.

From this trail junction you can follow the trail south to old Cedar Swamp Road or north back to Old Town Pound Road.  Either connection puts you on the red trail which is a main thoroughfare of the state forest.

I would recommend heading to the junction to see the old car, looping up to Governor’s Island and then following the water on the blue/white trail until connecting the yellow blazes around Brown Hill Marsh back through the preserve for about four miles total.

History:

The original 50.8 acres were purchased by the Town of Hampton for $311,100 in 2013 from Michael D. Vadnais.    $210,000 came from the Town of Hampton’s Capital Non-Recurring Open Space Fund and $101,500 reimbursed through the State of Connecticut Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition program grant. An additional 6.5 acres were purchased through the same program for $22,750 in 2015.

Links:

Peter Marteka – An autumn visit to an old woods road and the scenic marshes of Hampton (2019)

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Last updated June 13th, 2022