Explore Windham County
Windham County
Explored: 100%
The Quiet Corner of Connecticut.
Windham County holds over 120 preserved open space areas totaling well over 20,000 acres.
- 265 miles of trails
- Dozens of fishing/boating locations
- 2 rock climbing areas
- 4 disc golf courses
Most Popular Locations
My Highlights
My Recommendations
Best Overlook: Old Furnace State Park
Best Waterfall: Cargill Falls is powerful but my pick is the man-made falls of Cat Hollow
Other Highlights: Wolf Den at Mashamoquet Brook
Regional Land Trusts
Regional Land Trusts
- Joshua’s Trust
- Wolf Den Land Trust
- Wyndham Land Trust
- New Roxbury Land Trust
Town List
Ashford (17 hiking areas for 42 miles of trails, 1 fishing/boating)
- Highlight is Boston Hollow
Brooklyn (7 hiking areas for 10 miles, 1 fishing/boating area)
- Highlight Davis Forest
Canterbury (2 hiking areas for 2.5 miles, 1 fishing/boating area)
- Highlight is Kinne Preserve
Chaplin (8 hiking areas for 16.5 miles, 3 fishing/boating areas, and a disc golf course)
- Highlight is Diana’s Pool
Eastford (6 hiking areas for 23.5 miles, 1 fishing/boating area)
- Highlight is Halls Pond
Hampton (13 hiking areas for 31.2 miles, 2 fishing/boating areas)
- Highlight is Goodwin State Forest
Killingly (15 hiking areas for 20.6 miles, 5 fishing/boating areas)
- Highlight is Old Furnace State Park
Plainfield (3 hiking areas for 10 miles, 1 fishing/boating area)
- Highlight is Sugar Brook
Pomfret (13 hiking areas for 43.2 miles, 1 fishing/boating area)
- Highlight is Wolf Den
Putnam (3 hiking areas for 3.1 miles, 1 fishing/boating area)
- Highlight is Cargill Falls
Scotland (5 hiking areas for 11.5 miles, 0 fishing/boating areas)
- Highlight is Rock Spring
Sterling (2 hiking areas for 6.1 miles, 1 fishing/boating area)
- Highlight is Pharisee Rock
Thompson (12 hiking areas for 28.5 miles, 2 fishing/boating areas)
- Highlight is the Tri-State Marker
Windham (5 hiking areas for 10 miles, 2 fishing/boating areas)
- Highlight is Allanach Wolf Woodlands
Woodstock (11 hiking areas for 11.5 miles, 4 fishing/boating areas)
- Highlight is the Wabbaquassett
Originally part of Joshua’s Tract (land deeded by Mohegan Chief Uncas’s son to English colonists),
The town was named in 1809 for Deacon Benjamin Chaplin, an early landowner and surveyor and a deacon of the Mansfield church. Benjamin Chaplin lived along the Natchaug River and before Chaplin died in 1795 bequeathed three hundred pounds ($1,500) to form an ecclesiastical society on the condition that this church be built within a mile and a quarter of his homestead (the church no longer stands).
It became the 124th town in the state when it was incorporated in May of 1822 from parts of Hampton, Mansfield, and Windham.
In July 1974, Chaplin Village the town’s original Main Street (now Chaplin Street) was designated a National Historic District as a good example of 19th century town planning. The town center was not near usable water power and was bypassed by railroads so was not affected by the same industrialization as other areas.
