Land Holdings

Redding Land Trust properties make a patchwork of open space preserves throughout the Town of Redding, ranging in size and type from large areas of over 100 acres, laced with walking trails, to 2-acre to 10 acre-plots in scattered neighborhoods, preserving the view from the road. Easements, acreage still owned by the property owner but over which the Land Trust holds development rights, preserves open space throughout the Town and either specifies no usage or specific activities such as agricultural ones.

The Trust's largest tract, the Mary Evelyn Scott Nature Preserve, 114 acres of rocky and beautiful terrain in West Redding, was given to the Trust in 1977, when it joined an adjacent property owned by the Town, the Rock Lot, to form one of the Town's most extensive trail systems. The Trust's earliest gift, in 1968, of an 86-acre property large enough to merit a trail network, the Brinkerhoff Preserve, now provides a link with The Nature Conservancy's Devil's Den in nearby Weston. Both are featured in Redding's The Book of Trails IV.

Smaller properties held by the Redding Land Trust primarily preserve the natural view from the road, such as the acreage on the well-traveled corner of Lonetown and Putnam Park Roads donated by Elizabeth Dudley. The view of Karraker's Field on the corner of Route 58 and Cross Highway preserves another beloved landscape on the other side of Town. On the other hand, sequential 2-acre gifts from donor Brian Mahoney, now totaling almost 20 acres, provide access for walkers who may use an old logging road that winds through open sunny woods.

Two easements held by the Redding Land Trust are significant assets to the Town of Redding. Warrup's Farm is a 288 acre-working farm owned by the family of open space pioneer Sam Hill where locals have long enjoyed fresh produce all spring and summer long and hay rides during the fall. New Pond Farm is a 105-acre working farm and environmental education center founded by actress Carmen Matthews, who left 80 of those acres under easement to the Trust. Other easements throughout the area promote Redding's famous rural view throughout the Town; for example, the sweeping field behind the home of the late Nancy Lutz on Cross Highway and the view of the pastures across the road from the Redding Boys and Girls Club, at the other end of Cross Highway. All of these sites enhance the quality of life to those who live in or drive through what Connecticut Magazine has called the "best little town" in the state.