The Middlesex Land Trust is pleased to invite you to our 2016 Annual Meeting and Dedication celebrating our new Brainerd Quarry Preserve. This event will be held at the Haddam Neck Fair Grounds, on Quarry Hill Rd. on Saturday, April 30th. A short business meeting will begin at 9:30am, with a dedication ceremony and presentation by Dr. Bellantoni beginning at 10:00am. Refreshments and conversation will follow, with a hike on the preserve for those who would like to get out on the land. For more information and directions go here: 2016 Annual Meeting
Dr. Nicholas F. Bellantoni will give a presentation about the Brainerd Quarry and other archeological sites on Middlesex Land Trust preserves in the Haddam Neck area and around our region and the Connecticut River. Dr. Bellantoni serves as Emeritus State Archaeologist with the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History and Archaeology Center and as Adjunct Associate Research Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut.
In 2015 the Middlesex Land Trust, in partnership with the Connecticut River Gateway Commission, preserved this fifty acre parcel of open space overlooking the Connecticut River in Haddam Neck and we will be celebrating/dedicating this as our newest preserve.
A new trail system has been created for the public to enjoy hiking and passive recreation. Paths that run along both the ridge and the base of dramatic cliffs, created from the property’s historic use as a quarry, offer breathtaking views of the Connecticut River and Haddam Meadows State Park.
The land has been named the Brainerd Quarry Preserve to reflect the historic importance of the Brainerd Family in Haddam. Daniel Brainerd was one of the 28 founding settlers of Haddam in 1662, and a century later, in 1762, Deacon Esra Brainerd opened a quarry on this now preserved site. The quarry operated for more than 150 years, shipping stone down river to New York and as far south as Maryland, Virginia and New Orleans.
This significant property above the Connecticut River lies along Injun Hollow Road just north of the 585 acre Connecticut Yankee property, and is accessible from two trailheads located along the road. This preserve helps protect the lower Connecticut River valley, one of the “most important ecological landscapes in the United States” according to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The preservation of this property ensures that these lands will forever remain as open space for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations.