Arthur F. Brinckerhoff Nature Preserve
Redding, Fairfield County, CT
86 acres

Directions:

From Route 7 heading north turn right onto Route 107.  Drive 1.0 miles and turn right onto Beeholm Road.  Drive 0.3 of a mile and you will see on the left a very small opening to a trail.  It is located just before the mailbox for #5 Beeholm Road and 20 yards from Fairview Farm Road.  There is no parking lot so park where you can. 

There is a better entrance on Dorethy Road.

History:

In 1967 the heirs of Mary Brinckerhoff gave most of the preserve the Redding Land Trust.  The preserve was named in memory of Mary Brinckerhoff's brother, a well-known landscape architect.  Other donators of land were Rosalind Crissey, Dr. Frederick Baekeland, and Nina Baekeland Wyman. 

Clois Ensor was a musician and vice-chairman of the Redding Conservation Commission, 1985-1992.  He was Trails Manager for the Commission and the Land Trust.  He made a second entrance and added more tail linking at the various parts of the preserve. 

Trails:

3 miles of trail. The trail is known as Ensor's Trace, for Clois Ensor, 1913-1998 (there is a plague on a rock not far from the start of the trail).  The trail starts with a small boardwalk heading south through a small swampy area.  Then the trail turns left (east) and heads across an open field.  This is as far as I went because I forgot my hiking boots and only had street shoes.

You can make a circular loop trail out of these trails following the white trail clockwise and coming back north by Ensor's Trace.. 

The Clois Ensor Trace heads south and joins with the Donohue Trail of the Devil's Den. 

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney, March 11, 2002

* = blooming

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple) *
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepperbush)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)

Herbs:
Ajuga repens (bugleweed)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)

Rushes:
Juncus effusus (soft rush)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (sedge)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Lycopodium obscurum (ground pine clubmoss)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)

http://www.historyofredding.com/HRhiking.htm

Redding Conservation Commission. 1992. The book of trails III: A guide to the use and protection of open lands in Redding, Connecticut. Third edition.  Printed at Stratford, CT: Remiltho, Inc. 

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