Cathedral Pines

Cornwall, CT

42 acres

Source: Hardy, #1; Laubach and Smith, #7

Directions:

Follow CT 4 west .5 of a mile from its junction with CT 125 in Cornwall. Turn left on Bolton Hill Road, which forks immediately; proceed right on Jewell Street. At the next fork after .5 mile turn left on Essex Hill Road to the blazes that mark the trail (about .2 mile). A pull-off on the left a few yards past the blazes provides room to park.

Habitats:

This is a second growth white pine forest, but still here are 200 year old pines, often three feet or more in diameter and reaching 150 feet in height. (This is the largest stand of old-growth white pine and hemlock forest in New England.)

Trails:

This is a very short walk, only about .6 of a mile, on the Mohawk Trail (pale blue-blazed trail).

Walk the few yards back downhill to the blazes and turn right into the woods. The trail heads north then east and finally southeast. Turn around and go back the way you came in.

History:

Owned by the Nature Conservancy.

Tornadoes hit the area in the summer of 1989 and blew a lot of the tall trees down.

PLANT LIST:

Trees:

Acer rubrum (red maple)

Fraxinus sp. (ash)

Pinus strobus (white pine)

Prunus pensylvanica (pin cherry)

Pyrus malus (apple)

Salix spp. (willows)

Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)

Shrubs:

Lonicera sp. (honeysuckle)

Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)

Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)

Rubus sp. (raspberry)

Sambucus sp. (elder)

Herbs:

Fragaria virginiana (wild strawberry)

Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)

Solidago spp. (goldenrods)

Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)

Trientalis borealis (starflower)

Trillium sp. (trillium)

Fern Allies:

Equisetum sp. (horsetail)

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