Gold's Pines Natural Area Preserve

Route 4, Cornwall, Litchfield County, Connecticut

Directions:

From east of the forest:

Route 4 West to Cornwall passing by the entrance to Mohawk State Forest; follow Route 4 down a long hill and slightly up again to the 4-way stop at the Berkshire Country Store; Route 4 turns left, but go STRAIGHT ahead onto Route 128 West; drive 2.5 miles on Rt. 128; just past the "Little Guild of St. Francis" is a wooden state forest sign marking the entrance.  There is a small lot for parking.

From west of the forest:

Drive north on Route 7; in West Cornwall turn right onto Route 128 East; head s through the covered bridge and proceed uphill through the village of West Cornwall; one mile outside the village Gold’s Pines is on your right, immediately after the Cornwall Volunteer Fire Department. There is a small lot for parking.

History:

There is no original old growth forest here, just as there is no original old-growth in all of Connecticut, but some of the trees pre-date the the battle at the Alamo in Texas, before the Civil War.

The 1935 Connecticut Guide mentions "R. 128 continues to West Cornwall, where there is another old Covered Bridge. About a mile short of this, by climbing to the south a short distance, we find another notable stand of field pine, known as the Gold Pines. There are good northwest views from the slopes of Green Mt., south of the highway."

1932  --  the pines became part of a new national effort to measure forest growth.  Research plots are still  maintained by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. 

The area is being managed closely; the Preserve has had repeated harvesting for thinning and salvage of storm damage trees. 

Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. Housatonic Forest.  http://dep.state.ct.us/burnatr/forestry/centen/housatonic.htm

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