Huckleberry Swamp
Redding, Fairfield County, CT
54 acres

The park is temporarily closed because the boards of the boardwalk have rotted and fallen down.

Directions:

Chestnut Woods Road and Topstone Road

To Topstone: From Route 53, turn onto Umpawaug Road and follow past the Fire House and Red Schoolhouse, continue up Umpawaug, Topstone is the second road on the right, park at Topstone Town Park (residents only) about a mile down the road on the left. The Topstone trail starts just up the hill from the parking lot at Topstone Park.

To Chestnut Woods Road:
From Route 53, turn onto Umpawaug Road and follow past the Fire House and Red Schoolhouse, make a right onto Marchant Road, Chestnut Woods Road is the second road on the left. The trail starts at the beginning of the swamp (you'll know you went too far if you cross over the swamp). On Chestnut Woods Road, there is a very small parking area 0.2 of a mile from the intersection of Topstone and Chestnut Woods Roads.

History:

Owned by the Connecticut Audubon Society. Signs says Edward Steichen Memorial Wildlife Preserve, name for the famous photographer. 

Brief Bio of Edward Steichen
1879  -- born in Luxembourg; comes to the US as a child.
1895  -- at age 16 he begins working in photography.
1900  -- at age 21 he heads to Paris to study painting.
1905 --  in New York he joins the Alfred Stieglitz in establishing Gallery 291, where many important 20th-century painters receive their first American showings.
1906  --  Steichen returns to Paris for more artistic experiences.  
1923 --  Steichen heads back to New York as chief photographer for Vanity Fair and Vogue magazines. He photographed for Vanity Fair are Greta Garbo and Charlie Chaplin.
1938 --  Steichen retires to his West Redding, Connecticut farm.
World War II   --  he directs a US Navy combat photography team.
1947 -- Steichen is appointed director of photography for New York's Museum of Modern Art.
1973  --  dies in West Redding.

Trails:

1 mile of trail.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney, March 12, 2002

* = in bloom

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple) *
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas fir)? planted
Quercus rubra (red oak)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood )
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Salix sp. (willow)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Geum canadense (white avens)
Pyrola rotundifolia (round-leaved pyrola)
Typha latifolia (broad-leaved cattails)
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora (sedge)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)

Grasses:
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)

Ferns:
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)

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

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