Limekiln Natural Area, The Marcus Gift & Todd's Wood
Limekiln Road, Redding, Fairfield County, CT
183.5 acres

Directions:

Off north side of Limekiln Road, .2 mile west of Lonetown Road; through opening in stone wall. Special note: Park east of SNET pole 1836 & 30 yards west of entrance, on wide shoulder by stone wall. Private driveway-Do Not Block.

The easiest way to get there is to follow Lonetown Road past Putnam Park Road, Limekiln Road is on the left.

Or:

From Route 53 heading north, turn right onto Limekiln Road; drive 1.4 miles and park by the stone walls on the left. (This is only about 20 yards down from Ridgewood Drive.)

History:

early 19th century  -- this area was once the center of a limekiln operation. 

1973  -- Redding acquires the property (the Mary Frances Jackson Purchase).

more recently --  Pearl and Jack Marcus donate 30 adjoining acres in the Marcus Gift to the Redding Land Trust.

1989  --  on the west side, the Land Trust acquires Todd's Wood via a subdivision set-aside.  (The Todd family once owned a lot of the land in this area.  Charles Burr Todd wrote a history of Redding.)

1991  --  two acre gift to Todd's Wood to the Land Trust from Hjalmar W. "Chip" Anderson.

Trails:

There are 4.2 miles of trails.  There is a small swampy area by the entrance, then the trails become rocky.

I took the Access way Trail (blue-blazed) and then followed clockwise the white-blazed Gneiss Trail, which is the main trail that makes a loop through the area. Lots of oaks and mountain laurel here, along with lots of invasives (like Japanese barberry) along the Access way Trail. The first part of the white trail heading west was mostly lowland and wetlands white coming back it was mostly uplands.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney, 3/15/02

Trees:
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Carya sp. (hickory)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Ostrya virginiana (American hop hornbeam)
Prunus strobus (white pine)
Pyrus sp. (apple)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Chimaphila maculata (spotted wintergreen)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Rubus sp. (dewberry) prickles on runners only
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Vaccinium sp. (a low bush blueberry type)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Smilax sp. (greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Epifagus virginiana (beech drops)
Geum canadense (white avens)
Goodyera pubescens (downy rattlesnake plantain)
Ranunculus ficaria (lesser celandine)?
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)

Rushes:
Juncus effusus (soft rush)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora
Carex pensylvanica
Carex stricta

Ferns:
Lycopodium obscurum (ground pine)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)

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

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