Mary Evelyn Scott Nature Preserve
Seventy Acres, Peaceable Street, Redding, Fairfield County, CT
213 acres

Directions:

Seventy Acres Entrance:

Route 7 north to north of Branchville. Turn right onto Old Redding Road. Go through the one-lane tunnel (be careful here) and then bear right onto Mountain Road. Turn left onto Seventy Acres Road and drive 0.6 of a mile and turn left onto Mine Hill Road and park along the street.

Route 107 or Route 53 to Umpawaug Road, from 107 Seventy Acres is the third road on the left, from 53 Seventy Acres is the fifth road on the right. Once on Seventy Acres, Mine Hill Road is the second road on the right, park there, the trail is across the street.

Peaceable Street Entrance:

Route 107 or Route 7 to Peaceable Street, from 107 travel approximately 3/4 mile down Peaceable looking for a CL&P power station as your reference point, once you see the power station on the left, the Preserve is just over the hill on the right. From 7 make a left or right onto Portland Avenue (Bridge over Norwalk River), go straight over RR tracks, up hill, make left on to Peaceable St. stay right, go up steep hill, trail head is just up the road from a small pond on left.

Habitats:

dry oak woods, some very flat land in the upper part; lowlands (wet), ledges

Trails:

There are 4.5 miles of  trails.  The preserve is on the opposite side of the road from where you are parked, next to the house at 68 Seventy Acres Road. You trails are set up in a rough figure 8 with the upper circle being the smaller part of the walk. You walk first through a white pine grove then you come to a fork in the trail, both white-blazed. The Rock Trail goes straight heading south. The Duncan Munroe Trail goes to the left and soon also heads south. You can go south on either trail and come back on the other respectively.

To extend the walk, keep heading south on the Rock Trail passing the whale back and heading down to Peaceable Street. You can head back on the Munroe Trail passing Warrup's Rock (Hochstrasser Gift says the map) to the upper circle and then back to the parking area.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney, brief stop March 7, 2002

Trees:
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Chimaphila maculata (spotted wintergreen)
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)

Vines:
Smilax sp. (greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Potentilla sp. (cinquefoil)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora (sedge)

Ferns:
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)

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

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