{"title":"Town of Old Lyme Open Space","description":"\u003cp\u003eFind everything you need to start planning your next great adventure with our downloadable offline maps from Town of Old Lyme Open Space. All maps are available for offline use through the Avenza Maps App, available for iOS and Android.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"old-lyme-mcculloch-family-open-space-trails-town-of-old-lyme-open-space-map","title":"Old Lyme - McCulloch Family Open Space Trails","description":"he Town of Old Lyme completed its purchase of 312 acres from David McCulloch\/the Jean A. McCulloch Farm LLC in 2019, and the McCulloch Family Open Space (PDF) opened to the public on National Trails Day, June 6, 2020.\r\n\r\nThe beautiful property features three trails.\r\n\r\n\"Tree in the Gap\" trail: This trail is accessed from Whippoorwill Road. A parking lot is available at the trail head, almost 3 miles from Route 1 or 3.5 miles from Mile Creek Road. Be cautious entering and exiting the parking area onto the roadway. The \"Tree in the Gap\" trail connects to the blue trail (PDF) within the Old Lyme Land Trust Lay-Allen Preserve, allowing for a vigorous longer hike with some steep sections. Alternatively, visitors can use this trail for a short, easy walk to Rook's Meadow and Jimmy's Pond, described below.\r\n\r\nRed trail: A second trail begins from Flat Rock Hill Road. Parking is permitted on the road cul-de-sac. Please respect homeowners' property as the trail briefly runs alongside a private driveway.\r\n\r\nYellow trail: Parking is not available at this trail head, which is accessible only by pedestrian and bicycle access. Vehicle parking on the pentway from Whippoorwill Road to the trailhead is prohibited. Hikers may access the yellow trail from the red trail, via either Flat Rock Hill Road or the Lay-Allen Preserve.","brand":"Town of Old Lyme Open Space","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45271992959132,"sku":"1708963","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0441\/7850\/5884\/files\/town-of-old-lyme-open-space-old-lyme-mcculloch-family-open-space-trails-map-1708963-preview-0_bfa1ee23-aa65-41df-b5ba-4e6e0f8bcedb.jpg?v=1757530875"},{"product_id":"old-lyme-ames-noyes-open-space-trails-town-of-old-lyme-open-space-map","title":"Old Lyme - Ames-Noyes Open Space Trails","description":"The 195-acre Ames Family Open Space may be accessed from Evergreen Trail (via Boggy Hole Road).\r\n\r\nA variety of trails crisscross the property, including the nearly 2-mile \"blue\" trail. As you hike a distance on this trail, heading east, enjoy a tranquil view of beaver ponds. As you read on, note how beaver habitats benefit a host of wildlife and improve ecology.\r\n\r\nThe Open Space Commission created wildlife observation areas on this trail as part of a beavers and birds conservation \/ education program (PDF).\r\n\r\nNatural landscape architects, beavers initially dam slow-flowing streams in forested areas. As some older, larger trees die, they offer prime nesting sites for great blue herons, wood ducks and woodpeckers. Openings in the forest canopy provide increased sunlight and nutrients for aquatic vegetation. Invertebrates, like crayfish, dragonflies, damselflies and fishing spiders become more common. The invertebrates attract insect-eating wildlife, such as tree swallows, eastern kingbirds and bats.\r\n\r\nAlthough conditions for brook trout may initially improve in a dammed stream, eventually accumulated silt covers the gravel substrate upon which fish lay their eggs. Fish that flourish in warm water, such as bass, perch and sunfish replace fish that prefer cooler water like brook trout. Mink and river otter feed on the fish, and frogs, salamanders and invertebrates inhabit the new wetlands.\r\n\r\nOver time, the area may look like an open pond, as fewer trees remain standing and aquatic plants, such as cattails, sedges and rushes become more dominant. The wetland is now highly attractive to muskrats, mallards, Canada geese, black ducks, and least bitterns (a threatened species) and king rails (an endangered species).\r\n\r\nAmes Open Space Forest FloorGreat changes are also taking place on land. As the forest canopy is removed by the beavers' cutting, plants, shrubs and vines that prosper in open sunlight begin to dominate. Deer feed on the various fruiting, succulent plants and grasses growing in the rich soil. The American woodcock, whose long bill is highly adapted for probing the soil for earthworms, finds abundant worms in the moist soil.\r\n\r\nBeavers typically exhaust their food supply over a period of years. After they move on or die, their dams eventually break and a mud flat or silt bottom is exposed. A meadow containing a mix of grasses, sedges, wildflowers and weeds may persist for years, providing habitat for the American goldfinch, chipping sparrow, field sparrow, monarch butterfly and others.\r\n\r\nAfter a period of years, shrubs become established and provide habitat for the yellow warbler, common yellowthroat, blue-winged warbler and chestnut-sided warbler. The change in plant communities is variable. It may take 20 to 50 years before the area resembles a forest again.\r\n\r\nIn recognition of this fascinating natural evolution, the Open Space Commission adopted a policy in 2019 to allow beaver activity to continue undisturbed on open space properties as long as it doesn't threaten critical infrastructure or private property.\r\nAmes Property History\r\n\r\nThe Ames Family Open Space also has an interesting history of early occupation. The Old Lyme Conservation Trust's August 2010 Tributaries featured an article on the property. Here is an excerpt:\r\n\r\nSheeps Ledge Ames Open Space[Sheep's Ledge, accessible via the blue trail,] … was used by Native American Indians for shelter and has been recognized locally as an important historic site for at least two hundred years. According to Dr. John Pfeiffer, Old Lyme Town Historian, it was referred to as the Old Indian Stone House in Lyme town land records of the 1820's, and was the subject of a painting called \"Indian Cliff Dwellers\" by Edward Rook. Rook, one of the Old Lyme Impressionists, was a contemporary of Harry Hoffman and stayed at the Florence Griswold Boarding House in the early 1900's.\r\n\r\nIn 1972, Dr. Pfeiffer studied the site under the auspices of the Department of Anthropology of the University of Connecticut. Says Dr. Pfeiffer: \"My excavations revealed a site that was occupied seasonally over the last 4255 years. Various aboriginal groups utilized the rock overhang as an interior hunting camp. In such a function, groups of hunters as well as family or extended family units resided within the 'cave' during the winter months and then relocated during the spring and summer to more coastal locations. … Prior to this excavation, it was not known that the prehistory of southeastern New England dated back this far.","brand":"Town of Old Lyme Open Space","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45284032807068,"sku":"1709047","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0441\/7850\/5884\/files\/town-of-old-lyme-open-space-old-lyme-ames-noyes-open-space-trails-map-1709047-preview-0.jpg?v=1757530875"},{"product_id":"old-lyme-bartholomew-open-space-trails-town-of-old-lyme-open-space-map-1","title":"Old Lyme - Bartholomew Open Space Trails","description":"The 105-acre Bartholomew Open Space (PDF) property is located just north of the railroad overpass on Buttonball Road. A loop trail offers a pleasant, easy walk and takes about twenty minutes. Limited off-street parking is available at the open space entrance. Watch carefully for approaching traffic when leaving the parking area.\r\n\r\nThe property is a mix of wooded wetlands and mesic forest typical of the southern parts of Old Lyme. Bartholomew Open Space runs, generally, from Buttonball Road on the west to Mile Creek on the east, and along a stretch of railroad track.\r\n\r\nThe trail takes you from the parking area through a moist wooded area with wetland shrubs, such as sweet pepperbush and spice bush, to a more open and gently rising ridge in the center of the property. This dips down into a nearly impenetrable wetland area running along the railroad tracks. Further east, the land descends again to the banks of Mile Creek, which borders the Black Hall Golf Course to the south before flowing through salt marshes before emptying into Long Island Sound.\r\n\r\nThis is a great property to visit any time of year, but especially in the Spring when many birds are migrating along the Connecticut coast. Look for various warblers, woodpeckers (including pileated woodpeckers), turkeys and other woodland species.\r\n\r\nThe property was the first outright gift to the town's Open Space Committee (a predecessor to the Open Space Commission), generously donated in 1998 by Adela (Griswold) and Dana Bartholomew to be protected from development and to preserve its natural features and characteristics.","brand":"Town of Old Lyme Open Space","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45541099634844,"sku":"1713417","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0441\/7850\/5884\/files\/town-of-old-lyme-open-space-old-lyme-bartholomew-open-space-trails-map-1713417-preview-0_1eb148a7-6d69-46cc-8ad8-53d3828b801e.jpg?v=1762792978"},{"product_id":"old-lyme-champlain-south-open-space-trails-town-of-old-lyme-open-space-map","title":"Old Lyme - Champlain South Open Space Trails","description":"There are two main entrances to the 204-acre Champlain Farm South (PDF) open space - at the cul-de-sac at the end of Meetinghouse Lane and at the end of Library Lane. On-street parking is available at both locations. The open space may also be accessed indirectly via an Old Lyme Land Trust property at 223 Whippoorwill Road, near the intersection with Jadon Drive. No on-site parking is available at the latter location.\r\n\r\nAn extensive trail system includes ridges, streams, vernal pools and bogs, with routes ranging from less than a half mile to a two-mile property loop. Spectacular 100-foot granite cliffs can be seen along the \"white trail\" which starts at Library Lane.\r\n\r\nLook carefully, and you will see evidence of past human use. Under the now leafy canopy of deciduous trees, you can see the remnants of a pastoral landscape. Walking along the trails, see the skeletons of long-dead Juniper (red cedar) trees that sprang up in sheep pastures in the early 1800's. At that time, there were over 1.5 million sheep grazing Connecticut's hillsides.\r\n\r\nSince the sheep didn't care to eat these young cedars, they eventually filled the landscape. After the Civil War, the wool market declined and farmers moved west, leaving the local hills to revert to forest. Stone walls that held in livestock and marked boundaries now meander through the woods as markers of times past. The new forest over topped the cedars, depriving them of the light they needed to survive, and they slowly died, leaving the skeletons we see today along these trails.\r\n\r\nAnother Champlain Farm South point of interest is the old roadway traveling along the ridge from the end of Meeting House Hill north toward I-95. Look carefully at sections of the road where it crosses exposed bedrock and you may be able to discover the tracks of old iron-wheeled carts that traversed the farms of the 17th and 18th centuries. They may have been carrying farm families to the church on Meeting House Hill near where the Old Lyme Country Club stands today!\r\n\r\nIn June, you'll find spectacular sections of fragrant white and pink mountain laurel blossoming along trails. The beautiful native American shrub was designated Connecticut's State Flower by the General Assembly in 1907.\r\n\r\nPlease be careful hiking, as there are a few steep trail locations that may be slippery when wet.","brand":"Town of Old Lyme Open Space","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45541104320668,"sku":"1713418","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0441\/7850\/5884\/files\/town-of-old-lyme-open-space-old-lyme-champlain-south-open-space-trails-map-1713418-preview-0_0a2b19a0-0b7f-4d90-b70f-17c91b2da21d.jpg?v=1762792889"},{"product_id":"old-lyme-champlain-north-open-space-trails-town-of-old-lyme-open-space-map","title":"Old Lyme - Champlain North Open Space Trails","description":"The 65-acre Champlain Farm North Open Space is accessible by way of Wyckford Lane off U.S. Route 1 (the Boston Post Road) just north of the I-95 interchange and the Old Lyme Inn. An off-street parking area is available at that entrance by the kiosk. A second entrance is available from Hillside Road West with available on-street parking.\r\n\r\nThe main \"red\" trail has been named the \"Diana Atwood Johnson Trail\" by the Open Space Commission and the Board of Selectmen in honor of the noted environmentalist and long-time commission chair. Ms. Atwood Johnson owned the adjacent Old Lyme Inn for over 25 years.\r\n\r\nAs you enter the property, you'll find a typically rolling New England landscape, sculpted by colliding continents hundreds of millions of years ago, and polished by glaciers over tens of thousands of years.\r\n\r\nVery shortly along the red trail, you'll notice Formica ant hills, a genus of ants of the family Formicidae, commonly known as wood ants, mound ants, thatching ants, and field ants. Their nests can consist of a turret of soil above large mounds.\r\n\r\nContinuing along the flat terrain, you'll reach the Barbizon Oak. At over sixteen feet in circumference, the 300-year-old Barbizon is one of Connecticut's largest white oaks. The famous oak was named in honor of the Old Lyme art colony, created in the late 19th century as an American equivalent to the French Barbizon School of painting. Many esteemed artists painted en plein air walking from Florence Griswold's nearby home and property (now the museum). While you marvel at the tree's size, consider that a mile of ice once stood where you stand today.\r\n\r\nThe moving ice of the last (Wisconsin) glaciation transported hundreds of millions of tons of rock, sand, silt and clay across this land, smoothing some places and plucking stone (granite, schist and gneiss) from the bedrock in others to fill valleys where streams and rivers continue to sculpt the landscape today.\r\n\r\nTry to imagine the site 10 to 12 thousand years ago as the glacier receded. Cold, howling wind whipped across a landscape almost devoid of tress except dwarf willows, nibbled by caribou or perhaps musk ox. Perhaps a small band of Paleolithic hunters camped here on their way to the shore, which lay a hundred miles to the south, to fish and trap for warm furs.\r\n\r\nThe land today, now clothed in forest, has seen many transitions over the millennia since the ice receded. Native Americans, before there was an America, burned the forest to improve game forage and to ease travel from village to village.\r\n\r\nWhen Europeans arrived, they fell back on traditional practices from across the Atlantic: clearing the forest (\"the howling wilderness\") for pasture and crops and building hundreds of thousands of miles of stone fences to establish boundaries of land tenure.\r\n\r\nThe deforestation was so widespread and complete that only about 20% of New England remained wooded by the early 1800's at the start of the Industrial Revolution. Then the westward migration began, and much of the land was abandoned, reverting to forest once again.\r\n\r\nSome Champlain Farm North trail sections are rocky and can be slippery when wet. Please be cautious hiking.","brand":"Town of Old Lyme Open Space","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547133108380,"sku":"1713439","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0441\/7850\/5884\/files\/town-of-old-lyme-open-space-old-lyme-champlain-north-open-space-trails-map-1713439-preview-0.jpg?v=1762955754"}],"url":"https:\/\/store.avenza.com\/collections\/town-of-old-lyme-open-space.oembed","provider":"Avenza Maps","version":"1.0","type":"link"}