Traipsing on North Stonington’s trails: Vernal pools, stone walls and cockfighting rings
Hikers tramping through the woods of southeastern Connecticut sometimes stumble upon debris that reflect an era when farmers left defunct equipment to rust in the field and buried their household trash nearby. It can be disconcerting to encounter vine-covered plows and tractor parts strewn alongside stone walls that once surrounded cornfields and cow pastures, along with shattered crockery and broken mattress springs that have worked their way up through soil outside crumbled foundations.
Earlier this week, though, while traipsing along a hilly, winding path in North Stonington, our small group encountered detritus I’d never seen before — warped sheets of metal.
At first blush, they appeared to be the remnants of a barn roof, but Bill Ricker, chairman of the town Conservation Commission and our tour guide, set us straight.
“These were enclosures for cockfighting,” he explained, noting that early in the 20th century, North Stonington was a hub for the blood “sport.”
“People would come here from Hartford, New Haven, Providence — all over,” Bill said. If any of us now took the time to dig, we probably would uncover countless rooster bones, he added.
Once our band meandered beyond these abandoned death rings for fighting birds, we re-entered the forest primeval — as in Longfellow’s poem, a world suffuse with murmuring pines, bearded with moss.
We were in Week Two of our social-distancing hiking protocols due to coronavirus: Driving separately to trailheads, marching single file, at least six feet apart, no sharing gorp or taking group selfies.
As the pandemic has spread, rules have tightened. Although a threatened tri-state quarantine was put on hold, and for the time being parks and nature preserves remain open – though with new limitations announced this week – it now appears we are approaching a time when all of us may need to hunker down in our homes until the dust settles, or at least venture out separately. We will abide by government regulations as they continue to evolve.
That said, our destinations this week included a new, roughly mile-long path leading through the Yawbux Valley from Wyassup Road to an intersection with the Narragansett Trail.
Gazing at a patch of moist ground covered with leaf litter, Maggie Jones, director emeritus of the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in Mystic, remarked, “This looks like a good spot to find ramps.” These perennial plants in the wild onion family, also called leeks, emerge in early spring throughout the Eastern United States and are considered a delicacy in many Appalachian communities.
Not five seconds later Maggie exclaimed, “Look! Ramps!”
Directly underfoot, a carpet of green shoots with red stalks spread out, and Maggie plucked a few from the soil.
“You can eat the whole plant,” she explained, popping one in her mouth and passing the others around.
“Wow! Wonderfully spicy,” I said, letting the earthy blend of garlic and onion flavors envelop my taste buds.
In a short distance, Maggie pointed out another edible plant, trout lily, also known as yellow dogtooth violet, but cautioned against consuming one other common perennial — Indian poke, sometimes called hellebore or corn lily. Highly toxic, the plant has been used by some Native American tribes to test the vitality of their leaders, she said.
“Don’t worry. I won’t eat any,” I replied.
After reaching the blue-blazed Narragansett Trail, we doubled back via a slightly different route to Wyassup Road. Had we turned south on the Narragansett, we could have continued half a dozen miles to the summit of Lantern Hill at the Ledyard/North Stonington border. Steering north and east would have taken us about 15 miles to the trail’s terminus at Ashville Pond in Hopkinton, R.I.
The new link, completed last year, is included in a map and brochure of hiking, biking and equestrian trails put together by the Conservation Commission. Free copies have been available at various places in town, some of which are closed now during the crisis. You can print your own copy using this link:
Bill, a former member of the Board of Selectmen, said when he moved to North Stonington 15 years ago, there were only a handful of public trails in town, owned or maintained by the state and the Connecticut Forest and Park Association in Pachaug State Forest; or by such organizations as The Nature Conservancy and Avalonia Land Conservancy.
Today, thanks to efforts by the Conservation Commission, the North Stonington Citizens Land Alliance and other groups, along with the backing of local taxpayers who authorized purchases of such properties as the 109-acre Hewitt Farm to be set aside as open space, there are 27 trails cumulatively extending more than 100 miles throughout town.
After returning to Wyassup Road, we hiked a few more miles of rolling hills, past stone ledges, streams and vernal pools, on a separate pair of North Stonington trails off nearby Reutemann Road: the 63-acre Erisman Woodlands and adjoining 74-acre Babcock Ridge preserve, both owned and maintained by the Avalonia.
In 2011, at age 102, Adele Erisman donated 62 acres of forested land to Avalonia and conveyed her home and two-acre house lot to The Nature Conservancy, retaining residency until her death in 2014 at age 104. A life well-lived.
Happily, there are many other public-spirited individuals who have donated land, money and their time to help ensure future generations will be able to continue enjoying open space.
In addition to Avalonia, The Nature Conservancy, North Stonington Citizens Land Alliance and Connecticut Forest and Park Association, organizations that offer hiking trails in the region include the East Lyme & Niantic Land Conservation Trust, Friends of Oswegatchie Nature Preserve in East Lyme, Groton Open Space Association, Lyme Land Conservation Trust, Old Lyme Land Trust, Salem Land Trust, Stonington Land Trust and Waterford Land Trust (originally West Farms Land Trust).
Check their websites or Facebook pages for updates on trail accessibility and any new rules.
As always, stay safe and hike smart so we can continue to enjoy our public trails.
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