Hidden Gems of North-Central Connecticut

FARMINGTON, CT — This week's installment of the Hidden Gems series takes us to an historic hiking trail in Farmington which once contained an animal sanctuary featuring monkeys, alligators and parrots.

The Shade Swamp Sanctuary, located just off Scott Swamp Road, features the Shade Swamp Shelter, built in 1934 as a spot for endangered or injured native birds and animals, and abandoned in the 1960s. A 1.3 mile blue trail, which also provides excellent vantage points for bird watching, passes abandoned zoo cages and extends to a ridge which was part of a glacial deposit that blocked the southern flow of the Farmington River and created a large lake about 2,000 years ago.

A 1.8 mile white trail also provides excellent wildlife viewing.

(Photo credit: farmington-ct.gov)

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The Hidden Gems series features out-of-the-way mom and pop restaurants, small specialty stores you may have never heard of, little-known historical markers or beautiful nature spots that may be a bit off the beaten path. Do you have a favorite "hidden gem" in the area that you wish to see featured in this column? Email your ideas to tim.jensen@patch.com.

Other columns in this series:

• Ken's Corner Breakfast & Lunch
• Tolland Red and White
• The Packing House
• Cold Harbor Seafood
• Nye Holman State Forest/Heron Cove Park
• Hosmer Mountain Soda Shack
• Connecticut Trolley Museum
• Matterhorn Mini Golf
• Wood Memorial Library & Museum
• Hastings Farm
• Liquid Nirvana
• Iwo Jima Survivors Memorial Park
• Academy Hall
• Southington Drive-In
• Little Theatre of Manchester at Cheney Hall
• Somersvillage Gifts & Gourmet Baskets
• New England Civil War Museum
• The Pinchot Sycamore
• Stafford Palace Theater
• Mansfield Hollow State Park
• Old Tolland County Jail and Museum
• Hill-Stead Museum
• Mark's Restaurant