Guilford Land Trust Gets Grant To Cover Bluff Head Acquisition

NORTH GUILFORD, CT — The Bartlett Land Preserve on Bluff Head will be preserved in perpetuity after a state open space grant of $127,500 was awarded to the Guilford Land Conservation Trust, a grant that helped the trust reach its goal to cover the costs of its $425,000 acquisition of the preserve on Bluff Head.

The land trust will buy 61 acres on Totoket Mountain in North Guilford from the Bartlett family at its market value of $425,000, and the family has agreed to donate without charge another 60 acres on the mountain.

The agreement was spearheaded by Libby Bartlett, who died Feb. 21, 2020, at age 100. The land trust has agreed to name the parcels the Bartlett Land Preserve in honor of her and her family’s conservation leadership in North Guilford for decades.

In announcing the grant, the land trust thanked the "hundreds of supporters who made this possible in a year with no gatherings for fundraising and no hikes to even show you what we were acquiring. What a community we have."

On its website, the Guilford Land Conservation Trust noted that the Bartlett land had been in the "family for generations."

The New England Trail passes over one of the parcels, and the other has trails from the Cooks Lane trailhead. They include pristine wetlands in both the Coginchaug River and West River watersheds. Together with adjoining land owned by GLCT, the Town of Guilford, and the Regional Water Authority, they connect thousands of acres of preserved open space serving as a vital wildlife corridor.

The Bluff Head Preserve is geologically one of the most significant places in south central Connecticut, the trust noted.

From its website:

"The land trust began buying land at Bluff Head in the 1960s. Today, it owns more than 870 acres there, including most of the area around the sheer, 500-foot traprock cliff as well as the adjoining areas of Totoket Mountain. Bluff Head and its adjacent areas, rising to more than 720 feet above sea level, are the highest points in Guilford, The Bluff Head overlook offers unparalleled views to the east, north to Hartford and south to Long Island. The view includes the Broomstick Ledges and other properties on the east side of Route 77 protected by the land trust.

Learn more about Bluff Head and how to hike its trails here.