Open Space Properties

The Rockfall Foundation serves as a model for open space land management, working with professional foresters to manage its four remaining open space properties for passive recreational and educational use by the general public. These properties in Middletown and the Rockfall section of Middlefield are links in a network of forests that provide habitat for a variety of wildlife and is contribute to the health of the watersheds in which they are located.

Since 1994 the foundation has participated in the USDA Forest Service’s cost-share forest stewardship program now known as the state’s Forest Land Improvement Program (FLEP.) This program helps forest landowners carry out approved practices such as inventorying natural resources and improving wildlife habitat.

FLEP technical and financial assistance helps Rockfall meet its goals of providing informed management and demonstrating the benefits of exemplary forest management to the public.

While some of the work, such as conducting natural resource inventories, writing management plans, and marking timber, is conducted by natural resource professionals, the job of blazing trails and litter cleanup is conducted by Rockfall volunteers.

All of Rockfall open space holdings are open to the public.

River Grove in middletown, 3.5 acres located on either side of Forest Street above the Coginchaug River. (Park on the west side of Forest Street next to the low wooden fence to hike the short, scenic trail along the Coginchaug River.)

Captain's Field in the Rockfall section of Middlefield, 16 acres on Cherry Hill Road that abuts Wadsworth Falls State Park. (Park at the Wadsworth Falls State Park lot on the east side of Cherry Hill Road, walk south on cherry Hill Road to the park’s main trail on the left. The less than ½ mile Captain’s Field Loop trail branches off the main trail just a few yards from Cherry Hill Road.) Click here to download map.

Great White Oak in Middletown, 0.1 acre on Wadsworth Street just west of Forest Street, was once the site of an enormous oak, a slice of which is preserved at the deKoven House.

Linus Baldwin Woodland in Middletown, a land-locked 16- acre forested property off Margarite Road Extension.