Wolcott History – Hiking in Wolcott – Part 2

The second major Blue Trail section in Wolcott runs along the top of the ridge that separates Wolcott from Bristol and Southington on the east.  Because this is an escarpment (if you don’t recognize the word, look it up and increase your vocabulary), there are no roads which cross the eastern border of Wolcott. You either have to go down the hill to Bristol in the north (via Route 69 or Willis Street) or down the hill at the southern end of town into Southington (on County Road or Meriden Road).  But that means that there is a lot of green space where these trails run.  The main trail is called the Tunxis Trail and the various side branches have other names.  The total length of this trail is over 30 miles, so unless you’re an experienced hiker, start out slowly on just part of it.

When I was young there were other access points, but the only one currently listed on the map starts on Woodtick Road across the street from the end of Wilson Road.  It runs through the woods past the old Pike’s Hill Cemetery (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=2346586&CScn=pike&CScntry=4&CSst=8&) and intersects Beecher Road near the old Northeast Burying Grounds.  You can also reach it by driving up Beecher Road from its intersection with Woodtick Road to this point.

If you have never visited one of the old cemeteries in Wolcott, this may be an opportunity for you to do so.  A list of the graves may be found here (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=103524&CScn=northeast&CScntry=4&CSst=8&CScnty=308&), or you can read about these cemeteries on the Wolcott Historical Society website (http://www.wolcotthistory.org/).  Some of my ancestors are buried in the Northeast Burying Ground, including my great*6 uncle Jesse Alcox and his wife.  One of their children is in the Pike’s Hill Cemetery.

There are a couple of routes that you can take from there, but as you go farther east you will end up at the New Britain Reservoir.  When I hiked there in the “old days,” the Reservoir employed a caretaker who did not like people hiking through the area and you had to avoid his house, but he is long since gone and the Blue Trails are approved for hiking in the area.

If you take the main trail to the south it will wind its way down the escarpment and end up just off of Mt. Vernon Road, the main north-south road that runs along the foot of the escarpment in Southington.  This road starts to the south of the Southington Ski Area and runs all the way past the Lake Compounce Amusement Park in the north.

There are three other ways down the escarpment.  One comes out just to the south of Lake Compounce, one just to the north of it, and the final one follows the escarpment all the way to where it comes down just to the south of Route 72 in Bristol. 

Unless you want to hike all the way back up the escarpment, all these trails are best for one-way hiking and you would best have someone drop you off on the Wolcott end of the trail and meet you in Bristol/Southington when you finally descend and come back out into “civilization.”  Growing up I hiked all of it from time to time with the exception of the northern leg that runs into Bristol as that part was not there at the time.