#Middlebury #MLT
Left to right, Kent Sullivan-Wiley, daughter Kira Sullivan-Wiley, granddaughter Alia and son-in-law Vincent Vanderputten pause beside a small stream that flows near the red trail in the Tuttle Preserve. The trails on this preserve recently were cleared of debris. (Janine Sullivan-Wiley photo)
By JANINE SULLIVAN-WILEY
With the New Year upon us, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been reading my articles and those who have shared your enjoyment of the lands owned and/or conserved by the Middlebury Land Trust (MLT). If one of your resolutions for 2021 is to get outside and exercise more, land trust trails are perfect for you to do both – right here in our town.
One I haven’t written about yet is the Tuttle Preserve, nestled northwest of the corner of South Street and Sandy Hill Road. Comprising three parcels (Nos. 25, 5 and 19 on the MLT map you can find at www.middleburylandtrust.org), together they are just over 48 acres of woods and hills with a lovely little stream meandering through them.
Before the October trails work day, when Scoutmasters and Scouts ripped into the downed trees with chainsaws and strong backs to move lengths of trunk and branches, the trail through it was impassable. Along with MLT Board member Alice Hallaran, Scouts finished clearing and marking the blue main trail. They also roughed out a new red loop trail that goes along and then crosses the stream.
On a follow-up work day, Keith Hornberger and his son Eli finished clearing and blazing that loop. The stream crossing is still a bit of an adventure; hopefully it will be a future project. The Scouts have a long history with this land, as the first trail in there was made as an Eagle Scout project about 20 years ago.
The blue trail, used by horseback riders from time to time, cuts from South Street to the bottom of Sandy Hill Road through a white pine plantation where Hallaran has seen wild turkeys dashing up into their branches for safety.
The red trail begins near the top of the blue trail and reconnects near Sandy Hill Road. It goes into the hardwood forest and has a very different feel. It contains many native tulip trees, whose flowers are an important food source for honeybees in the spring.
The easiest place to enter the preserve is on South Street 1.6 miles from the Green, where you will see the preserve entrance on the left with a small area where you can pull off the road. It is also possible to enter the blue trail from Sandy Hill Road, but that entrance is tricky to find.
The history of the properties might be guessed from their names: two Tuttle and one Tuttle-Kernan tract (No. 25). All the land was once called Biscoe Farm and was owned by Howard T. Tuttle, who raised cattle on it. When Howard died in 1938, the land was divided three ways. Donald S. Tuttle (the first of three with that moniker) continued to farm his portion until the mid 1950s. After he closed the farm and burned down the barn, he planted the land with white pines, the remains of which mostly persist along Sandy Hill Road.
The land passed to Donald S. Tuttle Junior, an MLT board member, who donated two of the parcels in 1977. A decade later the third (No. 25) was donated by his son, Donald “Dusty” S. Tuttle III (also an MLT Board member) and his friend Jim Kernan, and now all are available for us to enjoy.
You can contact this writer at jswspotlight@gmail.com. Visit the MLT on Facebook or at middleburylandtrust.org. Happy hiking!
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