Bob White Farm (Private)

Bob and Weave, Bob and Weave
Northern Connecticut Land Trust’s Bob White Farm, Stafford
November 2024

I don’t think you’re supposed to hike here.

It’s tough, man.

It’s tough being a Connecticut completist and seeing a trailed and mapped property almost surrounded by trailed and mapped properties – and intentionally avoid this one trailed and mapped property because you’re not supposed to hike on the mapped trails there.

The Bob White Farm is the only property on the list that the Land Trust does not own. Instead, it is protected from development with a Conservation Easement held by the Land Trust therefore, public access is not allowed.

This 181 acre property is a mixture of woods and fields and connects to the Land Trust’s Nipmuck Woods through an abutting section of the Nipmuck State Forest.

Yeah. See what I mean?

And I was totally going to be a good upstanding citizen and avoid Bob White Farm. So after hiking all the trails at Nipmuck Woods and even connecting down to the state forest trails, I returned back to my car to skip over Bob White Farm and continue poking around the state forest land.

But then I was curious. What does Bob White Farm look like? From the road I mean? I turned down Michelec Road to find out.

Once the road turns to dirt and dips into a weird pointy corner of Willington. This is not remotely important or interesting, but I just noticed it on the map and I’m weird so now you’re going to look at it too:

I took a picture of the property from the road, turned around and was juuuuuuussssst about to leave town when I saw an orange arrow and a trail through a fence.

Hm.

That’s a trail.

Right where the Bob White Farm trail map says a trail should be.

Interesting.

So I pulled over, hopped out, and checked to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.

Nope, there’s a trail. And more orange arrows, pointing the way of the trails that I’m not supposed to hike. I saw absolutely no signage indicating that I shouldn’t be hiking here. So I kept walking.

Around a field, then another, then into the woods. At which point the trail split (just as the map said it would) with more helpful orange trail marking arrows. To the right would take me to the farm and to the left to the state forest. Both directions would ultimately – and easily – get a person to Nipmuck Woods as well.

However, I had seen enough. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be here and I know these are snowmobiling trails. So walked each branch a little bit and then returned to my car.

Don’t do any of this until if and when the NCLT says you can. I’ve done it for you and frankly, the best view of the place is from the road.