Heritage Bridge Trail

Run To The Hills
Heritage Bridge Trail, Farmington
November 2025

Sometimes my titles are groan-inducing puns. Sometimes they’re downright clever if I do say so myself. Sometimes they’re niche. And sometimes they’re very, very niche. This page’s would be pretty niche. And I’m just going to leave it at that.

The Heritage Bridge Trail has a terminus at Tunxis Mead Park at the back of the parking lot nearest the skate park area. From here, you can hike north on the Heritage Bridge Trail or southeast along the Farmington Flats/Nancy Conklin Trails. Or, heck, go crazy and do it all! (It would be less than five miles to do so.)

Let’s go north.

The trail travels right alongside the Farmington River for about 1.3 miles one way, and is pretty well cleared and blazed. It ends at a bridge along the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, so I guess that’s where it got its name. The bridge is along the section I designated Section 2 and if you’re so inclined, you could feasibly walk the trail from Tunxis Mead Park to the multi-use trail which connects to innumerable trails up and down the east coast. Go crazy and do that all too! (It would be infinite miles to do so.)

Today, I’m sticking to our little riverside trail in Farmington.

Oops. point of clarification. I just read that “This hike follows the Farmington River upstream to the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail and across the bridge with a view of Farmington’s heritage.” We’ll sort that out when we get up there.

Tunxis Mead park/area is huge. There are multiple sports fields and other things, but the trail is hidden behind it for the most part. Several unmarked trails spoke off the white-blazed Heritage Bridge Trail pretty much the full length of it, so be careful. Or be exploratory. Up to you.

After about a mile, the trail spit me out onto the driveway of the Farmington Boat House. My son’s high school does not have a rowing team, but rivals Farmington and Simsbury do. This boathouse is shared by the public high school with the hoity toity Ms. Porter’s Academy. One must wonder how much nicer the Academy’s side of the building is.

Past the Boat House, there were some random trailside exercise structures, so if you’re in the mood to do some monkey bars while watching high school rowing, Farmington is the place for you.

As noted, the trail connects to the Rails-to-Trails trail high above the Farmington River. I poked around under the bridge for a while as several herd paths led me to do so. I scrambled up to the paved path on the north side before making the easier walk down the trail on the south side.

It’s from this bridge over the river that I was supposed to take in the views and reflect on the five eras from Farmington’s past. Here’s my picture from when Calvin and I rode the bike trail in 2020.

Says a Farmington historian:

The Colonial Era is easiest to spot because of the tall white steeple of the First Church of Christ located in Farmington’s Historic District. The church was founded in 1652 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This section of the [bike] trail was named after the Canal Era (1828-1847) which had a major effect on Farmington’s history. The Unionville Feeder Canal crossed this trail 0.3 miles to the north. The Railroad Era in Farmington (circa 1850-1980) replaced canal transportation, and this bridge was built for the railroad. Today this bridge is one of the highlights on the East Coast Greenway. Its use for outdoor recreation has become the new era of today. The era that had the biggest effect on Farmington was the post glacial period of 12,000 years ago. If this bridge existed back then, a glacial lake would be just below your feet and extend to the First Church of Christ. If you hear the sorter from Dunning Sand & Gravel, think Glacial Era.

I like that. While you’re enjoying nature and taking in its beauty here, if you hear the clangorous clatter of a gravel operation, don’t be sore. Think about the Glacial Era.

I’ll admit that I was simply thinking about returning to my car by more or less retracing my steps. If you’re comfortable doing so, you can get back to the parking lots via the Boat House Road or any number of trails that connect to various parts of the park.

This is a very pleasant little hike that really does connect to so much – at Tunxis Mead and via the other trails mentioned above. So next time you’re bored out of your mind at your kid’s baseball or soccer game, seek it out! Say you had to do some riverside monkey bars. Run to the hilllllls!

Historic Hikes in Farmington
CTMQ’s Farmington’s Town Trails page