Walls Way

Walls Way is a narrow 14-acre parcel lying to the south of Tater Hill Road in East Haddam that connects EHLT's 87-acre Miller Farm Preserve with the Town of East Haddam's  207-acre Lena Reserve. 

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Walls Way has one trail, blazed as white and approximately .5 miles long, that weaves through the preserve from the trailhead on Tater Hill Road across from the Miller Farm Preserve to a stone wall opening that leads to Lena Reserve.

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The property is relatively flat, although a narrow area of wetlands crosses from east to west through its center.  The southern portion of the property rises gradually before meeting the edge of the Lena Reserve.  A small portion of the parcel, to the southeast, lies within the Eightmile River watershed. However, most of the preserve lies within the Roaring Brook watershed.

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Walls Way, like Miller Farm Preserve and Lena Reserve, rests within Audubon Connecticut’s Lyme Forest Block Important Bird Area, acreage critical to overwintering and migratory birds.

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Walls Way was once pasture and farmland, and part of a large farm owned by the forebears of local families.  Aerial imagery from 1934 reflects that the southernmost portion of the lot, surrounded by several impressive stone walls, was still being farmed at the time, while the northern half of the property was then already forested.  No portion of the property has been farmed for many years so the property converted to mature forest.  Many species of trees are present, including but not limited to white oak, black oak, red oak, maple, black birch, sassafras, and musclewood.  Some of the identified native shrubs include highbush and lowbush blueberry, spicebush, and berry brambles. Ferns, wood anemone, trout lily, spotted wintergreen, pyrola, partridge berry, and various mosses are some of the forest floor species.

Walls Way was donated to EHLT on April 15, 2024, by David and Alice Walls, a local couple who wished to support EHLT’s mission by helping acquire this critically important connector property.