X marks the spot
The Groton X-Town Trail offers a six-mile hike through seven parks and preserves
PPicking my way among boulders in Beebe Pond Park in Groton, I was suddenly struck by how isolated the location seemed. The trail meandered off toward hilly terrain, and my surroundings consisted of nothing but trees and the namesake body of water.
I found it remarkable that one could encounter such a peaceful location just a short hike from Route 215, a busy thoroughfare between Noank and Mystic. It seemed even more incredible, among the crisscrossing roads and suburbs, that it was possible to stay on a nearly unbroken trail for six miles.
The Groton X-Town Trail winds its way through seven parks and preserves, with one terminus at Town’s End Preserve and another at Bluff Point State Park. It was first established in 2011, one year after the Connecticut Forest & Park Association began promoting hikes around the state for National Trails Day.
The organizations maintaining the trail have continued to invite visitors to experience the X-Town Trail by leading National Trails Day hikes on it, although COVID-19 scrapped the planned events for 2020 and 2021. Volunteers take hikers from one end of the trail to the other, with Groton Parks and Recreation providing transportation to return people to the trailhead.
When I took my own solo hike on the X-Town Trail, I started at the Town’s End Preserve on the eastern end of the trail. This site, maintained by the Avalonia Land Conservancy, preserves a small slice of waterfront woodlands overlooking Beebe Cove.
With a loop trail of just one-third of a mile, you can hike Town’s End in no time. Of course, those not attempting the X-Town Trail might prefer to visit the preserve for a bit of quiet reflection instead. A bench set up atop an enormous boulder offers the perfect place to do so.
After a brief trek on Route 215, hikers enter Beebe Pond Park. The park is named for Captain Silas Beebe, who purchased the property in 1805. A dam built near the end of the 19th century created the pond, which was once used to harvest ice. A wall of enormous stones, the remains of an icehouse that supported this operation, is visible soon after entering the park.
Groton purchased the land for the park in 1968. Beebe Pond Park is perhaps the most rugged section of the
X-Town Trail, with the path winding its way among boulders strewn throughout the property.
The trail then dips into Moore Woodlands, another Avalonia property. Moore Woodlands includes 0.81 miles of trails encompassed by old stone walls, but the trail only pays a brief visit before reentering Beebe Pond Park.
While the map for the X-Town Trail outlines a route along roads for hikers to follow, the trail has since been updated to track a blue-blazed trail once used by the cross-country team at the nearby Cutler Middle School. A bridge over the Fishtown Brook washed out some time ago, necessitating the road section, but a rudimentary span has since replaced it and a sturdier bridge will arrive at a later date.
“Part of the work for the new Mystic River School includes building a pedestrian bridge across Fishtown Brook,” says Mark Berry, director of the Groton Parks and Recreation Department. “The bridge will allow students and teachers access to Beebe Pond Park, providing opportunities for environmental education.”
The trail crosses Fishtown Road to enter the Merritt Family Forest, a property maintained by the Groton Open Space Association (GOSA). Joan Smith, president of GOSA, says the property was acquired in 2008 “precisely because it provided a key connection for wildlife habitats, future recreational trails and protection of Eccleston Brook and its riparian corridor.” The purchase would prove to be the last required link in the chain of town- and state-owned lands that form the X-Town Trail. Visitors cross a colonial-era stone slab bridge to access the Merritt Family Forest. Although heavily wooded today, the Merritt Family Forest was once the site of a hilltop Native American fortified village as well as a farm established in 1705.
The X-Town Trail branches off from the Merritt Family Forest’s network of paths to enter the Mortimer Wright Preserve, which was purchased in a 1988 open space bond referendum. In addi
tion to watershed preservation, the property has trails for passive recreation. The trail runs along a hilltop in this preserve, then exits between two houses onto Route 215.
From here, the trail becomes slightly harder to follow. The other parks and preserves are very hiker-friendly, with maps posted at intersections as a guide. These maps disappear once the X-Town Trail enters state property; Sidney F. Van Zandt, vice president of GOSA, says the groups plan to approach state officials soon about better marking the route in the two state parks it traverses.
When traveling from east to west, hikers enter Haley Farm State Park through a lesser-known trailhead off Route 215. From here, the trail makes its way to the main entrance of the park, where several foundations of Caleb Haley’s farm buildings are still visible. It then follows a crushed stone bike trail past some of the impressive stone walls Haley erected with the help of an ox-drawn stone puller.
The final stretch of trail crosses and then parallels a railroad track, with a near certainty that you’ll be buzzed by a high-speed Amtrak along the way. It ends at the head of the Bluff Point peninsula, and ambitious hikers can further extend their trek by heading out to the cliffs and back.
The trail may grow in scope in the near future. GOSA recently acquired Sheep Farm South, a 104-acre parcel that has the potential to connect the existing Sheep Farm preserve with the Merritt Family Forest. Smith says there are also plans to extend the X-Town Trail farther to the west, connecting to the Sparkle Lake Preserve, a proposed city park on the west side of Baker Cove, and the new Kolnaski/King open space trail north of Poquonnock Road.