Drive Reservoir Road toward the Woodbury line and you've probably passed a stretch of overgrown pasture without giving it much thought. For years that's all it was: a former dairy farm, quietly falling back to brush, with a for-sale sign that occasionally reappeared. Neighbors watched a developer circle the property more than once. This year, that field finally gets a name on a trail map. Spring Hill Farm Preserve, 33 acres straddling Reservoir Road and Old Woodbury Road, is on target to open to the public in 2026, according to the Southbury Land Trust.
That single opening is worth pausing on, because it says something about Southbury that the average "best hikes near me" list doesn't capture. The town's trail network hasn't just been sitting there for decades waiting to be discovered. It's actively being built, parcel by parcel, often years behind the actual purchase. If your mental map of Southbury hiking still starts and ends at Bent of the River, you're behind what's actually on the ground.
Four Farms, One Year
Start with the acreage. Southbury Land Trust states it has preserved more than 2,000 acres of open space across town to date. That number didn't move in one jump. In the stretch of time leading up to Spring Hill's acquisition, the trust closed on four separate properties in a single year, each with its own path to protection.
| Property | Size | What made it worth saving |
|---|---|---|
| Spring Hill Farm Preserve / Hutter Lot | 33 acres | Former dairy farm on Reservoir Road, rescued from a developer's subdivision plan in 2021 |
| Silver Beech parcel | 6 acres | Smallest acquisition on record, but sits above a rare Fen wetland with state-listed endangered species |
| Dicks Family Farm | 221 acres | One of the largest working historic farms left in the "Purchase" section of town |
| Colimitra parcel | 20 acres | Extends the Bent of the River sanctuary and protects a Housatonic River ridgeline view |
Look at the range. A 6-acre lot and a 221-acre farm closed in the same stretch of time, for entirely different reasons. That's not a trust padding a total acreage number. It's a trust responding to whatever land comes under threat that year, whether that's a builder's site plan or a probate sale nobody saw coming.
The Long Wait on Reservoir Road
Spring Hill Farm's path to becoming a preserve took longer than the purchase itself. The Land Trust has said the property is still "a work in progress," with Eagle Scout projects and volunteer stewardship crews doing the trail-building work that has to happen before a former dairy farm becomes a place you can actually walk.
The land came into the trust's hands in the summer of 2021, when the asking price dropped for a quick subdivision sale. Neighbors had been pushing for preservation for years before that, among them Judith Silverstein and Mike Smith, who organized the neighborhood effort, and Jerry and Susan Wolfson, who reconstructed the site's forgotten history: a working dairy farm built around perennial springs, where milk was once stored and then hauled by trolley and farm truck to markets in Waterbury. That's the kind of detail you don't find on a trail sign. It came from neighbors who did the digging.
The entrance was its own separate negotiation. An adjacent, unbuildable lot owned by the Hutter family was donated to the trust, and with help from the Town of Southbury, that parcel was transferred to serve as the preserve's front door. A conservation acquisition and a usable trailhead are two different milestones, and Spring Hill needed both before this year's opening could happen.
The Preserve Next Door
Spring Hill isn't an island. A few miles away, the Silver Beech parcel tells a related story. That 6-acre lot sat on steep, stony ground that a builder had eyed for development. The problem wasn't just the slope. Stormwater runoff from construction there would have drained directly into an adjacent Fen wetland, one that holds species listed on Connecticut's endangered species list, at the same spot where the main trails of Phillips-Lovdal Farm Preserve intersect.
The builder ultimately agreed to sell the parcel for conservation instead. What that means on the ground is that Phillips-Lovdal, already a working trailhead (it hosted this year's First Day Nature Hike, led by retired Yale Peabody Museum naturalist Jim Sirch), now has a buffer protecting the wetland at its own trail junction. New acquisitions aren't only adding acreage. In cases like this one, they're protecting trails that already exist.
What Already Works: Bent of the River
None of this is meant to undersell what Southbury residents already know. The Audubon Center at Bent of the River, off East Flat Hill Road, remains the town's largest and most established trail system: roughly 700 acres along the Pomperaug River with about 15 miles of trails, open daily from sunrise to sunset. Parts of it feel remote enough that visitors are sometimes surprised to learn they're less than two miles from I-84.
It's also a system that requires a quick check before you go. Earlier this year, Audubon's own trail alerts flagged a connector between the Beaver Loop, Cedar Fields, and River Road trails as closed due to a hazardous tree. That closure may already be cleared by now, but it's a reminder to check the current trail conditions page rather than assume every path is open, especially heading into a season when downed limbs are common.
The Calendar Is Already Building Around It
Southbury's trail network isn't just expanding physically. It's becoming the backbone for local events, too. In June, the Land Trust partnered with the Southbury America 250th Commission on the Rochambeau Traverse, a one-way, six-mile walk tracing the route French troops under the Comte de Rochambeau took through town during the Revolutionary War. Walkers started at Settlers Park, with the option to cut the hike short at two intermediate points, and stopped along the way for short history talks from Town Historian John Dwyer. The Southbury Historical Society served apple cider at Memorial Park, where a new plaque was dedicated.
That's a one-day event, but it's a preview of what a preserve like Spring Hill can become once it's fully open. A former dairy farm with a rediscovered history is exactly the kind of property that lends itself to the same treatment: a guided walk, a few history stops, a reason for people who've never set foot on Reservoir Road to finally see what's there.
Before You Go
A few practical notes worth knowing before you plan a fall walk:
- Bent of the River's trails are open daily, sunrise to sunset, with no separate reservation needed.
- Dogs are welcome on leash across Southbury Land Trust preserves, under the trust's current dog policy.
- Spring Hill Farm Preserve has not formally opened as of this writing. Check the Land Trust's site before heading to Reservoir Road, since trail access can lag behind a property's acquisition by years.
- Membership dues to the Land Trust go directly toward trail maintenance and keeping properties like Spring Hill on track for their eventual opening.
Southbury's trail map has more entries on it than most residents realize, and it's still being redrawn. If you've spent years driving past Reservoir Road wondering what was going to happen to that field, you now have an answer, and a reason to go see it for yourself once the gate opens.
Whether you're settled in Southbury for good or just starting to think about what life here actually looks like day to day, this kind of local detail is exactly what Bowman Properties tracks town by town. If you ever want a conversation about the Southbury market, or just want to know what else is changing in town, reach out any time. Work with Lisa.
