Welcome
Welcome to the latest edition of Redding’s Book of Trails! We continue the tradition which began in 1982 with the original printed edition. The most recent physical Book of Trails IV was published in 2005 and is still available at the Mark Twain Library. This edition is electronic. Enjoy!
The Trails
Search the trails… (Please limit search to one word at a time while we update our site.)
The southern half of Redding was first settled by colonists as part of the town of Fairfield. A road along the northern edge of Fairfield, roughly 13.5 miles from the shoreline, has evolved into present-day Seventy Acre Road and Cross Highway. North of that line was The Oblong, partially settled, but not part of any town.
In the Northeast, we have the homestead of one of the original settlers of Redding, John Read, a Revolutionary War encampment, and the headwaters of the Little River.
In the Southeast, we have the hamlet of Redding Ridge, Joel Barlow High School, and a good chunk of the Aspetuck River watershed.
The Southwest includes the hamlet of Georgetown and the Great Ledge. Its waters flow into the Norwalk and Saugatuck Rivers.
In the Northwest, we have the lands of another original settler, Nathan Gold. The Gold lands include present-day New Pond Farm and Umpawaug Pond, the largest natural lake in town. This area flows almost entirely into the Saugatuck Reservoir.
Earlier editions of the Book of Trails organized trails by their river watersheds.
The History
How did we get here?
