Audubon Centers in Connecticut

Town Location

The historic barn at Audubon Center at Bent of the River

Audubon Center at Bent of the River
The Bent of the River is a 700-acre Audubon Center easily accessible from Interstate-84. The Pomperaug River flows through the Center grounds for about a mile before emptying into the Housatonic River just downstream, and an unusual variety of ancient geologic and glacial formations combine to form an extraordinary mix of habitats in a relatively small area. Bald Eagles hunt along the River and are frequently seen here. Fifteen miles of trails wind through a mosaic of rolling meadows, old fields and other transitional habitats, verdant wetlands, including eight vernal pools, and a diverse mix of un-fragmented forest types. The Center is housed in an historic barn on the grounds, and the grounds are open to the public daily from dusk to dawn.

Southbury

Audubon’s Kimberlin Nature Education Center in Greenwich

Audubon Greenwich
The Audubon Center in Greenwich opened in 1942 as the National Audubon Society’s first environmental education center in the United States on land donated by Eleanor Clovis Reese and H. Hall Clovis. The 295-acre sanctuary has approximately seven miles of trails that lead to a hardwood forest, old fields, lake, streams and vernal ponds. Reminders of the past are the stone walls, an old apple orchard and original New England homestead buildings. The entrance to the sanctuary is at the corner of Riversville Road and John Street.

Greenwich

New aviaries at the Audubon Center in Sharon

Audubon Sharon
The Sharon Audubon Center is located in the northwest corner of Connecticut, in the town of Sharon. It was donated to the National Audubon Society by Clement and Keyo T. Ford in 1961 and it was their wish that their property, then called the Bog Meadow Farm, would continue to nourish a love for nature in children as it had for their daughters growing up there. The Sharon Audubon Center has over eleven miles of scenic hiking trails, 1,147 acres of mixed forest, meadows, wetlands, ponds and streams and a wildlife rehabilitation and raptor center.

Sharon

Audubon Sanctuaries in Connecticut

Town Location

Helen Keller experiencing nature first hand at Fairchild Garden in the 1940's.

Fairchild Wildflower Garden
Benjamin T. Fairchild developed Fairchild Garden as a wildflower sanctuary on abandoned farmland he purchased in 1890. After his death, Mrs. Elon Huntington Hooker raised funds to purchase the sanctuary, and donated it to Audubon in 1945. The Garden is a natural area with introduced wildflowers that becomes a birding hot spot in the late spring and early summer seasons. The 135-acre sanctuary is home to a variety of wetland habitats, including a stream, pond, wetland meadow, red maple swamp, hillside wetland, emergent freshwater marsh and a wetland scrub thicket. The sanctuary offers eight miles of trails winding through shady gorges. The entrance is on North Porchuck Road.

Greenwich

Butterfly garden at the Guilford Salt Meadows Sanctuary made possible by a gift from the Guilford Garden Club

Guilford Salt Meadows Sanctuary
The beautiful 200-acre Guilford Salt Meadows Sanctuary is a hidden jewel where visitors are likely to see golden marsh grasses waving gently in the breeze, osprey soaring gracefully overhead, and a host of wading birds feeding along the tidal creeks and mudflats. Fourteen beautifully illustrated informational signs are strategically placed along a 2-mile walking trail that winds through the sanctuary’s coastal habitat – a remnant of the vast salt marshes and meadows that once extended along the Atlantic coast from Maine to Georgia, and an important habitat for many species. The trails are open to the public daily from dusk to dawn.

Guilford

The barn at the Leopold Sanctuary in East Hartland features a wildlife mural dating to the 1970s

Leopold Wildlife Sanctuary
Edith Leopold, the niece of noted conservationist Aldo Leopold, donated the Leopold Sanctuary to the National Audubon Society in 1982. Located at 182 Rengerman Hill Road in East Hartland, it consists of 38 acres of diverse wildlife habitat including two small ponds and is adjacent to Tunxis State Forest. Trails are currently being designed and the sanctuary is planned to be open for self-guided visits by the summer of 2006.

East Hartland

A view of the extensive wetland complex at the Miles Wildlife Sanctuary in Sharon

Miles Wildlife Sanctuary
Artist Emily Winthrop Miles donated the Miles Wildlife Sanctuary, located at 99 West Cornwall Road in Sharon, Connecticut, to the National Audubon Society in 1962. It was her wish that her property, then called Neverland, be maintained as a sanctuary for birds and animals and to promote the knowledge and the study of wildlife. The property is open for visitation between the hours of 8-5 and is used by Audubon for intern training, adult education and research. It consists of 1,500 acres of wildlife habitat, is a regular stop for Bald Eagles in the winter and, with the Housatonic State Forest, is part of a block of 5,000 acres of non-fragmented forestland.

Sharon