Welch Parcels

• Welch’s Way was donated to the Land Trust by Susan Chafee Welch in 1994 and features a trail heading west from Sperry Road.
• The Cedar Meadows Scenic Easement is a 50-foot wide strip covering about 1.1 acres along Carrington Road.
• The Cedar Meadows Trail Easement adds an additional 0.5 acres in trails heading east from Carrington Road.
• The Hunt Welch Easement, named in memory of Sue’s husband, totals 18.4 acres and includes open agricultural fields and another trail entrance on Sperry Road. It is designed to perpetuate the agricultural use of the land as well as provide trail connections between Sperry and Carrington Roads.
• The Hunt Welch Preserve, the fifth piece of land preserved by the Welch family, covers an additional 3.5 acres and includes a trail that connects with Welch’s Way and Cedar Meadows.

All of this land had been owned by the Welch family since 1921. Hunt Welch’s parents built a summer house there in the 1930s. They later subdivided the land among their four children. Like several other donors before her, Susan Chafee Welch was named Conservationist of the Year by the Bethany Conservation Commission for her tireless efforts in preserving open space and the town’s rural landscape.

Trails:

• Welch’s Way (0.15 miles; easy) heads west from Sperry Road and connects with the Cedar Meadows Trail (0.3 miles, easy) that continues to Carrington Road
• Carol and Polly’s Path (0.4 miles, easy) also heads west from Sperry Road and eventually leads to Carrington Road. This trail can be wet closer to Carrington Road.

Walking on both Carrington and Sperry Roads between trailheads creates an easy loop.