Three Sisters Preserve

In 2023, the Land Trust acquired 20 acres from Connecticut Water with funds generously donated to the Land Trust by the Zdru Family Fund. Located at 1154 Amity Road at the Naugatuck border, this parcel includes land in Bethany, Naugatuck and Prospect.

The Beacon Hill Brook, a Class III Trout stream, runs through the lowlands portion of the property near Amity Road while the uplands portion rises almost 300 feet higher, featuring steep escarpments on both sides of a spectacular ravine. Where the boundaries of Bethany, Naugatuck and Prospect meet at the top of the ravine marked the location of a long gone chestnut tree with three trunks that served as a reference point for Native Americans, and later the colonies. The tree was known as both the Three Sisters Tree and the Three Brothers Tree. In 1673, the New Haven Colony and the Milford Colony disputed the boundary and agreed to settle the dispute through physical combat, which apparently ended in a draw.

The remains of a mill dam and remnants of foundations can be seen close to Beacon Hill Brook. Both a grist mill and then a tannery were active along the brook in the 1800’s in this area known as Straitsville that was once part of Bethany.

Trails:

A loop trail (1.0 mile; moderate) leaves the trailhead along Route 63, crosses on a handsome bridge (built by the Land Trust trail crew) that spans the Beacon Hill Brook and climbs over a ridge to the bottom of the ravine. From there, it heads back to the brook past some of the remaining mill foundations.