Barn Island Wildlife Management Area

Barn Island Wildlife Management Area in Stonington, Connecticut, first intrigued me because of the name. It’s actually a peninsula surrounded by water on three sides — Wequetequock Cove, Little Narragansett Bay, and the Pawcatuck River. The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

Marisa Rockwell of Durham has ridden the trails throughout Connecticut with her own horses and internationally on equestrian vacations. “I love the wideopen trails of Barn Island,” she says. “It has beautiful views and great parking. I use it as a small conditioning loop and appreciate the good footing.”

(DEEP) manages the boat launch and various groups work together to support the 1,022-acre wildlife management area.

Barn Island is unique along Connecticut’s shoreline because it’s the largest coastal management area in the state, and the only other undeveloped area besides Bluff Point State Park in nearby Groton. Five miles of trails explore coastal forests, fields, and tidal marshes. The original 427 acres of land were purchased in the 1940s, with additional land added in the 1950s. This acquisition has allowed more than 60 years of marsh research and undisturbed wildlife habitat. These habitats support a diverse ecosystem and wildlife population. Barn Island is also home to significant cultural and historical sites, including Venture Smith’s first home, a cemetery, and the old foundation of a cottage, aptly named Mosquito Farm. Apparently, the boat launch area was also a popular landing for bootleg alcohol during the Prohibition era.

A Leg Up

Use 249 Palmer Neck Road in Stonington in your GPS. It may come up as Pawcatuck — this is a village in Stonington. Parking is at the boat launch, and you can pull into a spot and then back out later. It’s a paved parking lot. Be sure to clean up after your horse.

There are also pull-offs along the road, and I pulled off on the right side, just past the green gate to the trail, under a large oak tree. I could see the boat launch parking lot from my spot but was in the shade.

Pack water for your horse, and save a map on your phone: portal.ct.gov/-/ media/DEEP/stateparks/maps/Barn IslandTrail2012pdf.pdf. The map isn’t completely accurate anymore, but a riding or trail app can also help. The town name, Stonington, should help inform your decision about hoof protection; there were a considerable number of rocks on the trails.

I recommend going early in the day or on a weekday. I was there on a Monday holiday, Juneteenth, and the boat launch parking lot was already half full by midmorning, and a steady stream of vehicles went by as I tacked up. I did see many other trail users, mostly people walking and a few dogs, but the further out I rode, the fewer people I saw.

Out Riding It

It’s a special trail that lets you peek at snowy egrets as you ride along the tidal marshes. Birds were a theme for this ride, and I saw many egrets, along with ducks, and had the constant accompanying birdsong of various other species on other parts of the trails as we wound our way through the woods. I also shared the trail with a turtle as we were headed back to the parking lot at the end of the ride. It was crossing the trail from one side of the marsh to the other.

To start my ride, I headed up the driveway, away from the boat launch, went around the green park gate and onto an old gravel road. This goes past the Cook

Cove Marsh Observation Area with informational signs. A circle of stones is used for educational programming and picnics.

I continued down a small hill, and then into the first marsh area by heading right. The trail runs between two sides of marsh and is stone. One side has landscape fabric and grass growing; stay on the stone side. Once past the marsh, there’s a small stretch of trail, again old roads, and it comes to a Y intersection. I decided to start out by going right. I rode along on a couple more stretches of trail where there was marsh on either side, before heading into woodland trails in the interior of the wildlife management area.

When the trail forked again, I went right. We found good places where we could trot and canter, and appreciated being able to move out a bit on the trails as the deer- and horse flies were out, despite our fly spray. There were little hills that we rode up and down, a stream to cross, and we also rode past old, abandoned stone walls. Plenty of side trails and single track added extra bits of exploration.

At the top of a small hill I arrived at Venture Smith’s Freedom Site. Venture was a slave, captured in West Africa as a child and vowed he would be free again. He bought his freedom in 1765, and then bought 26 acres in Stonington, in what is now Barn Island Wildlife Management Area. It’s thought that he started farming there to stay close to his family until he could buy their freedom too. DEEP installed the sign this past May, and it was fitting to visit it and recognize his incredible life on Juneteenth. Smith and his