Easy hikes and walks in Brimfield State Forest

great views

Amid evergreens and needle-covered trails, Lunden Pond is a serene haven for birding. It's a splendid place for dogs to swim, and the likelihood of encountering others is low.

Peaked (pronounced pea-kid) Mountain's 1,227-foot summit provides a sweeping view of Connecticut's beauty, featuring rolling countryside, forested hills, valleys, and villages. The diverse habitats create a challenging yet rewarding journey to the summit.

The Heins Farm Conservation Area is a small 84-acre property with a few pleasant hiking trails, including the popular Pond View Loop (0.7 miles round trip) a crushed-gravel wheelchair-accessible trail. This a great trail for people of all ages and ability levels. There are several spots overlooking the pond where you can often see ducks, herons, and spotted turtles. A trail map can be found here: http://www.sturbridgetrails.org/heins-farm.html

The Crowd Homestead Site, which has been part of the Tantiusques reservation since 2002, holds the remains of a house and barn once owned by Robert Crowd, who worked in a nearby 1850s mine of mixed African American and Native American ancestry. Originally built in 1815 by John Davis and Rhoda Vinton, the house was later bought by Robert Crowd in 1842 but saw few improvements. The site is significant as it offers insights into the living conditions of the time. Artifacts found there include raw graphite, black glass buttons, brass jewelry fragments, and ceramic shards, shedding light on the historical lifestyle of the inhabitants. Today you can see the remains of the two building foundations - a deep cellar hole where the house stood, and shallower one for the barn - and a capped well. There is an unmaintained, but well-traveled, trail that connects this historic site to the main Leadmine Loop around Tantiusques.

Tantiusques (tan-te-us-quays), derived from the Nipmuc word meaning “to a black deposit between two hills,” was the location of one of New England's earliest mines. The Nipmuc tribe initially mined graphite at this site for ceremonial paints, and in 1644, John Winthrop, Jr. acquired the mine with plans to extract lead and iron. Frederick Tudor, renowned for selling New England ice globally, shipped approximately 30 tons of graphite annually to Boston between 1829 and 1860. Captain Joseph Dixon, who collaborated with Tudor, eventually pioneered the first wood and graphite pencil in the United States, founding the Dixon-Ticonderoga Company. Mining activities at Tantiusques ceased by 1910, and while the forest has since reclaimed the area, remnants of the mine, including cuts, ditches, tailings piles, and mine shafts (the most prominent of which is gated and just a few yards down the trail from the main parking lot), are still visible. In 1983, the Sturbridge Historical Commission's efforts led to Tantiusques being listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There is a short, easy loop trail that takes you around the site (https://thetrustees.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/tantiusques-trail-map.pdf). This is a unique place to explore close to downtown Strubridge, and a must-visit for any history lover.