white memorial conservation center

Possibly the best backcountry skiing in Western CT. Extensive trail system. You may want to park on Route 63 to ski the Eastern trail network (small parking lot), where the trails are a little more advanced. You can get a trail map at the museum. It would be a good idea to have a few trail maps posted at trail intersections. Someone unfamiliar with the trail system could get lost out there without a map, which can be dangerous in the bitter cold we have been having this winter.

What a beautiful place! The lake, hiking trails, the museum and grounds. Thank you Whites for the gift!

Great place to cycle! Quiet and relatively car-free. Lovely place to visit. Would go back in a heartbeat.

Beautiful 4000 acres of nature. Hiking, canoeing, cross country skiing. Also once a year see the Litchfield Hills Road Race run through it.

White Memorial is one of my favorite places to go and walk and take photo's. It is just beautiful and very easy to get around. The boardwalk at Little Pond is especially lovely, and at this time of year just beautiful.

An Environmental Education Centre and Nature Museum, located in the heart of the 4000-acre White Memorial Foundation in the hills of northwestern Connecticut.In 1964 the centre was established in the former home of siblings Alain & May White. Keen naturalists - and, more importantly, insanely rich! - they purchased 4,000 acres of the surrounding land to preserve it and before they died a foundation was setup to keep it untouched and allow people to enjoy it in perpetuity.There are various displays of common animals found in some of the habitats on the property, including fields, wetlands, lakes, old-growth forests, hardwood forests and backyard habitats. Most fascinating was the taxidermy display showing the skills required to turn a dead bird or animal into an object worthy of display.You can camp, boat and hike on the property as well.

Thank goodness for conservationists like the White Family who helped to preserve thousands of acres in Connecticut and for this wonderful place of woods, field, lake, quiet stone-lined lanes and old farmsteads great for walking and unwinding.

A great place to take the family on a hike and enjoy the natural beauty. Beaver, Fish and Swans. An awesome place to get one with nature...and its free.

We are one of the lucky ones that get to live within a 10 minute drive of WMCC. When our kids were little we spent many afternoons exploring the boardwalk and trails. Now that our kids are older we started looking for new ways to enjoy it and found it with our mtn bikes, kayaks - and a map of the trails. We love biking the Mattatuck Trail and Kayaking the Bantam River. The Mattatuck is a 6 mile off road trail. If starts out flat near the visitor center and is a good warm up to what you'll find once you cross Rte 63 as the trail quickly becomes more varied, with lots of short climbs and varied terrain. Bring your bug spray and watch your speed. There are a few ponds and scree covered hair pins turns. When not riding the trails, we like to kayak them. We usually put in on the West side of the bridge. It's a bit tricky to get the boats down to the water due to the rocks, but well worth it once you're on the water. The Bantam River is just beautiful - a water trail if you will. It's especially on weekdays when there are fewer exploring it. We like to paddle North towards the Pond, then turn around and paddle South to the Lake. In both cases we cross beaver dams. If the water level is high you may be able to paddle over them. If not, you will need to portage so best to bring water shoes. While paddling, watch for turtles and herons. We see both almost every time we paddle. All in all, a wonderful resource to have in our area. Highly recommend to anyone who wants to get out and enjoy blue skies, clean waters and fun trails.

White Memorial is a rare island of beauty and of caring seriously about the environment. It hiking trails are extensive, a different world, an mounted from the core of Litchfield.

Trails are special. Interpretive material at trailheads would be a plus (likely plants blooming--by month perhaps; likely avifauna sightings, etc). White Memorial is a regional gem!

My wife and I took a ride up there one morning on a whim. There are a number of trails and we picked a short one which was an easy and scenic walk around the pond. We saw a number of different types of birds, a couple of snakes, ducks, and some turtles. I love to photograph nature and was having a ball.We will absolutely visit again although will look at the trail map in advance and plan out time differently.

It is very difficult to find, but the boardwalk trail is absolutely wonderful. It is a 1.5 mile loop of a boardwalk elevated above the marsh, with wonderful views of swans and many birds and the nature preserve generally.I definitely would wear sneakers and recommend avoiding this for elderly people and small children, as the boardwalk is narrow and windy. It is not extremely difficult by any means, but just be careful.

Whites Woods, as many locals call it, is much larger than people think. The foundation has protected much of the Bantam River watershed around Litchfield and Morris. There are trails everywhere! Also places to kayak, skate, cross country ski, horse trails, etc. Check out the map online or purchase one at the museum/visitor's center.

One of my favorite places to walk with my pooch. The boardwalk is very neat to walk along.. there are a lot of different birds to see along the way.