Ayers Preserve​
The 6-acre Ayers Preserve is accessed from Devil's Hopyard Road via a narrow finger of the property 0.25 miles south of Dolbia Hill Road, and 0.75 miles north of Route 82. Look for the brown preserve sign at the entrance. Parking is limited and on a slope. Cars may be best parked along the edge of Three Bridges Road, then walk the short distance to the narrow preserve entrance. (Directly across from the Ayers Preserve The Nature Conservancy (TNC) holds an easement that abuts the TNC's Burnham Brook Preserve).
About 300 feet of this preserve borders the Eightmile River and its floodplain. Due to scarring of the lands by floods, ground cover near the river is sparse. The site was once pasture and meadow and had been planted as a Christmas tree farm. Now the spruce trees are large, eliminating the sun in the understory, and naked spruce limbs intertwine below a lush green canopy of green spruce branches. Two sections of the spruce trees have been cleared, as part of an ongoing woodland management project, to allow oak and other tree saplings more sunlight that will encourage their growth. These young trees are caged to prevent deer browse.
The area is dotted with red maples, grapevines, and bittersweet vines; the ground is covered by large colonies of royal, cinnamon, and New York ferns. Cultivated species of trees and shrubs border the property.
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The land that is now the Ayers Preserve was exchanged multiple times dating from the early 1700's. One of the landowners was Samuel W. Babcock who "established a saw mill business," as a young man. It is possible that this saw mill was on the Eightmile River at what is now EHLT's Hammond Mill Preserve where remnants of the mill dam remain. Samuel W. Babcock is also listed as a former landowner of the area that is now Hammond Mill Preserve. Thanks to Tom Sevigny who compiled the history, you can read more of the written history of Ayers Preserve.
This preserve is part of the Lyme Forest Block Important Bird Area, making it a great spot for birdwatching.
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Counting steps as part of your exercise routine?
Preserve-like terrain averages about 2080 steps per mile. The length of each trail is listed on the printed maps for each preserve available at the trailheads and downloadable from the interactive trail map and from each preserve webpage.
