Rob Smith Preserve
The preserve was acquired by East Haddam Land Trust in 2026 with financial assistance from the State of Connecticut's Open Space and Watershed Land grant program, as well as financial support from the Eightmile River Wild & Scenic River Coordinating Committee. Substantial support also came from Robert R. Smith, a longtime member and leader of East Haddam Land Trust., for whom the preserve is named.
It is a narrow 14-acre parcel, adjacent to its sister preserve, Walls Way. Both preserves lie to the south of Tater Hill Road in East Haddam. Together they connect EHLT's 87-acre Miller Farm Preserve with the Town of East Haddam's 207-acre Lena Reserve.
Parking for both the Rob Smith and Walls Way preserves is across the entrance of Walls Way, at the Miller Farm Preserve parking area on Tater Hill Road.
The Rob Smith Preserve has one trail, blazed blue and approximately .5 miles long, that loops off of the white trail of EHLT's Walls Way preserve. Both preserves are open to hiking, nature study, snowshoeing, and birding. Hunting and motorized vehicles are prohibited.
The property is relatively flat with some wetlands. About two-thirds of the parcel lies within the Eightmile River watershed, while the other third lies within the Roaring Brook watershed.
The Rob Smith, Walls Way, Miller Farm preserves, as well as the Lena Reserve, rest within Audubon Connecticut’s Lyme Forest Block Important Bird Area, acreage critical to overwintering and migratory birds.
Both the Rob Smith and Walls Way preserves were once pasture and farmland, and part of a large farm owned by the forebears of local families. Aerial imagery from 1934 reflects that the southernmost portion of the lot, surrounded by several impressive stone walls, was still being farmed at the time, while the northern half of the property was then already forested. No portion of the property has been farmed for many years so the property converted to mature forest. Many species of trees are present, including but not limited to white oak, black oak, red oak, maple, black birch, sassafras, and musclewood. Some of the identified native shrubs include highbush and lowbush blueberry, spicebush, and berry brambles. Ferns, wood anemone, trout lily, spotted wintergreen, pyrola, partridge berry, and various mosses are some of the forest floor species.
