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Rockland Preserve
Description
Rockland Preserve is one of the most popular outdoor recreation areas on the Connecticut shoreline. Spanning over 650 acres, it offers a mix of rugged woodlands, scenic views, and well-maintained trails perfect for hiking, mountain biking, and nature walks. Located off Route 79, the preserve is a town-owned property with extensive trail systems and connections to regional greenways.
Trail Map
Map Credit: Explore Connecticut
Difficulty
Easy
Moderate
Difficult
The trail system at Rockland Preserve ranges from wide and smooth to steep and rocky. Some of the lower trails are relatively flat and easy to navigate, while others, especially toward the ridge or biking loops, include rock gardens, sharp turns, and elevation changes. Hikers and bikers should expect natural terrain like roots, ledges, and exposed stone.
History
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Rockland’s woodlands were an active site for charcoal making — a vital process that supported blacksmithing, iron production, and glassmaking in Connecticut. Circular clearings 30 to 40 feet wide, still visible today, mark former charcoal hearths where workers slowly burned stacked hardwoods like oak and hickory under carefully controlled conditions. The mounds were covered with dirt and leaves, allowing a slow, low-oxygen burn that could last up to two weeks. White smoke meant success; black smoke signaled trouble. Nearby stone fireplaces, iron fragments, and kettle remains offer quiet evidence of the rugged life of the colliers who tended these smoldering piles around the clock.
Image Credit: Madison Historical Society
Charcoal making at Rockland wasn’t just an industrial task — it was a way of life. Workers, known as colliers, lived onsite in small sheds or huts during the multi-day burns. They built fireplaces for cooking and warmth and used long poles to poke and test the burning mounds for hot spots and airflow. If a mound was in danger of burning too fast, they would “jump the pile,” climbing to the top to tamp it down. The job was dangerous, hot, and physically demanding. Today, the land where they lived and worked is forested again, but the ghost of their labor remains in the stone rings, smoke-blackened soil, and quiet woods of Rockland Preserve.
Image Credit: Madison Historical Society
Pictures
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