Date: Fri 29-Aug-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

Bent-of-River-Audubon-sidebar

Full Text:

SIDEBAR TO SALLY O'NEIL STORY: Lillinonah Audubon Society's Crown Jewel: The

Bent-Of-The-River Sanctuary

BY DOROTHY EVANS

Without question, the recent gift of the 457-acre Bent-Of-The-River wildlife

sanctuary in South Britain to the National Audubon Society is the best thing

to have happened to the local Audubon chapter in its 20-year history.

Just "down the road" (Interstate 84, Exit 14) from Newtown, Bent-Of-The-River

is a wonderful natural resource for Lillinonah Audubon Society members and

area residents to enjoy.

With ten miles of trails, visitors are welcome to walk the vast property as

though it were their own private park. They need only call ahead of time

(264-5098) to alert Bent-of-the-River sanctuary manager and Audubon

naturalist, Jim Nolan, that they will be coming.

"It's made a tremendous difference to our society to have access to

Bent-of-the-River," said Sally O'Neil, the Sandy Hook woman who was recently

named president of the Lillinonah Audubon Society.

The spacious estate at Bent-of-the-River includes a 200-year-old house, a

barn, a blacksmith shop, a sheep barn, a root cellar and sprawling grounds

that border the winding Pomperaug River, hence the name of the place.

It was willed to National Audubon in 1992 at the death of Althea Ward Clark

who, along with her husband, Howard Clark, spent a lifetime caring for the

estate and preserving the old farm outbuildings and tools they found from the

last century.

The Clarks bought the property in an abandoned state in the 1930s, after the

old farm had lain fallow and the fields untilled for many years.

Before the Clarks, there was only one other owner named Mitchell, and that

person supposedly purchased the land from the Indians, so very little change

had occurred to the property when the Clarks finally gained possession.

Loving to roam its fields and woods, the Clarks considered Bent-of-the-River

to be their private sanctuary and a haven for all creatures that lived there.

They took great pains not only to preserve its beauty but to pass the property

on in even better condition to future generations.

A museum of sorts has been made out of the old barn, where the Clarks had

displayed the old figure skates, sleigh and farm implements and tools that

they had inherited when they bought the place.

Willing Bent-of-the-River to National Audubon as an educational resource and

wildlife habitat, they also allocated a substantial fund for its maintenance

and development as an outdoor educational center.

That is how, in 1994, the Lillinonah Audubon Society was granted access to

Bent-of-the-River, so that the property could be available for LAS educational

programs.

The LAS chapter holds monthly board meetings in the old red barn overlooking

the gardens, and board members regularly consult with Mr Nolan when planning

the walks and programs that take place on the grounds.

Paradise For Birders

Entering the Bent-of-the-River sanctuary by a winding gravel road, a visitor

immediately feels that this is a place of special beauty, a place where time

moves more slowly and change happens more gradually than any place else one

could imagine.

To the left of the road and nearly hidden by shoreline trees, the Pomperaug

River can be heard flowing noisily south toward its confluence with the

Housatonic River in Lake Zoar.

East Flat Hill rises on the right, covered by a thick mantle of green. The old

road that might once have been used to harvest charcoal traverses a meadow and

climbs a hillside into some shady woods where the farmhouse is set back under

the trees.

The complete silence at Bent-of-the-River is broken only by bird song, buzzing

insects or the river spilling over its rocky bed.

One senses that nothing in this place has been disturbed for a very long time.

Polly Brody, a longtime Newtown resident and naturalist, has described the

Bent-of-the-River as "absolutely wonderful."

"You must go in spring when the warblers are migrating. It's spectacular," Ms

Brody said recently.

Her sentiments are echoed by sanctuary manager Jim Nolan.

"It's got three distinct habitats from the river shore to the fields to the

wooded mountain behind, and it's one of the best birding spots in the state

because nobody knows about it," Mr Nolan said.

Mostly, he added, it's so quiet.

How To Get There

Audubon's Bent-of-the-River sanctuary is only a ten- to 15-minute drive from

Newtown.

It may be reached by traveling East on Interstate 84, crossing the Rochambeau

Bridge and then taking Exit 14 and traveling north 1.5 miles into the town of

South Britain.

Watch for a left turn onto East Flat Hill Road opposite the Congregational

Church, then proceed a quarter of a mile to the marked entrance of

Bent-of-the-River which is a short distance up on the right, at 184 East Flat

Hill Road.

Parking is in the designated parking area enclosed by a split rail fence.

From there, visitors may meet Mr Nolan by prior arrangement or get out of the

car and walk up the narrow gravel road to the old farmhouse and barn.

And be sure to call ahead, 264-5098.