FRIENDS OF TOPSMEAD STATE FOREST

Friends of Topsmead State Forest

Discover a hidden treasure in the Litchfield hills of Connecticut

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Join us October 7 for Members & Friends Gathering and Hawk Watch
(Kestrel-Dreamstime)

donate to the preservation of Topsmead

Your donations will help preserve Topsmead's past for the future by:

Expanding/maintaining the butterfly and cottage gardens
Monitoring and maintaining of the songbird nesting boxes
Building a boardwalk over the wetlands on the Ecology Trail
Cleaning and restoring furniture in the Chase Cottage
Hiring a restoration specialist to repair the large painting over the mantle in the Cottage living room
Adding benches to the Welcome Center and trails

If you enjoy our newsletter and Topsmead, please consider becoming a member or making a donation. We rely on these funds for our projects and programs.

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Rear view of Chase Cottage. Drawing by Schell Lewis 1924

In 1917, Edith Morton Chase received a gift from her father, 16 acres of pristine woods in the Litchfield hills. Today, Topsmead is a 510 acre state forest, gifted from Ms. Chase in 1972 to the citizens of Connecticut to enjoy and preserve. Her legacy includes diverse landscapes, including bike and nature trails, formal gardens, unique bird habitats, and a meticulously crafted English Tudor style cottage well appointed with her international collection of art and antiques. ...more

Our Mission

Friends of Topsmead State Forest (FTSF) is a volunteer non-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose purpose is to work with the State of Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) to provide programs and activities to promote, preserve, protect, and maintain the history, heritage and environmental integrity of Topsmead, thereby supporting the wishes of Edith Morton Chase as put forth in her will.

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Topsmead Events

&Activities

REMEMBERING TOPSMEAD

Conversations with Bob Orintas

FARM ANIMALS AT TOPSMEAD

EXPANDED edition!

The farm was purchased in August 1927 from George Buell. It amounted to about 46 acres. I know of two homes and a large barn on the property. I don’t know if there were any other buildings there at that time. The following are the farm animals I remember at Topsmead.
HORSES –A pair of Percheron draft horses, Roxy and Rex, were acquired in 1928 to pull equipment such as the hay wagon, stone boat, field rakes, and any other farm equipment. Rex died on 7/8/1942 of a heart attack while working the upper field by the four corners. Roxy was put down on 9/15/1942.
MILK COWS – Miss Edith chose the Jersey breed of cows as they produced a higher milk fat content and could produce more cream and butter. The cows, I believe were also added in 1928. They were registered purebreds. They always had complicated, long names; we just called them by common names, like Meg. We always had three milking cows. Dr. Gilyard, the veterinarian, artificially inseminated them to maintain the herd. If a bull calf was born, it would be sold.
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by Margaret Hunt | photos by Margaret Hunt

Not-Summer

september 2023

The fall night insects have been singing for three weeks now. The sun is dropping lower as it makes its journey across the sky, and my tomatoes are not getting their full ripening blast of summer sunshine. Dry leaves are dropping from the trees in advance of the real autumn leaf drop, and the air has that tang of fall with its cooler nights. Labor Day Weekend and the Goshen Fair always start the fall season with gusto.

But I am just not ready yet to let summer go. Color is still in the blooms at the Topsmead cottage gardens. The bees are buzzing happily in the butterfly garden. The sun still warms folks as they enjoy their picnics on blankets spread out at the top of Underhill. Docent tours are still being offered the second and fourth Sundays of September.

Just as Miss Edith was a faithful reader of the Wall Street Journal, I am a faithful reader of “The Morning,” my daily email from the New York Times. This morning, I read words that were music to my ears: “Why must there be such an austere demarcation between before Labor Day and after, between summer and not-summer, between enjoying our lives and enduring them?” My sentiments exactly!
-read complete Musings essay-

Ways to Support Topsmead

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Provide or Sponsor an Item on our
Project Wish List!
Plants, mulch, benches, cleaning supplies, etc.
see entire list here