Group hike Saturday at the newest Hilltown Destination Coles Brook Preserve narrated by Western Mass Hilltown Hikers Director and Washington Historical Chair Tom Hoffman.

In the early 1980s. Roy Bryan and Susan Minnich built a house deep in the forest here in Washington. Massachusetts, overlooking Coles Brook, a key tributary to the Westfield River They constructed the house by hand, hauling all the materials in by carts, snowmobiles and ATVs because the driveway wasn’t built Until the early 2000s. In their retirement, they decided to conserve their 60 acres of forest In 2019, they sold the property to The Nature Conservancy and agreed that the house could be removed to fully rewild the land.

In late 2020, the house was taken down. allowing the forest to regrow in its place and become part of TNC’s Coles Brook Preserve. In 2024. TNC built the Headwaters Trail close to the source of Coles Brook and Benson Pond, using part of the old driveway to the former house, as well as old roads used for sheep farming in the late 1800’s.  Future generations can witness the land’s rewilding process and enjoy its natural beauty. Coles Brook Preserve is a critical link in a larger network of climate-resilient lands stretching from the central Appalachians to Canada that serve as an important wildlife migration corridor.

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