Brookfield Hiker's Guide: Henry Preserve, Newtown

This is the second of a series of articles describing nature trails on conservation properties operated by the New Milford-based Weantinoge Heritage Land Trust. Each of the trust's 18 preserves, ranging from Newtown to Cornwall, are within an hour's drive of Brookfield, most within 20 minutes.
Until 2008, when the recession hit, I'd see a new stone wall going up somewhere in the area every other month or so. It seemed an odd use of money — not the stone wall, necessarily, but the fact that they were usually modern stone walls. Level, plumb and straight, they didn't speak of history, which is the main appeal of New England stone walls. Why surround an old house, or a house attempting to look old, with new-looking walls?
Stone walls, around here, were often born of necessity — it was hard to plow fields overrun with winter-heaved rocks, so it made sense to turn the stone into boundary markers, or animal fencing. That certainly seems the case at Newtown's Henry Preserve, just behind the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Newtown's Saw Mill Road, near where Route 25 and Route 6 meet. (You can park in the church lot, near the utility shed in the back, since the trail begins directly behind the propane tank storage area.) And the walls are the best thing about this short and unkempt trail, because there are a lot of walls, running at various angles, and they've been undisturbed for years.
The trail was a Boy Scout Eagle Project, according to the Weantinogue Trust's information map, and seems well designed. But like many such projects, it's fallen into disuse, meaning you're on your own most of the time, looking for non-existent blazes, or figuring out which downed tree trunks mark the trail, and which are just... downed tree trunks.
The trail mostly runs near the stone walls, so half the time, you can trail-blaze without worry. There's a nice stand of beeches, and some large shagbark hickories and tulip trees, which serve to remind you there's very little undergrowth here, likely a function of the land being a sheep farm when it was owned by Ed Camp. Camp had previously grown corn here — after his family bought the property from the Fairchilds, early settlers of Newtown — then turned to sheep, but gave up on them in 1910 when dogs killed much of his flock. The land, as a result, has thus been almost untouched for a century.
A detour down to Pond Brook produces some nice views (and mosquitoes), and here and there you'll see patches of partridge berry in flower and the bizarre-but-locally-common fungi-parasitic plant, Indian pipes. (Note that partridge berries ripen in the fall and that a good way to identify edible Northeast plants is by taking a tour with New York City-based "Wildman" Steve Brill, who comes to Connecticut most months.)
The trail description tells visitors to "stay on the trail," so you won't disturb nesting water thrushes, ovenbirds and grouse. I certainly heard a veery singing, but saw no signs of nests... which I looked for, since I couldn't help but go off-trail.