Details
Property Type: Fee-Owned
Town: Lebanon
Size: 85 Acres
Public Access: Public Access Allowed via the Hibbard Trail.
Directions
Property Description
The Whitney Forest was donated to CFPA in 1998 by Dorothy Whitney to protect the property from further development and ensure its proper management well into the future. This wonderful woodland was harvested in 2015 to help regenerate oak and pitch pine species and to improve the site for wildlife. The property’s Hibbard Trail named in honor of CFPA’s former Executive Director, John Hibbard, is a 1.5 mile loop that traverses the property and acts as a forestry educational resource for all ages.
Parking: Parking on Oliver Road.
Property Map“On a visit to the Whitney Forest in summertime, you are welcomed by the lush, layered foliage of a woodland rich with wetlands. Tall, large-crowned trees shelter a mosaic of native shrub thickets, delicate ferns and ribbons of skunk cabbage. If its August you may be treated to a show of brilliant cardinal flowers lining the banks of a perennial stream like the holiday lights of a boulevard. At each turn in the trail you are greeted by maples, ashes, birches, hickories, tupelos, and oaks. Some of the oak trees are so large you might believe they were part of some forgotten patch of “old growth” forest. But nearby you’ll see the unmistakable evidence of European-style agriculture. Fieldstone fences, some a good four feet tall, are organized and built with remarkable precision and care. Barways, gaps in the stonework designed to serve as gates, are strategically located to facilitate the early husbandry of grazing livestock…Taken together, the Whitney Forest beautifully expresses the unique story of Southern New England’s inseparable natural and cultural history.”
Dan Donahue
Forester and CFPA Forest and Trail Conservation Committee Member