Recently, members of the Branford community gathered to celebrate the ground breaking of Branford’s first All Persons Trail at the Branford Land Trust’s Todds Hill Wet Meadow Preserve. Guests at the groundbreaking included Branford Land Trust president Julie Wagner, former First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove, members of the All Persons Trail Community Advisory Board, contractor Matt Conte, Conte Co., and representatives from the Land Trust and Town of Branford.
The first of its kind along the shoreline, Branford’s All Persons Trail is overseen by a community advisory board of people with disabilities. An All Persons Trail is a specially designed, universally accessible trail created for people of all abilities including those using wheelchairs or with limited mobility, balance challenges, sensory differences like blindness or deafness, and conditions like dementia. It will have accessible parking, accessible interpretive signage, and sensory elements for people with neurodiversity.
The trail will be located at Todds Hill Wet Meadow Preserve, a 24.2-acre open space set-aside acquired by the BLT in 2020, part of the former Cosgrove Estate, conveyed to BLT after neighbors strongly lobbied the Planning and Zoning Commission to make the open space available for public passive recreation. Access to the property is currently restricted, and will reopen sometime in the spring of 2027.
Construction is supported by the Connecticut Recreational Trails Program, with help from Fields Pond Foundation and Two for the Trails.
You can help, too!
Watch for a town-wide mailing with details about the Branford Land Trust’s For Every Body Fund that hopes to raise $356,000 for the All Persons Trail, as well as ADA modifications to the Land Trust House, accommodation services and tech upgrades, ongoing stewardship, and more. Your contributions, large and small, are important and appreciated. They can be made online at branfordlandtrust.org/everybody or by mail with checks noted “Every Body” to the Branford Land Trust (P.O. Box 254, Branford, CT 06405).
PHOTO CAPTION: Guests at the groundbreaking included, l-r, Joseph Misdraji from the Branford Conservation and Environment Commission, former First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove, Julie Wagner, president, Branford Land Trust, Dave DeBell, BLT Director, Justin Brownell, Community Advisory Board, Adrenna Paolillo, Community Advisory Board, Andrea Chapin, Community Advisory Board, Clare Hambly, BLT vice president, Dave McKay, BLT Director, Todds Hill Wet Meadow Preserve property steward, and head of the BLT Trails and Fields crew, Bill Chapin, BLT advisor, Community Advisory Board, and Matt Conte, Conte Co., contractor building the trail.
