About the Property

The Tobiassen Memorial Forest is on Noah Lane off Grant Hill Road, in Tolland, CT, just north of the Coventry town line. The land is wooded, rolling with old wood roads, two brooks and a few wet areas; some very old large DBH trees. There is a 1.4 mile loop trail. A small stream lies along the southern boundary and drains across the adjoining Weigold Preserve belonging to the town of Tolland. To lengthen the walk one can access the blazed trails on the Weigold and Auperin parcels, which are part of Tolland’s open space properties that abut Tobiasson.

The forest trees contain some notable specimens of beech, birch and oak. One is aBetula lenta or black birch, nominated by Sam Dodd to the Connecticut Notable Trees database, a joint initiative of the Connecticut Botanical Society, The Connecticut College Arboretum, and the Connecticut Urban Forest Council. In 1998 the circumfrence measured 122 inches. You can find this birch listed, along with other notable Connecticut trees, at oak.conncoll.edu:8080/notabletrees.

There is a rich trove of Tolland history related to this land trust preserve. Long ago, the current forest was owned by an ancestor of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. It is said that General Grant grew up in the area, on land owned by his great-great-grandfather. Grant Hill Road in Tolland is named for him.

The area is also the location of the original Tolland settlers, farmers who arrived from the English settlement of Windsor, and established their farms near the current Grant Hill.

Location: Tolland, Connecticut. North of the Coventry town line. End of Noah Lane, off Grant Hill Road
Donors: Doris and Al Tobiassen
Acres: 84 acres
Preserved: 1997
Stewards: Ken Hankinson, Vern Beausoleil