Three miles of easy trails intersect this 262-acre sanctuary on the banks of the Housatonic River. The trails run through wetlands and meadows before easing upward to fields and forests. In the swamps and flood-plain forest about a dozen rare butterfly, bird, plant and other species survive, including the rare wood turtle.
The meadows and hayfields draw bobolinks, yellow warblers and indigo buntings. Near the river and its wetlands you'll see wood ducks, black ducks and green herons.
The wooded uplands host ruffed grouse, veeries and pileated woodpeckers, and are also prime spots to watch American kestrels, and Cooper's and red-tailed hawks soaring through. You'll want to check out Wolf Pine Trail, named for a broad-spreading white pine left in a farmer's field over a century ago where it grew to its great bulk.
Canoe Meadows was once part of the estate of Oliver Wendell Holmes, who lived and wrote here for part of each year in the mid-19th century. Just down the road is Arrowhead, where Herman Melville wrote "Moby Dick."