Elliot Preserve

About the Preserve

The Elliot Preserve includes a beautiful 1/4-mile loop trail through 17 acres of open meadow, with views of the Indian River, Long Island Sound, and beyond. To visit the preserve, park behind the Clinton Town Hall.

On December 19, 2013, the Trust was incredibly lucky to become the recipient of a large meadow on the banks and near the mouth of the Indian River in Clinton. The property is located behind and on the south side of a two story colonial farmhouse built by George Eliot in 1783, and owned by his descendants for over two hundred years. The Elliot Preserve and family home stand in the midst of the colonial center of downtown Clinton. The Eliot House, built in 1710, and the Academy Building, from 1801, are among the many impressive colonial homes within a ten minute walk in any direction. 

The Preserve’s western edge is bordered by the Indian River as it flows south toward Clinton Harbor converging with the Hammock and Hammonasset rivers. The area was first prized by Native Americans for its abundant oysters, fish, and fertile land. It is cherished today for its shellfish, fishing, osprey habitat, and ever improving water quality.  When Uncas, Sachem of the Mohegan sold the land in this area to the early settlers in 1663, he insisted that the papers he signed reserved for his people six acres that began along the beach and ran north. His son Wankas and grandson Jaswah later insisted, in another deal with the settlers, that an acre be reserved at the end of now Waterside Lane to allow their people “free liberty to hunt, fish, camp, and to take rushes and flags for the making of mats.”    

Some three hundred and fifty years after these negotiations and transfers of land ownership and rights, the Trust was generously given the unique waterside parcel behind the Andrews Memorial Town Hall.  With Lucy Elliot’s signature on that document she acted to preserve this beautiful and historic shore zone ecosystem for all people and all time.