Page 28 - North Haven Magazine Issue 19 Summer 2021

Photo Credit: Don Rocklin of
North Haven Trail Association

North Haven’s
Tidal Marsh Trail
by Susan A. Iverson

Have you ever visited the North Haven Tidal
Marsh Trail?

eing a local history enthusiast, I had to visit this site – it is the
Bsetting of so much of North Haven’s story. Situated behind Tar-
get on Universal Drive North, the trail winds along the Quinnip-
iac River. One can imagine the Quinnipiac People, the European
settlers, and centuries of North Haven fishermen and women me-
andering the river’s banks as they carried out their daily activities.
How this area formed is equally interesting – now it is an expanse of
tidal marshes, washed twice daily by the brackish tides from Long
Island Sound. But in ancient times it was the location of massive
deposits of clay and sand laid down during the Triassic and Jurassic Photo Credit: Don Rocklin of North Haven Trail Association
Periods, with even more deposits left by more recently receding
glaciers. The glacial meltwater carved out the Quinnipiac River, when the Dutch and the English arrived. The vast tidal marshes,
resulting in the landscape familiar to us now. Maukin Hill and however, made accessing dry land difficult, and that is why Sackett
Sleeping Giant rise to the north, watching over the marshlands. It Point became so important to this area. It is the first point north
is a magical place, one worth becoming familiar with. of the marsh where one can step off dry land to the river on both
sides. In the 1600s bog iron mined in a swamp on Pool Road was
transported by cart to Sackett Point, where it was floated by raft
down the Quinnipiac River to a forge in East Haven. Eventually a
bridge would be built here. (An earlier version of today’s Sackett
Point Bridge was commonly used by locals to cross the river, and
one farmer said that if you stood on it and talked, your voice would
echo back from Maukin (Mocking) Hill – thus its name. I am not
sure why the hill is really named thus, but it is a good story!) The
tidal marsh also supported large populations of waterfowl and fish,
making it a prime hunting and fishing ground. A lifetime North
Havener once told me that duck hunting there was so popular in
his youth that when the season opened one could smell the gun-
powder all the way north to the town center.

Aside from the busy retail center adjacent to the tidal marsh, it is
Photo Credit: Don Rocklin of North Haven Trail Association a quieter place today. The North Haven Trail Association has pro-
vided a tranquil site to stroll along the tidal marsh and reflect on all
The trail that exists today has its origins with the Quinnipiac Peo- the gifts that nature bestows on us. The trail is an easy walk, and
ple. It is said that one of their paths wound down along the east the Association has placed benches in convenient and scenic spots.
shore of the Quinnipiac River from Maukin Hill (where the solar Parking is well-marked, plentiful, and close to the trail’s entrance.
array and the wastewater treatment plant are) to New Haven. This For more information, please visit the North Haven Trail Associ-
would have been one of the ways the Quinnipiacs moved between ation website – https://www.northhaventrails.org/get-involved In
their summer camps on the shore and their winter camps in North addition to the Tidal Marsh Trail they identify other great places to
Haven. These earliest settlers used the river, as well, to move be- walk or hike in town. Perhaps I will see you there one day soon!
tween settlements. Farms located in this area of town have turned
up many Quinnipiac artifacts attesting to their long presence here. Many thanks to Steve Fontana of the North Haven Trail Associ-
ation for assistance with this article. I would also like to thank
Early European settlers recognized value in the resources offered Dr. Don Rocklin for his fabulous photographs of the tidal marsh.
by the tidal marsh and the river. For example, the tidal (salt) marsh As always, thanks to the North Haven Historical Society archives
extended from Sackett Point to Fair Haven. Salt hay was harvest- and Lucy Brusic’s Amidst Cultivated and Pleasant Fields for the
ed from the tidal marsh and used to feed their livestock. The riv- history of this lovely place.
er itself provided an easier means of moving from the shoreline
to the interior of Connecticut – remember, there were no roads

28 North Haven Magazine - Summer Issue 2021