The town of Madison purchased the Rockland Preserve in 1997 from the Madison Hills Limited Partnership II for $4.8 million. The property consists of 649 acre tract of land that contains an abundance of evidence that the early settlers in Rockland harvested the land for wood and charcoal. Still evident are many circular “charcoal pits” with their black soil littered with bits of charcoal. Nearby these flat, circular areas are stone fireplaces, marking the crude huts where the colliers kept watch as the charcoal smoldered in its conical mound.
The preserve borders the Northwoods properties in Guilford and watershed properties managed by the South Central Regional Water Authority. For more information, contact the Madison Beach and Recreation Department, for directions to a trail head, click on a map marker below.
