Welcome to Shoreline Greenway Trail
The Shoreline Greenway Trail is being built as a continuous path for bicyclists, walkers and hikers and for people of all ages to enjoy the outdoors and help create healthy communities along the Connecticut shoreline.
Our 25-mile trail on the Connecticut Shoreline will extend from Lighthouse Point on the New Haven Harbor through East Haven, Branford and Guilford, to Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison.
CT Trails Day: A Trolley Ride and SGT 11th Annual Volunteer Celebration
Riding the rails with the Shoreline Trolley Museum on CT Trails Day 2013
On June 1st, Connecticut Trails Day, Shoreline Greenway Trail’s Branford Team and East Haven Team, and the Shoreline Trolley Museum in East Haven together hosted a special treat for our First Saturday monthly walk – a visit to the museum with a free trolley ride and a hike to the site of one of our next major Trail projects – a new pedestrian bridge to cross the Farm River between East Haven and Branford. Over 80 people enjoyed the morning under sunny skies.
Two antique trolleys took us over the river along woods and marshland
Antique trolley at Shoreline Trolley Museum in East Haven
to a platform where we disembarked to walk along a temporary path to the old tide gate along upper Farm River.
SGT leader Chet Blomquist at abandoned Farm River tide gate, site of planned SGT pedestrian crossing between Branford and East Haven
Leader Chet Blomquist reminisced that he used to “ride the rapids” in a canoe here. The tide gate, destroyed in the hurricanes of 1938 and 1954, will be rebuilt as the base for our new walking and bicycling bridge over to East Haven.
We also explored the nearby abandoned stone crushing mill where there are great views atop the cliff looking ‘down river’.
View from old stone crushing mill down Farm River
Along the way we spotted a turkey in the bush, and soaring osprey. 
It is exciting that this planned Trail route will connect two parks in adjacent towns: Farm River State Park in East Haven via Meadow Road and our new pedestrian bridge across the Farm River to the Beacon Hill open space, a State-owned property in Branford. 
Immediately after, we held our brief 11th Annual Meeting at the nearby Christ & Epiphany Episcopal Church Hall, with Board elections and reports from our SGT Town Team chairs, followed by recognition of our Outstanding Volunteers of the year.
Chairman Chip Angle lauded the accomplishments of all our volunteers, stressing our unique status as an all-volunteer organization completely dependent on our supporters’ interest and good will to serve as volunteers. This year, thirty special Shoreline Greenway Trail volunteers were honored from our five towns.
They have dedicated their special talents and energy to Shoreline Greenway Trail this past year in varied ways – as new Town Chairs, as Green Team Trail builders and boardwalk builders, as Fundraising Mail Team processors, and as Town government liaisons. The Town Chairs presented each volunteer with a special cap, embroidered with “SGT Outstanding Volunteer”. The 2012 Outstanding Volunteers are featured in our just-completed ‘Annual Report: May 2013′.
- Outstanding Volunteers 2012 honored at SGT’s 11th Annual Celebration present for the event include: front row – Branford’s Pete Peterson seated and Madison’s Perry Reinhard standing; middle row standing from left – East Haven’s Bill Richardson, Arlene Hackbarth of East Haven Land Trust, Mike Gambardella, Town Director Art DeSobo representing East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo, and New Haven’s John Cox; back row – Madison’s Dave Kelley and George Haines.
Rails-to-Trails website features Shoreline Greenway Trail
We are thrilled that Rails-to-Trails Conservancy chose to feature a story, ”Pretty in Pink” about our Shoreline Greenway Trail on their website.
http://www.railstotrails.org/news/features/shorelinegreenway.html.
And, check link on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/railstotrails. The story will also appear in their upcoming March newsletter which goes out to nearly half a million people! Thank you RTTC!
In Memoriam
Barbara Waggoner of Guilford, an early advocate for bicycling, died January 19, at age 91. She and her husband Paul have resided in Guilford since 1952. After a year living in the Netherlands during 1971, Barbara returned to Guilford with a new enthusiasm for bicycling for transportation as well as for sport. She formed the Guilford Bicycle Commission in 1973, and presented a bikeway plan to the Town. In 1977, she co-founded the statewide CT Coalition of Bicyclists, and envisioned a bikeway on the Trolley right-of-way to Hammonassett which was proposed to the State legislature. While her efforts were not adopted, her vision later inspired the founders of the Shoreline Greenway Trail to affectionately name her the “Mother of the Shoreline Greenway Trail”.
We are grateful to the Waggoner family for designating Shoreline Greenway Trail for memorial contributions in honor of Barbara’s life. Donations can be mailed to SGT, PO Box 148, Branford, CT 06405.
Happy New Year 2013 to all our Supporters!
We look forward to continuing the momentum created this year with active progress in all four towns of the Shoreline Greenway Trail. In 2013 we will be clearing and completing even more Trail sections in East Haven, Branford, Madison, and establish the first route in Guilford, with everyone’s help!
This past fall, two events marked significant progress for Shoreline Greenway Trail:
* East Haven SGT Team held a ribbon cutting to open their first completed 1½ miles of Trail
* Madison SGT Team started construction of a boardwalk at Hammonasseet State Park.
Scroll down for the complete stories.
Our First Boardwalk under construction in Madison
Madison volunteers build boardwalk structure at Hammonasset
At Hammonasset State Park, at the park entrance, a small crew of volunteers are hard at work building a boardwalk to cross 72 feet of tidal marsh.
38 helical piers will hold the structure and deck that our volunteers are installing. The piers were installed by a local firm, Robert J Barnabei Contracting LLC. The deck is a composite grid material that will allow 88 – 90% of available light through to the marsh grasses.
Hammonasset boardwalk deck
When completed, hopefully in February, the boardwalk will be 10 feet wide and 220 feet long, including ramps, to make the trail as accessible as possible to wheelchairs and persons with limited mobility.
East Haven opens a new trail section!
East Haven Mayor Maturo cuts the ribbon! photo by Jennifer Higham
A wonderful ribbon-cutting event in East Haven on a sunny October 4 marked the opening of the first completed 1½ mile trail of the Shoreline Greenway Trail in East Haven – from D. C. Moore School, down Pevetty Drive, through the Farm River State Park to Short Beach Road. The Stony Creek pink granite final topping completes the trail for use not just by walkers, but by bicyclists and families with strollers. The next step is to expand the trail thru the Bradford Preserve.
Mayor Joseph Maturo cut the ribbon with local politicians and the East Haven volunteers who worked on the trail. Barbara Brow, Chair of the East Haven Shoreline Greenway Trail team, thanked everyone for their help, saying “You are the wind beneath our feet.”
East Haven SGT Team at Oct 4 Trail Opening celebration. photo by Jennifer Higham
