Regicides Trail is a '' Blue-Blazed''

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. ...

, about 7 miles (11 km) long, roughly following the edge of a

diabase Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grain ...

, or traprock,

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...

northwest of

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

. It is named for two regicides,

Edward Whalley Edward Whalley (c. 1607 – c. 1675) was an English military leader during the English Civil War and was one of the regicides who signed the death warrant of King Charles I of England. Early career The exact dates of his birth and death are u ...

and his son-in-law William Goffe, who signed the death warrant of King

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after ...

. Upon the restoration of Charles II to the throne and the persecution of the regicides, the pair hid in Judges Cave near the south end of the trail in 1660. The Regicides is widely known to be one of the most technical trails within the CT Blue-Blazed trail system.

Description

The trail is a narrow footpath marked with blue blazes, sometimes rocky with difficult footing. It is roughly paralleled by Baldwin Drive, a paved road currently closed to motor vehicles, except for maintenance vehicles, named for New Haven native

Simeon E. Baldwin Simeon Eben Baldwin (February 5, 1840 – January 30, 1927) was an American jurist, law professor, and politician who served as the 65th governor of Connecticut. Education The son of jurist, Connecticut governor and U.S. Senator Roger Sherma ...

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of Connecticut from 1911 to 1915. The trail is within the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

s of New Haven, Hamden, Woodbridge, and

Bethany Bethany ( grc-gre, Βηθανία,Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p152/ref> Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐ ''Bēṯ ʿAnyā'') or what is locally known as Al-Eizariya or al-Azariya ( ar, العيزرية, " laceof Lazarus"), is a Palestinian town in the West ...

, and entirely within

West Rock Ridge State Park West Rock Ridge State Park is a public recreation area located in New Haven, Hamden, and Woodbridge, Connecticut. The state park is named for the trap rock West Rock Ridge, which is part of the Metacomet Ridge extending from Long Island S ...

, but is maintained by a private organization, the Connecticut Forest and Park Association, in conjunction with the West Rock Ridge Park Association. At its southern end, the Regicides Trail terminates behind a pavilion at the park's South Overlook, which has a panoramic view of South Central, Conn., including

Sleeping Giant State Park Sleeping Giant (also known as the Blue Hills and Mount Carmel), (''Hobbomock'' in Quinnipiac), is a rugged traprock mountain with a high point of , located north of New Haven, Connecticut. A prominent landscape feature visible for miles, the Sl ...

East Rock Park East Rock Park is a park in the city of New Haven and the town of Hamden, Connecticut that is operated as a New Haven city park. The park surrounds and includes the mountainous ridge named East Rock and was developed with naturalistic landscaping ...

, New Haven Harbor, and the

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

. At its northern end, the Regicides Trail connects with the Quinnipiac Trail. Both trails are part of the state's system of "

Blue-Blazed Trails The Blue-Blazed Hiking Trail system, managed by the Connecticut Forest & Park Association (CFPA), and the related trail systems documented in the two volume ("East" and "West") 19th Edition of the "Connecticut Walk Book" comprise over 800 miles o ...

" totaling more than . There are two connecting Blue-Blazed Trails to the Regicides Trail. The Westville Feeder, which starts off Blake Street in the Westville section of

and extends for 0.6 miles, terminating with a junction at the Regicides Trail, just south of Judges Cave. The trail is blazed Blue-Yellow. The Sanford Feeder follows an abandoned town road, running from Brooks Road in Bethany to its junction with the Regicides Trail near Baldwin Drive. The Sanford Feeder is 0.6 miles and is blazed Blue-Red. The Regicides Trail also connects to a series of other trails within the park that are not part of the Blue-Blazed system. These trails include the Red Trail that creates a trail loop within the park; the Green Trail, connecting down to the park's main entrance on Wintergreen Avenue; the Orange Trail, connecting to the south end of Lake Wintergreen; the Gold Trail, connecting to the northern end of Lake Wintergreen; the Purple Trail, connecting to Main Street in Hamden, and the Yellow Trail, connecting to Mountain Road in Hamden. The Regicides Trail has a connection to the Woodbridge trail system via the red-blazed North Summit Trail, which intersects the Regicides, just west of Baldwin Drive near a U-shaped overlook. The North Summit Trail extends for 0.8 miles and intersects with the Bishop Estate and Darling House Trails, off

Connecticut Route 69 Route 69 is a primary north–south state highway in the U.S. state of Connecticut connecting the city of New Haven to the city of Bristol in the western part of Greater Hartford, passing through Greater Waterbury along the way. The route ext ...

in Woodbridge.

References

External links

Specific to this trail:
Official West Rock Ridge State Park website

West Rock Ridge State Park map

West Rock Ridge Park Association

West Rock Nature Center

Bishop Estate & Darling House Trails

West Rock Ridge trails information

CT Museum Quest Article on the Regicides Trail
State and municipal government websites:

* ttp://www.cityofnewhaven.com/ City of New Haven, Connecticut
Town of Bethany

Town of Bethany Conservation Commission

Town of Hamden
Land trust / conservation/preservation organizations:
West Rock Ridge Park Association

Bethany Land Trust

Woodbridge Land Trust

Connecticut Forest and Park Association

Regional Water Company website
{{Protected areas of Connecticut Blue-Blazed Trails Metacomet Ridge, Connecticut Mountains of Connecticut Protected areas of New Haven County, Connecticut Geography of New Haven, Connecticut Hamden, Connecticut Landforms of New Haven County, Connecticut Tourist attractions in New Haven, Connecticut

Description

See also

References

Further reading

External links