Mohawk State Forest, also known as Mohawk State Forest/Mohawk Mountain State Park, encompasses over in the towns of

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, Goshen, and Litchfield in the southern

Berkshires The Berkshires () are highlands located in western Massachusetts and northwestern Connecticut in the United States. Generally, "Berkshires" may refer to the range of hills in Massachusetts that lie between the Housatonic and Connecticut River ...

of Litchfield County,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. As overseen by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the area is used for hiking, picnicking, and winter sports by the public, while being actively managed to produce timber and other forest products.

History

The forest bears the name of the Mohawk Indians, although the tribe did not live in the area. Historians believe the Tunxis and

Paugussett The Golden Hill Paugussett is a State recognized tribes, state-recognized Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe in Connecticut. Granted reservations in a number of towns in the 17th century, their land base was whittled away ...

used the mountain peak for signal fires that warned neighboring communities further south that Mohawks were approaching from the northwest. Mohawk is the sixth oldest

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

in the Connecticut state forest system. The forest's first five woodland acres were donated to the Connecticut State Park Commission by Andrew Clark in 1917 and were known as Mohawk Mountain Park until the 1920s. In 1921, Alain C. White donated another 250 acres with the White Memorial Foundation contributing a total of more than of land. Crews of

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

workers were active in the forest during the 1930s. Their work included the construction of roads that remain in use, the planting of hundreds of acres of trees, and the creation of breaks for fire control.

Points of interest

;Black Spruce Bog One of the few

bogs A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main Wetland#Types, types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagm ...

in the state, the 19-acre Black Spruce Bog is considered an outstanding example of a late stage

peat bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muske ...

. Plants such as sheep laurel, leatherleaf,

sphagnum moss ''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store water, since ...

, sundew, and

pitcher plant Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants known as pitfall traps—a prey-trapping mechanism featuring a deep cavity filled with digestive liquid. The traps of pitcher plant are considered to be "true" pitcher plants and are formed by specialized ...

are found here, with white pine,

black spruce ''Picea mariana'', the black spruce, is a North American species of spruce tree in the pine family. It is widespread across Canada, found in all 10 provinces and all 3 territories. It is the official tree of Newfoundland and Labrador and is tha ...

, eastern hemlock, and

tamarack ''Larix laricina'', commonly known as the tamarack, hackmatack, eastern larch, black larch, red larch, or American larch, is a species of larch native to Canada, from eastern Yukon and Inuvik, Northwest Territories east to Newfoundland, and als ...

comprising the overstory. The bog is accessed via a boardwalk designed to minimize the impact of visitors. ;Cunningham Tower An old, gutted stone tower stands along a trail in the northern section of the forest. It was constructed by Litchfield resident Seymour Cunningham after he bought land for sheep farming on Mohawk Mountain in 1912. ;Mohawk Mountain Mohawk Mountain (elev. 1683 feet) is the highest point on the blue-blazed Mattatuck Trail. The summit offers views of the Taconic Mountains and Berkshire Mountains to north and northwest including Bear Mountain, Canaan Mountain, and Cream Hill in Connecticut as well as peaks in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

( Race Mountain,

Mount Everett Mount Everett is the highest peak in the southern Taconic Mountains, rising about 2,000 feet above its eastern footings in Sheffield, Massachusetts. Its summit area is notable for expansive vistas and an unusual dwarf forest of pitch pine and ...

, Mount Greylock) and the eastern

Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province and subrange of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined a ...

New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

. ;Mohawk Pond The southern section of the state forest encompasses Mohawk Pond, a 16-acre kettle pond stocked with

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

and noted for

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus nigricans'') is a carnivorous, freshwater fish, freshwater, ray-finned fish in the Centrarchidae (sunfish) family, native to the eastern United States, eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada an ...

. The pond has a maximum depth of 26 feet (8 m), an average depth of 15 feet (4.5 m), and a boat launch on its southern shore. ;Red Mountain Accessible on foot via the blue-blazed

Mohawk Trail The Mohawk Trail began as a Native American trade route which connected Atlantic tribes with tribes in Upstate New York and beyond. It followed the Millers River, Deerfield River and crossed the Hoosac Range, in the area that is now northwestern ...

(a former alignment of the

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tra ...

), Red Mountain (elev. 1652 feet) occupies the northernmost section of Mohawk State Forest. Its eastern slope is the site of the Red Mountain Shelter, a log cabin built by CCC crews based in Housatonic State Forest. Due to the shallow bedrock of the peak, the higher elevations of the mountain sport shrubby

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

trees and distant vistas.

Activities and amenities

The area offers hiking, picnicking, fishing and youth group camping, opportunities for leaf color viewing in fall, and

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...

in winter. Skiers and snowboarders use the adjacent privately operated Mohawk Mountain Ski Area.

References

External links

Mohawk Mountain State Forest State Park
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Mohawk State Forest Map: Northern Section
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Mohawk State Forest Map: Southern Section
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection {{authority control Land Gifts of the White Memorial Foundation Connecticut state forests State parks of Connecticut Cornwall, Connecticut Goshen, Connecticut Litchfield, Connecticut Parks in Litchfield County, Connecticut Protected areas established in 1921 1921 establishments in Connecticut Civilian Conservation Corps in Connecticut