These 27 acres of woodland and meadow were donated in 1992 and 2003 by Schlatter offspring Ralph, Robert, Hilda [Bowe] and Vera [MacKeen]. Located on West District Road, near West District School, these properties were once one of the many farms established west of the Farmington River. 

The original gift was 18.8 acres of mature woodland which is now a preserved sanctuary for wildlife with limited human encroachment. It is home to numerous mammals and raptors which hunt in the adjacent meadow and along the Farmington River nearby. The second property, a beautiful 8.2 acre meadow abutting the woodland, was donated in 2003.

The Schlatters bought the farm at 78 West District Road in the 1920s from a Miss May Saunders, and named it “Shady Bend” for its old maples. The Hartford family summered here, where Fred and Louise Schlatter kept an orchard and truck garden, mainly for family and friends. Daughter Hilda Schlatter Bowe says they have donated the property to the Land Trust because of their parents’ love of farming, and to keep it from “just becoming housing”. It will remain as meadow as well as a managed woodland nature sanctuary preserved by the Farmington Land Trust.

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This property is closed to the public.

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