By Anne W. Semmes
There is a magical place found in the most northwestern corner of Greenwich, a 94-acre property called the Nichols Nature Preserve. “You can come out of the woods and there are some very large, beautiful fields. You can go riding through the woods, and go around some ponds, and then go through the fields – and there’s an apple orchard. It’s got a little bit of everything.” So shares Jennifer “Jenni” Freedman, a horseback rider and chairman of that Preserve that is owned by the Greenwich Riding and Trails Association (GRTA).
So, if one doesn’t ride horses how well known in Greenwich is this Preserve? “It’s a secret, really,” tells Freedman.” “The neighbors know about it and the equestrian community knows about it. But it’s off the beaten path.” Yes, one enters it from a little-known path called West Lane off Bedford Road, where only 10 of those 94 acres are in Greenwich, the other 84 are in North Castle, NY.
Hikers have found it and those who go there to fish or to bird watch or walk their dogs. But fair warning, horses have right of way.
Megan Murphy has grown up horseback riding with her family in the Preserve. “It’s so wonderful as a nature lover and especially as an equestrian to have such a beautiful, open space in Greenwich,” shares Murphy. “I can go out there for a conditioning gallop as I prepare for a horse event or out for a relaxing morning trail ride with my mom to start the day. We’re so lucky to have a large Preserve in the area to go jumping and riding around without having to cross any roads.”
And John Nelson certainly knows of it. “Several of us who like to cross country ski in and around Greenwich love the GRTA Nichols Preserve. It has lots of flat trails both in the woods (which minimizes snow drifts and wind scouring), and those mowed by the GRTA in the beautiful nearly 30-acre west-facing meadow. The trails are free of scrub-growth and downed branches; truly a cross country skier’s and equestrian delight.” And all of that “lovingly maintained by the GRTA,” Nelson notes.
It’s that critical maintenance by the GRTA that is on Jenni Freedman’s mind. So, there’s expenses related to that maintaining of trails and meadows, says Freedman. “Not huge expenses because it’s a nature preserve.” Expenses she tells of “about $6,000 a year just to maintain it – assuming there’s no big capital project.” Having set up earlier an endowment fund following an initial fundraiser there was $30,000 in that endowment fund. “But If we put $100,000 in the endowment,” says Freedman, “we could take five to six percent a year and it would basically be self-sufficient in perpetuity.”
So, ever the inventive activist for the Preserve, Freedman shared her idea with a supporter of GRTA, a “local conservation minded philanthropist” that $100,000 was needed. “I will do a match,” he responded, “Whatever donations you get, I will match dollar to dollar up to $100,000.”
That new fundraising drive having kicked off the beginning of March, running to the end of April, Freedman reports, “We’ve gotten about $20,000 so far, so that’s very exciting.” But she adds, “There’s more work to be done. I’ve contacted people who have given to the Preserve before, people who live in the area and use the Preserve. These green spaces benefit everybody.”
Freedman cites her “biggest contribution to GRTA is that I’ve worked on this property since we didn’t’ own it…and since we’ve owned it.” But Freedman has done more for this Preserve and the GRTA dating back to the years the Nature Conservancy owned the Preserve. It’s all there in her Greenwich Library 2004 oral history on “Riding in Greenwich.”
So, Freedman was on her horse riding in the then Nature Conservancy-owned Preserve when she encountered a lady with not too friendly dogs. The lady told her, “No horses allowed in here.” Freedman responded, “I was shown by somebody who actually knew the Mr. Herbert Nichols, Jr. I was assured that we were allowed to go in.”
To investigate, Freedman first contacted the Nature Conservancy and learned a lawsuit filed against them elsewhere from an incident related to a horse had caused them to not allow horses in their preserves. Then, searching out the deeds from both Greenwich and North Castle when Mr. Nichols had deeded the Preserve property to the Nature Conservancy, Freedman finds horseback riding not mentioned but “recreational activities were part of the deal.”
But didn’t Mr. Nichols and family ride horses with carriages along those “wonderful bridle trails” of packed dirt. And wasn’t Mr. Nichols still alive to question? Yes indeed, the elderly Mr. Nichols told Freedman, “Horseback riding was to be allowed.” Freedman took that line back to the Nature Conservancy.
So,” Freedman tells, “I had approached the Nature Conservancy and said you know this is not in the agreement you made with your donor, and we would like to see horses there again. And then they asked us if we would be interested in being a steward and taking care of it – and owning it.” The price?
“One dollar for 94 acres in Greenwich and New Castle. It was a win-win for everybody.”
Including donor Herbert Nichols Jr. when he was told of this development. He was described as “moved to tears at the prospect of his beloved property being able to be enjoyed in perpetuity by future generations of horseback riders, dog walkers and nature lovers,” writes Ellen Brennan-Galvin in her history of the former Herbert Nichols house she lives in on Maple Avenue.
So, coming up on this Saturday is an ideal opportunity to learn more about the Nichols Preserve and get some outdoor exercise at the GRTA’s annual spring “Trail Clean-up & Picnic, from 9:30 to noon. Bring gloves, small tools such as clippers or hand saws. And those interested in contributing to the GRTA endowment fund can do so online at https://thegrta.org/give/
