Auerfarm State Park Scenic Reserve, a 40 acre parcel in Bloomfield, was donated to the state park system and will forever be linked to the legacy of Beatrice Fox Auerbach (1887-1968), a Hartford philanthropic native who was prominent in the civic, educational and cultural life of the city. This portion of her Bloomfield farmland was presented as a gift to the people of Connecticut.

Starting in 1925 with Mr. George Auerbach's original purchase of farmland in Bloomfield, and continuing the agrarian legacy through to 2015 when 40 acres were donated to the State of Connecticut as a state park in the memory of Dorothy and Bernard Schiro, Auerfarm has made history, seen heartbreak and set records for 90 years of Connecticut's history.

Led for most of its history by Beatrice Fox Auerbach, who inherited the farm in 1927 after her husband's passing, Mrs. Auerbach committed to make the land one of Bloomfield’s most notable farms.

Under her stewardship the location proved to be the showplace of cutting edge poultry farming technology in 1935; and subsequently, over 20 years later, won top prizes for its peach and plum entries at competitive fruit judging contests.

1955 brought heartbreak as the main dairy barn was lost to fire due to spontaneous combustion in the hay storage area. (All the animals escaped safely). Strict and careful planning brought a new barn of tile and brick and used an underground conveyor system to safely move hay into the facility.

All the while Beatrice Fox Auerbach was the beloved president of the G. Fox and Company department store in downtown Hartford. In 1956 Forbes Magazine listed Mrs. Auerbach as one of America’s leading business women. She has been remembered as an animal lover and an advocate of working people, an advocate of wildlife and, gladly, an advocate for both open space and outdoor education.

Mrs. Auerbach passed away in 1968, her successful Guernsey dairy herd having been donated the year before to the University of Connecticut Animal Science Department. In 1977, much of the farm's land was passed to the Connecticut 4•H Development Fund. The remaining 40 acres of the farm property has been preserved in perpetuity in conjunction with the CT Forest and Park Association which will manage a conservation easement on the property. In 2015 it became Connecticut’s 110th state park, and will be managed as a State Park Scenic Reserve.

Auerfarm State Park

Penwood State Park offers almost 800 acres of four-season fun just a short drive from the Capital City.

 
A long wooded ridge dominates the sunset-side of the Connecticut River Valley in the vicinity of Hartford. Crested atop the northerly portion of the Talcott Mountain Range lies a sizable portion of the public domain, Penwood State Park. With this gift in 1944 to the citizens of Connecticut of nearly 800 acres, Curtis H. Veeder wished only that his beloved hilltop, "be kept in a natural state so that those who love nature may enjoy this property as I have enjoyed it."

Veeder was an industrialist, inventor and outdoorsman. Early maps of Penwood evidence Veeder's engineering skill and demand for precise accuracy. Surveying, often after dark, he used a complex theodolite instrument and a flashlight to establish a true meridian line from the exact position of a star.

Ardent hikers, Veeder and his wife, Louise, built many trails from which to more intimately observe the wildlife, woodland phenomena and scenic vistas surrounding the mountain. Appropriately, a section of Connecticut's Blue Blazed Trail system, the Metacomet, now traverses much of Penwood.

In April, as the snow recedes, colorful wildflowers carpet gravelly pockets of soil. The trillium is common as are dutchman's breeches, hepatica, bloodroot, and trailing arbutus. Occasionally the hiker may glimpse the flight of a pileated woodpecker, turkey vulture or bald eagle.

Honoring the donor's request, ground-fires, horses and camping are excluded from the activities at Penwood.

State Parks Tagged With: Bloomfield