Cultural History

This 160 acre sanctuary was deeded to the Stanton Bird Club in 1929 by Louise S. Drew and Clara B. Dana, daughters of Mary Ann Woodbury Davis. It was part of the original family farm on the Monmouth/Litchfield town line. Mary Ann Woodbury was one of 13 children born to Hugh and Elizabeth Plummer Woodbury who farmed the property in the nineteenth century. The family cemetery is located in the sanctuary, across Pease Hill Road from the gate. There are approximately 10 acres in Litchfield and 150 acres in Monmouth. At the time the property was deeded to the Club, it had been cut very hard and portions may have been burned.
Club members constructed a rustic cabin on the property in the 1950's and maintained a hiking trail beyond the top of the ridge. The cabin was vandalized and torn down in the late 1980's. New trails completed in 1999 and 2000, shown on the map, provide over 3 miles of well marked hiking paths.
The land rises from a low elevation of about 170 feet near Mud Pond in the SW and a cedar swamp in the NW to a high elevation of about 410 feet on the twin peaks of the ridge, where it drops to about 220 feet at the road. The club actively manages Woodbury with the occasional selective tree harvests to provide a high diversity of habitat for wildlife, especially for birds.

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