What are the opening hours?

Monday 8am - 4:30pm Tuesday 8am - 4:30pm Wednesday 8am - 4:30pm Thursday 8am - 4:30pm Friday 8am - 4:30pm Saturday 8am - 4:30pm Sunday 8am - 4:30pm

Friends of Topsmead State Forest

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Litchfield, CT
Friends of Topsmead State Forest

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The Friends of Topsmead State Forest (FTSF) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) which promotes the legacy of Topsmead through programs and activities.

10/14/2026

If you are planning to attend the Friends of Topsmead State Forest Annual Members Meeting, please RSVP by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 14 on the Friends of Topsmead website: https://www.friendsoftopsmead.org/events.html

10/08/2026

Join us for our final tour weekend (Saturday & Sunday) of the season. Tours of the cottage are approximately 30 minutes in length; first come, first served; a docent will greet you at the cottage's front entrance. PLEASE NOTE: THE FINAL TOUR ON BOTH SATURDAY & SUNDAY WILL START AT 3:30 P.M. AND BE FINISHED BY 4 P.M. We look forward to seeing you at Topsmead!

10/06/2026

09/26/2026

Tomorrow's tours at Topsmead are canceled due to heavy rain and a power outage at the cottage. Join us for our final series of Chase Cottage tours this season on Saturday & Sunday, October 10th & 11th from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The tours are offered on a first come, first served basis. Meet at the front door of the cottage and a docent will greet you. Eight people per tour; each tour is approximately 30 minutes in length. Free of charge. We look forward to seeing you!

09/17/2026

https://litchfieldmagazine.com/onourradar/topsmeadstateforest/?fbclid=PAT01DUAUYLhBwZG9mAmV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDzU2NzA2NzM0MzM1MjQyNwABp4LlbDBecegnxZjVSssta4P9jsxFgQuOzoGmQmoH_L7GAxNorFwbgnfxGhg__aem_g8GzqdVSK7AJnaLvxLyU2A

Topsmead State Forest preserves Edith Morton Chase's Tudor cottage and gardens atop Jefferson Hill, gifted to Connecticut in perpetuity.

09/11/2026

Friends of Topsmead State Forest Annual Hawk Watch
Saturday, September 12, 2026
RAIN DATE: Sunday, September 13, 2026
9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Meet in the meadow behind the Chase Cottage
Free
Join us from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturday, September 12th, for the Friends of Topsmead Annual Hawk Watch in the meadow behind the Chase Cottage. Bring a folding chair, binoculars, and a friend to Topsmead State Forest for a lively program about hawk and raptor migration. After the presentation by David Tripp from the Audubon Society, we will look skyward in search of these magnificent birds.

Dave Tripp has been birding since the spring of sixth grade, age of 11 when he went on a Litchfield Hills Audubon Society Sunday birdwalk with his six grade teacher at White Memorial in Litchfield. He has been hooked ever since. He currently serves as the Treasurer of Litchfield Hills Audubon Society (LHAS), compiles two Christmas Bird Counts and a Summer count, a Board member of the Connecticut Ornithological Association, 25 years on the Avian Records Committee of Connecticut, and founder of the Connecticut Big Day team; the Raven Lunatics where they hold the state record of 192 species in a 24-hour period. Dave leads an annual October LHAS trip to Cape May, NJ, where participants see hundreds of migration hawks over the weekend.

RAINDATE: Sunday, September 13th. FREE.

09/10/2026

THIS WEEKEND - September 12 & 13: Docent led house tours of Miss Edith's Cottage at Topsmead. Tours run the second & fourth weekends of the month through October 11th, 2026. First Come, first served. Tours start at 11 a.m. and run for approximately 30 minutes; last tour at 4:00 p.m. Free but donations are appreciated to support maintenance of cottage interior/exterior including gardens, the scholarship fund, and educational programming. Meet at the front door of the cottage. For GPS directions, designate 29B uell Road as your destination. We look forward to seeing you!

09/01/2026

Join us from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturday, September 12th, for the Friends of Topsmead Annual Hawk Watch in the meadow behind the Chase Cottage. Bring a folding chair, binoculars, and a friend to Topsmead State Forest for a lively program about hawk and raptor migration. After the presentation by David Tripp from the Audubon Society, we will look skyward in search of these magnificent birds. RAIN DATE: Sunday, September 13th. FREE.

06/11/2026

The CT DEEP seasonal employees and volunteer docents from the Friends of Topsmead will again this year be offering tours of the 1925 Cotswold style home of Edith Morton Chase on the second and fourth weekends of June, July, August, September concluding on October 10th & 11th.

This year the house will open one hour earlier at 11 o'clock and close one hour earlier at 4 p.m. to better accommodate when visitors desire tours. Guided tours are free, reservations are not required. Tour group size is limited to eight people. Meet your guide at the front door of the house on either the hour or half-hour.

If you find you need to wait for the next tour, please enjoy the gardens that were originally designed for Miss Chase by Ellen Shipman, one of this country's first female landscape designers. Her work includes the Sarah P. Duke gardens at Duke University and numerous private and public gardens throughout the United States.

Please note that the house is not wheelchair-accessible and the tour involves going up and down stairs.

06/11/2026

The Friends of Topsmead Scholarship Committee along with our Board of Directors is pleased to announce the selection of our 2026 scholarship award winner. She is Haylen Sincovic of Torrington, Connecticut. Haylen will be studying both environmental science and illustration at the University of Hartford, combining her creativity with a scientific foundation. Her goal is to pursue a career advancing and advocating for ecological preservation. She exemplifies the type of student whom we hope will benefit from this scholarship.

Our objective with this program is to support students seeking future careers in environmental management, including preservation or conservation of our collective historic heritage. We intend to invest in the future of parks like Topsmead by investing in people with a passion for stewardship of our environment and sustainability of our natural and historic resources. As such, we are excited to make a contribution to future stewards of our natural world, such as Haylen.

Address

29 Chase Road
Litchfield, CT
06759

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 4:30pm
Tuesday	8am - 4:30pm
Wednesday	8am - 4:30pm
Thursday	8am - 4:30pm
Friday	8am - 4:30pm
Saturday	8am - 4:30pm
Sunday	8am - 4:30pm

Telephone

+12035840826

Website

http://www.friendsoftopsmead.org/

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