The Westwoods is a large area near the center of Guilford, Connecticut that is heavily wooded, and has extensive hiking trails. The first seven miles of the Westwoods trail system was blazed in 1966.
The Guilford Conservation Commission appointed Michael Pochan as coordinator and hired trail consultant Richard Elliott to form a plan. Shortly after the Westwoods was made, the Westwoods Trails Committee was formed to expand the trails, and keep the trails already made in good shape. Now there are more than forty miles of trails maintained by the Westwoods Trails Committee.

A copy of the original Report of Survey and Recommendations from Richard Elliot to Michael Pochan is obtainable froma link below as either a word document (.doc) or a text file (.txt).

Report of Survey and Recommendationsword .doctext .txt

Also available are copies of a few of the original maps of the Westwoods. The Westwoods is currently using its 11th revision of the trail map, and is working on the 12th which will be made with GPS data. Note the images may take a little while to download depending on your connection.

Map 1 (1966)Map 6 (1970) Map 7 (1975)

Below is a newspaper clipping from the Guilford edition of the Shore Line Times on May 4th, 1967. The paper shows a picture of Richard Elliot and Michael Pochan, who were the men that developed the trail system.