The Joyce Townsend Collins Memorial Woodland

The Joyce Townsend Collins Memorial Woodland

This is a 27-acre landlocked parcel located in northern Woodstock, CT off of Prospect Street. The land is all forested consisting of hemlock, white pine and oaks along with mountain laurel thickets. The terrain is mostly high ground running along a ridge that extends north into Massachusetts and is bounded on the east by the head waters of the east branch of Muddy Brook. The property is surrounded by hundreds of acres of undeveloped land and thus helps provide critically needed wildlife habitat.

The woodland has been in the Townsend/Collins family for three generations and was used for many years to provide wood fuel to heat the Townsend farmhouse in the village of East Woodstock. The land now serves as great upland habitat for a variety of birds, deer and small mammals, as it is part of an unbroken north-south migration corridor.

It was donated to the Wyndham Land Trust by Brian and Vaughn Collins in loving memory of their mother, Joyce Townsend Collins. Joyce grew up in East Woodstock and attended Woodstock Academy where she was the Valedictorian of the class of 1938. Joyce went on to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II, raised two boys, and had a long career as a public school guidance counselor in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. In 2018, Joyce’s ashes were spread along the shores of Muddy Pond, also known as Pond Factory. Her spirit lives on in her beloved hometown of Woodstock.