Flanders Fact Sheet

Contact Information

Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust

Mailing Address: 5 Church Hill Road
Physical (Office) Address: 596 Flanders Road

Woodbury, CT 06798
203-263-3711
Fax 203-263-2214
E-mail: flanders@flandersnaturecenter.org
Board President: Jodi Wasserstein
Executive Director: Vincent D. LaFontan, MHA
Media Contact: Ana Jordan

Mission

Flanders’ mission is to provide opportunities to appreciate nature’s wonders and preserve land, inspiring lifelong learning about our natural world.

Vision

Flanders Vision is to be a leading resource and destination of choice for environmental and outdoor education, research, land preservation and stewardship, farm experiences, and arts activities, reflecting the needs of our changing and inclusive communities and evolving partnerships.

Time Line

1926: Van Vleck family of New York purchases farm on Flanders Road in Woodbury, CT
Daughter Natalie Van Vleck, accomplished artist, builds studio on parents’ property
1934: Van Vlecks purchase 108 acres from Connecticut Light & Power Co.
1935: Natalie Van Vleck gives up art to found fully-working turkey farm on parents’ property
1942: Natalie inherits Woodbury farm from parents
1955: Natalie Van Vleck operating successful Hampshire sheep farm, well-known on East Coast
1960s Suburban development encroaches upon Woodbury’s agricultural traditions. In consultation with environmentalists, Natalie Van Vleck evolves idea to develop nature center on her property to preserve it in perpetuity
1963: Flanders Nature Center Inc. chartered as a non-profit organization
1973: Flanders becomes one of first land trusts in area, receiving gift of 6.5 acre Manville Kettle property
1981: Natalie Van Vleck dies at her home on Christmas Day and eventually leaves her estate to Flanders Nature Center
1999: Acquisition of the 686 acre Whittemore Sanctuary, received first state DEP Open Space grant
2002: New sugar House built; Buz Russell Farm and Rural Life museum donated; Flanders creates new farm education program; Farm Trail developed to connect Trail House and Sugar House to Studio, North & South Barn areas
2013: Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust is 50 years old
2016: Flanders achieves accreditation as a land trust through Land Trust Alliance and accreditation as a licensed camp provider through the Office of Early Childhood
2020: Flanders launches NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) Academies
2022: Kick off of the 60th Anniversary Capital Campaign for enhancements to environmental educational facilities
2023: Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust is 60 years old

Flanders Places: Preserves and Sanctuaries

Sanctuary and Preserves

Flanders holds in trust more than 2,400 acres of open space in Woodbury, Bethlehem, Southbury and Middlebury, CT.
Holdings include seven nature preserves and sanctuaries
Stewards more than 50 open space properties, managing and monitoring the properties to preserve their natural beauty and care for the system through astute land-use practices
Organization plays active role with municipal regulatory committees and regional and state organizations to identify opportunities for preserving more land in future

Van Vleck Farm and Nature Sanctuary

Original location of Van Vleck Farm at corner of Flanders and Church Hill Roads, Woodbury
Serves as nature sanctuary and teaching campus of Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust, which hosts educational programs for children, adults and school groups
Buildings include a farmhouse, studio, trail house, sugar house and barns
Landscape includes stone walls, fields, meadows, forests, wetlands, marshes, streams and ponds
Network of well-marked and maintained hiking trails.
Click HERE for map

Whittemore Sanctuary

686 acres located off Route 64 in Woodbury
8-mile trail system open to the public
Ecological habitats include woodlands, streams, ponds, a large bog and abutting lake.
Click HERE for map

Manville Kettle

6.5 acres off Jackson Avenue in Woodbury, near town center
Known as a “kettle” because of geological depression formed during Ice Age
Landscape includes open field, mixed trees and a swamp

Hetzel Refuge

54 acres located in Middlebury, CT, bordered by Middlebury Land Trust property, accessed from Breakneck Hill Road
Refuge includes woodlands, hay fields, conifer plantations, swamps and man-made ponds
Excellent trail system
Click HERE for map

Fredrick W. Marzahl Memorial Refuge

Located to east and west of Route 132 in Woodbury
Encompasses stream, waterfall, forestland and semi-open fields
Click HERE for map

Leavenworth Preserve

126 acres adjacent to a residential development in Woodbury
Wildlife habitat with low-impact trail system
Located across from Pilgrim Trail and Plumb Brook cul-de-sac
Click HERE for map

Fleming Preserve

28.5 acres, fronting on Cowles Road in Woodbury
Site of Flanders’ historic Sap House overlook and Sugar Bush
Landscape is forests, meadows, trails, apple orchard, stone walls and an overlook
Click HERE for map