Enders State Forest and Waterfalls, Granby

Seasonal Ratings:  Spring***     Summer****     Fall****     Winter***

Enders State Forest Park was established in 1970 when the family of John Ostrom Enders and Harriet Whitmore Enders donated the land to the state. With additional land donated by the family in 1981, and another purchase by the state in 2002, it now encompasses 2098 acres of rich forest, with a river flowing through the rocky terrain. On one side of Route 219, you will find a small parking lot with a pair of trails leading to a series of waterfalls, which cascade over several rocky drops. Driving just a little further along Route 219, turn right onto an old gravel road that runs through the state forest, and leads to a marshy bed, just loaded with wildflowers that bloom throughout the season.

What to Photograph

Anyone who wants to practice their skills on photographing waterfalls will be in glory at this location. There are six waterfalls within a quarter mile stretch of the river, and all are just a short walk along the trail from the parking lot. Some say that this is the best collection of falls in the state. Most of the cascades have a good drop over a rocky ledge, creating a pool of water below. Most of these gorges are good for swimming, so if you go in the middle of a hot summer day, expect to find some locals cooling off in the pool below the falls.

If you are looking for wildflowers growing in a natural habitat, this is a great place. There are wildflowers that bloom from spring through fall along the marsh found inside the forest on the north side of Route 219. In the spring there are trilliums, jack-in-the pulpit, forget-me-not and skunk cabbage. If you're lucky and are there at bloom time, you'll find the native ladies slipper orchids tucked away in the forest. Later in the summer, the edges of the marsh fill up with water loving plants like the brilliant red cardinal flower, turtlehead, wood aster and arrowhead.

When to go

Textural reeds at the marsh

Waterfalls are great to photograph anytime of the year. Go on a bright, overcast day so that you can use a slower shutter speed to soften the water. Try to avoid the middle of a bright, sunny day when the harsh light creates strong shadows and contrast on the water. Winter is a good time for capturing some ice on the falls, or in the pool below. However, this depends entirely on what type of winter weather is occurring on a given year.

To photograph the wildflowers in the marsh, try going in spring to catch the early blooms. It's great to go later in the summer season when the marsh is dryer and it's easier to walk around and get up close. You'll find a surprising amount of color with the brilliant red cardinal flowers, turtlehead and other native flowers at their peak.

Tips and Techniques

A polarizer filter and neutral density filter are must-haves when photographing waterfalls. To get the soft water effect, a slow shutter speed is necessary, and these filters help reduce the light to get that cotton candy effect. Use a tripod, and try taking multiple shots at shutter speeds that are 1 stop apart, to use for HDR later. Combining shots into an HDR program creates an extra softening effect on the moving water.

Directions

From the intersection of Route 10 and Route 20 in Granby, head west on Route 20 for 3.8 miles to Route 219. Take Route 219 west for 1.4 miles to parking area on left with sign 'Enders State Forest'.

www.ctwaterfalls.com

GPS coordinates: Latitude: 41.95417, Longitude: -72.87778

Wildflowers abound in the state forest like these flowers
of the arrowhead plant

Late summer cardinal flower glows beside the marsh

Parking is available in the lot on Route 219, marked with the sign 'Enders State Forest'. Head downhill along one of the trails leading from the parking lot towards the river, where it meets an old road that runs parallel to the water. The trail on the right end of the parking lot will take you to the top waterfall. Follow the path downstream to the left to get to the other five waterfalls in the series. Across the road, and a little further down, there is a rough road leading to the wildflower marsh in the state forest. Park along the road to access the marsh.

Hours: Sunrise to sunset. 

Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington

Seasonal Rating: Spring ****     Summer ****     Fall ****     Winter ****

Hill-Stead Museum is one of Connecticut's best known historic house museums, and is visited by many for the renowned collection of impressionist art which includes original pieces by Monet, Degas, Manet, Whistler and Cassatt. The house was built at the turn of the 20th century by Alfred and Ada Pope, in the colonial revival style. Their daughter, Theodate Pope Riddle, fell in love with the area when she was attending Miss Porter's School in Farmington, and convinced her parents to move from Cleveland and build their home here. An aspiring architect, she designed the 19-room home that her parents retired to, and she was later to inherit. The property includes several buildings, all designed and built by Theodate over the half century of her involvement. In addition to the house,  there is a stone garage that once served as a stable, a carriage barn, and an adjoining building known as the Makeshift Theater.

The house is set up on the highest point of the 250 fifty acre property, overlooking the Litchfield Hills to the west, and surrounded by former farm fields to the north and meadows to the south. Immediately south of the home is a beautiful Sunken Garden that occupies a one-acre natural depression. This is a formal flower garden that was designed in 1920 by Beatrix Farrand, America's first female landscape architect. Today it has been restored to its original grandeur, with formal beds full of perennials and annuals from spring through fall. The beauty begins with tulips in April and ends with a striking color scheme of blue, purple and white to complement the vivid colors of fall foliage.  This garden is a real gem, surrounded by hedges, eight foot high stone walls, and with a green and white summer house at its center.

What to Photograph

Colonial Style Architecture

While you cannot use your camera inside the home, you are free to use it around the grounds to photograph the mansion and the other interesting buildings, as well as the Sunken Garden and the surrounding property.  There are numerous buildings from the early 20th century on the grounds to explore and photograph. The mansion itself with its tall white columns enclosing a porch with slatted rocking chairs is reminiscent of George Washington's house at Mount Vernon.  The house itself has interesting lines, and in the early morning light it shines from the north side. The little caretakers cottage to the south sits quietly beside the meadow where the sheep meander from spring through fall. The stone garage, the carriage barn, the Makeshift Theater all surround the house, and provide many interesting nooks and crannies to explore and photograph.

Sunken Garden in winter

You aren't limited to photographing architecture here. The vista from the front porch of the house is beautiful, especially in the evening when the sun sets.  Watch for days with especially interesting skies for the best shots over the Litchfield Hills. If you love to shoot flowers and gardens, the Sunken Garden is a great place with multiple formal beds laid out in an octagonal pattern.  It is a good place to get close for macro shots of individual flowers, colorful tulips and forget-me-nots in spring, antique roses, fluffy peonies and lavender mixed with a variety of other blooms in the summer, and white mixed with various blues and purples in late summer and fall. There are also lots of possible angles to take overviews of the garden, or details with the summer house anchoring the garden, the sun dial at the south side, and the old fashioned white gate that leads out to the meadow where the sheep roam. With the surrounding stone walls and hedge as a backdrop (or foreground), the garden provides for a great shot even in the winter when the structures play an important role.

If you are prepared to walk a little, there are trails that meander through the wooded area to the east of the house just off the parking lot, where you might find some interesting birds and butterflies to photograph. A trail map is available in the gift shop.

When to go

Museum in winter

Spring through fall are the best seasons, but don't ignore the winter when the snow covers the ground. It makes for a very interesting place to be with all the white structures with dark green trim against the white snow. As in almost all cases on sunny days, early morning or late evening is the best time to go, with bright overcast days being the next best time to get good shots of the buildings without a lot of shadow and burnt out whites.

Directions

35 Mountain Road,

Farmington, CT 06032

860.677.4787

 www.hillstead.org

Map coordinates (for GPS):  Latitude: 41.721367, Longitude: -72.82752

Parking  is available free of charge. Follow the entry drive to the parking lot past the house. There is a charge for entry to the museum, but the grounds are free of charge.  The museum asks for a $5.00 fee pp for photography groups and artists who work on the grounds. Check in at the visitors center in the gift shop to inquire during open hours.

Hours:  Grounds are open sunrise to sunset daily. The museum is open Tuesday-Sunday 10 am–4 pm and is closed Mondays and major holidays. 

Southern view taken behind the house