Boat Launch Information:

In the spirit of service, a group of Farmington residents approached the temporarily closed Avon School for Boys in 1946 and leased the 20 acres of land surrounding Walton Pond. They opened a summer camp for returning World War II veteran's children. These children received their first lessons and experiences at Walton Pond in nature, fishing, canoeing, and pond studies, which is a tradition that continues to this day. Walton Pond has become the heart and soul of Winding Trails.

In order to understand Walton Pond, we must look back to its beginning. The pond got its start 20,000 years ago under a sheet of ice measuring a mile thick in some places. Its massive weight would scrape the rock base that covered much of Connecticut. As the glaciers melted, the material would drop large deposits of glacial till which is mainly sand and gravel. The topography created by the receding glaciers left a shallow valley with several springs and streams running through it. Native Americans and later settlers used the valley and streams for fishing, hunting and irrigation. In the early 1900's, Theodate Pope Riddle, Connecticut's first licensed female architect, Lusitanian survivor, and designer and matron of the Hill Stead House, purchased the property now owned by Winding Trails to build Avon Old Farms School for Boys.

There is no record of when the first dams were built, but the present dams at Walton and Trout Ponds were built in 1938. Theodate purposely did not build a gymnasium at her school and required instead, the boys to participate in Fishing, Forestry and Farming to round out the physical side of their education. Walton Pond and Trout Pond were created by the boys and staff of Avon Old Farms for fishing. By building a dam at the south end of the valley, the boys created Walton Pond, an eight acre body of water that is now the heart of Winding Trails. Walton Pond is believed to be named for Izaak Walton, a 17th century author who wrote The Complete Angler. The Izaak Walton League of America was formed in 1922, and was one of the earliest conservation groups in the country.