Brookside Farm Receives $30,000 Grant for Habitat Restoration and Community Access

Friends of Brookside Farm Museum has received a $30,000 Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund grant to restore and enhance approximately 40 acres of forest and wetland habitat at Brookside Farm while expanding public access, environmental education, and community stewardship.

The grant represents an important new chapter in Brookside’s transformation from a traditional historic house museum into a welcoming community resource where history, culture, environmental stewardship, and public participation come together.

Over the next year, the project will address areas of the property affected by invasive plants and decades of overgrowth. The work will include planting native trees, shrubs, grasses, and wildflowers; restoring forest-floor and wetland-edge habitat; improving nature trails; and creating a wetland-viewing platform for safer public access and observation.

The project will also add birdhouses, bat boxes, interpretive signs, and other features that support both wildlife and public learning. Workshops, guided walks, volunteer workdays, and educational programs will give residents opportunities to participate directly in the restoration and learn practices they can use in their own yards and neighborhoods.

Building on Three Years of Environmental Work

The new grant builds upon Brookside’s three-year Homegrown National Park initiative, which has focused on removing invasive species, restoring native habitat, reducing unnecessary mowing, and helping visitors understand the important role native plants play in supporting birds, pollinators, insects, and other wildlife.

During the first two years of the initiative, substantial progress was made in Brookside’s initial project areas. Invasive growth was removed, native planting began, and meadow areas were established. This work created the foundation for a larger restoration effort focused on Brookside’s forests, wetlands, trails, and long-term ecological health.

Brookside is now becoming a living demonstration site where residents can see restoration in progress, learn from experienced practitioners, and discover how individual actions can contribute to healthier ecosystems.

Connecting Brookside to Long Island Sound

Although Brookside is not located on the shoreline, the property is part of the Long Island Sound watershed—the larger area of land where rainfall and runoff eventually travel toward the Sound.

Healthy forests, wetlands, meadows, and native plant communities absorb and slow rainwater, help filter sediment and pollutants, reduce erosion, and provide habitat for wildlife. Improving the ecological health of inland properties such as Brookside therefore contributes to the health and resilience of the larger watershed.

The project also extends beyond Brookside’s boundaries. Visitors, students, volunteers, and community groups will be able to learn restoration practices that can be repeated on other public and private properties throughout East Lyme and southeastern Connecticut.

Experienced Leadership and Community Partnerships

The ecological work will be led by Colin Bennett, founder and principal of Swamp Yankee Earthcare. A Connecticut Master Woodland Manager and Master Naturalist, Colin specializes in regenerative land care, invasive-species removal, forest-floor restoration, native-plant regeneration, and long-term ecological planning.

Friends of Brookside Farm Museum will administer the grant, coordinate volunteers and educational programs, manage community outreach, and document the project’s progress. Connecticut College Arboretum will provide additional ecological guidance, while other local partners will support programming and public participation.

At least four volunteer stewardship events and four public educational programs, workshops, guided walks, or presentations are planned as part of the project.

Congressman Joe Courtney recently visited Brookside to tour the area selected for restoration and learn more about the project’s environmental and community benefits. His visit offered an opportunity to share how public investment in a town-owned historic property can support habitat restoration, education, recreation, and long-term care for the Long Island Sound watershed.

A Broader Vision for Brookside

Three years ago, Brookside began exploring how a historic town property could become more active, useful, and relevant to the community while continuing to honor its past.

The answer has been to use historic preservation as the foundation for something broader: a place where people can connect through history, nature, creativity, learning, and service.

Located across from two public schools and beside the East Lyme Community Center and Public Library, Brookside is uniquely positioned to connect education, recreation, conservation, and community life. This grant will help make more of the property accessible, understandable, and ecologically resilient while creating new opportunities for residents to become involved.

As the project moves forward, Brookside can become a lasting outdoor classroom and regional demonstration landscape—a place where history, culture, environment, and community grow together.

Other Connecticut Based Projects that won LISCIF grants this year can be found, here.

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