Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center

About Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center

Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center is a nature center at 109 Pequotsepos Road in Mystic, Connecticut. The center's website describes its work as bringing environmental education, wildlife rehabilitation and fresh produce to the community. It is a nature center rather than a conventional zoo, and it is not accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

The center operates two locations in Mystic: the main nature center on Pequotsepos Road and Coogan Farm at 162 Greenmanville Avenue (Route 27). According to the center's hours and admission page, the two sites are connected by more than 10 miles of trails.

History

According to the center's history page, its story begins in 1930, when Ann Borodell Denison Gates bequeathed the George Denison house, known as the Homestead, its contents and approximately 175 acres of land to the Denison Society. In 1945 the Society voted to lease the land south of Pequotsepos Road to a wildlife sanctuary organization, and in 1946 Pequot-sepos Wildlife Sanctuary, Inc. was formed. Its first curator, Thomas McElroy Jr., established trails and oversaw creation of the pond and parking lot, and a Trailside Museum was set up in the barn.

The history page says that in 1970 the sanctuary, then operating jointly with the Connecticut Conservation Association, notified the Denison Society that it intended to repurpose the building as offices for statewide conservation work. The Society stated its intent to form a new sanctuary or nature center on the property, and in 1972 the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center was created with community fundraising. Its first director, Stephen Rusch, brought in a great horned owl mascot named Mrs. Wise. Robert DeWire, the second director, led the center from 1976 to 1990, and by 1988 the center had committed to a 2,800-square-foot addition.

In 1992 the Denison Society led a campaign to buy the 50-acre Morgan Farm on the north side of Pequotsepos Road. A 1998 campaign renovated the natural history exhibits, built a treehouse classroom and added boardwalks and bridges. The 2013 Campaign to Save Coogan Farm added 45 acres bordering Homestead land, and the history page says the property preserves the original 1654 homesite of Captain John Gallup. In 2006 the center developed what the history page calls one of the country's first nature-based preschools. Kim Hargrave, who first joined the center as an intern in 1998, was confirmed as executive director in August 2024.

Exhibits and habitats

The center's hours and admission page describes a natural-history museum with forest, wetland and meadow displays of southeastern Connecticut habitats and wildlife. Outdoor flight enclosures hold rehabilitated raptors native to southern New England, listed as barred, great horned and eastern screech owls, a peregrine falcon, red-tailed hawks, broad-winged hawks and an American kestrel.

Indoors, the page lists live frogs, fish, turtles and snakes. Other exhibits named include Life Under a Log, with magnified centipedes, ants and mushrooms; a small theater presentation called Night in the Meadow; a meadow mural showing bird flight patterns; and a classroom exhibit of more than 200 antique mounted bird specimens. Displays of bird eggs, nests and skulls are also listed.

The trails wind through woodland, wetlands, meadows, ponds, streams and glacial erratics, according to the center. A Borrow a Backpack program lends free themed backpacks on topics such as insects, birding and forest exploration from the front desk. Other sites listed on the website include the Meditation Trail, the Peace Sanctuary, the Greenmanville Self-Guided Walking Tour and Gungywamp, an archaeological site in neighboring Groton that the center stewards. The center says Gungywamp was confirmed to the Connecticut State Register of Historic Places in 2023 and named a State Archaeological Preserve.

Coogan Farm, described as a historic farm preserved for wildlife and recreation, has trails, meadows, hedgerows, a revived pear and apple orchard and the Craig Floyd Giving Garden, which the center says supplies produce to food-insecure residents of New London County. The center says the farm is permanently preserved under a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conservation easement to protect the New England cottontail.

Conservation and programs

The center describes itself as a federally licensed wildlife rehabilitation and education facility that takes in native animals, with the goal of releasing healthy animals back into good habitat. It specializes in birds of prey and songbirds and sometimes takes small mammals when space allows. Animals that cannot be released because of their injuries become part of its education programs. Because its facilities are in a public building, the center says it cannot accept rabies vector species such as raccoons, skunks, foxes and woodchucks. Rescue calls go to a separate line, (860) 980-3731, and intake is by appointment only.

Public programs include a recurring Meet the Animals event, which the center describes as a chance to meet its animal ambassadors, including snakes, turtles and owls; preregistration is required. Private encounters listed on the website include a raptor encounter featuring two resident birds of prey and an encounter with resident turtles, snakes, songbirds or frogs, each a 45-minute program for up to six people. Private guided hikes at Gungywamp, shoreline seining and pond explorations are also offered.

Other education programs listed include preschool and early childhood programs, school and group visits, homeschool offerings, before and after school programs, birthday parties and gardening programs. Membership, volunteering and donations are the listed ways to support the center.

Planning your visit

As listed on the center's website, the nature center is open Sunday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days a week except New Year's Day, Easter, Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The trails at the nature center and Coogan Farm are open free of charge from dawn to dusk every day. Admission to the nature center has separate rates for children ages 3 to 12, adults and seniors; ticket details are on the center's website. Members receive free admission. The main phone number is (860) 536-1216.