Walk Norwich
The Walk Norwich Trails are a series of historically themed walking trails designed to educate residents and visitors about the rich history of Norwich by providing people with an interactive walking self-guided trail complete with trail marker signs, interpretive signs, and self-guided brochures. The first two trails in the Walk Norwich Trail System are the Uncas Leap Trail and the Benedict Arnold Trail. The Uncas Leap Trail features the Native Mohegan Tribe’s rich history in southeastern Connecticut, including a legendary battle with the Narragansett Tribe, the tribe’s friendly relationship with Norwich’s early settlers, and key sacred sites. The Benedict Arnold Trail features Norwich’s infamous native son and discusses Norwich’s rich colonial era history and significant figures from the Revolutionary War.
NHS recently completed the Norwich Freedom Trail & the Norwich Millionaires’ Triangle, part of the Walk Norwich, CT trail network. The Freedom Trail celebrates Norwich’s rich, diverse, and largely untold story of African-American heritage, highlighting notable people who played important roles in the movement to end slavery and advance civil rights before and after the United States Civil War. Lastly, the “Norwich’s Millionaires’ Triangle” explores Norwich’s Industrial Era during the Gilded Age.
In total, the Walk Norwich trail network has five major trails, four of which are themed self-guided walking tours:
- Uncas Leap Trail – stories about the Native American Mohegan Tribe.
- Benedict Arnold Trail – stories about Norwich’s role in the American Revolution
- Freedom Trail – stories about civil rights in Norwich
- Millionaires’ Triangle – stories about the industrialists that capitalized on the Industrial Revolution during the Gilded Age
- Heritage Trail is the main spine of the network, as it connects many of the trails to each other along the Yantic River, a Connecticut-designated greenway corridor.
Norwich’s approach is to develop the initial program over four phases, starting with the pre-colonial to American Revolution time frame, then the Jeffersonian Period, followed by the Industrial Revolution, and completed with the Civil War and Civil Rights movements. The ultimate result will be copious walking trails, interconnected / networked to each other. Our concept is to create a walking map that mimics the well-known transit maps in major cities (e.g., Boston MBTA Subway Map).