West Rock Junk Cleanups: W. Shepard Ave., Baldwin Dr.

West Shepard Avenue Junk Piles

This annotated aerial photo from the 2019 Hamden GIS maps shows the former privately owned property at 574 West Shepard Avenue rear as highlighted in gray. The green arrow points to an area of state property that the former property owner cleared. The logs visible in 2006 are long gone. The red arrow points to the junk pile on state land with the white PVC pipes clearly visible. The road is incorrectly labeled as Baldwin Drive. The GIS maps list three properties as all being  574 West Shepard Avenue Rear: two on the west side of West Shepard Avenue, and one on the east side .

Various parts of West Rock Ridge State Park have been affected by dumping. Another page on this site focuses on the junkyard formerly off the Red Trail near Mountain Road.

This page discusses two junk areas off West Shepard Avenue, and also along Baldwin Drive. Baldwin Drive is 5.6 miles long and had trash dumped alongside its entire length, but certain areas stand out as being particularly affected. This will be discussed further down this page.

 

Off West Shepard Avenue, the smaller junk area about 0.1 acres in size is located on the west side of the road, 0.05 miles north of the gate by Rayzoe Terrace. To keep anything from growing, someone placed two-inch thick foam insulation pads on the ground in the entire area. The PVC pipes placed there can easily be seen in the aerial photos from the Hamden GIS maps prior to the cleanup I organized.

The larger of these two areas is about 0.3 acres in size, on the east side of West Shepard Avenue, about 0.15 miles north of the gate at the junction with Rayzoe Terrace, opposite the driveway to the boarded-up house. This area is now heavily infested with invasive plants, including prickly multi-flora roses thorny wineberry and mostly the mugwort reed.

When the homeowner on West Shepard Avenue was still alive, he would pile stumps and brush at the junction with the gravel Sanford Road, as seen on Oct. 31, 2009. These stumps and logs are long gone by 2025. To the left is the pile of rocks at the end of Baldwin Drive (not seen in this picture). I dug out a carpet about 16 feet long by 4 feet wide in March 2025.

The West Shepard Avenue junk piles were presumably created by the former homeowner at 574 West Shepard Avenue Rear, the house on the west side of the road between the gate by Rayzoe Terrace and Baldwin Drive. The homeowner was described by those who knew him as a “character” who did what he wanted and was using state land for his own purposes, cutting down trees, clearing areas for his personal use, and most likely the person dumping items there, presumably on behalf of contractors disposing of the larger items. I have no evidence to prove this, but it seems likely, given the other use of these areas by him.

One hiking friend said he spoke to the man during the 1990s who told him that he would charge people to drop off the wood, but his cost was less than they would pay at the transfer station. He would process them into firewood to sell. The friend said the homeowner told him he had to sell about eight cords of firewood to sell to make it worth his while. He would also keep wood for use at his house.

Another hiking friend said the homeowner showed him the deer heads during the early 2000s that he had mounted in his barn, which he had shot in another state. However, there is evidence and stories from park users that he was hunting at West Rock where hunting is illegal. As proof of this, there are two hunting tree stands in the woods between the house and Baldwin Drive.

Those who have taken a closer look at the house, including one of the property surveyors, said it has neither a sewer connection, nor a septic tank.

 
A metal tree stand used for hunting rests against a tree west of the house as seen in December 2022, and is a few hundred feet west of a wooden tree that that was partially collapsed.

The homeowner died in 2011 and the family let the property just sit there before Citibank and subsequently the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) took possession in 2017. The state of Connecticut wanted to add the 3.23-acre property to the park, but there was at a stalemate for years over the required paperwork to complete the sale. Apparently, Fannie Mae had certain forms it wanted completed and the state, being the state, had its own way of doing things, and the two sides could not agree, so the property remained unsold.

The stalemate was broken in 2023 when an anonymous donor fronted the $80,000 needed for the West Rock Ridge Park Association to buy the property, which it did on January 12, 2023. The association, in turn, sold the property to the state on March 30, 2023, filling a gap in state property ownership in that area. While the association owned the property, volunteers removed much of the remaining items left in the yard in the immediate area of the house and barn.

The state plans to tear down the house and barn as there no use for it. I am not aware of any specific timeline as to when this will happen. Typically for the state of Connecticut, such actions take a long time.

Fifty-gallon drums and a couch are among the items on the property between the house and barn that were removed by volunteers from the West Rock Ridge Park Association in winter 2023, seen here in October 2019. While an eyesore, at least these items were on the homeowner's property.

Once the state took ownership, it placed a lock on the gate to keep out people from driving up the road. One person took exception to the lock and apparently cut off the lock and painted words on the sign complaining about the illegal lock. Apparently someone from the state talked to him about it because the lock was replaced and left undamaged, and the state also painted over what he wrote. While the gate was open, someone twice dragged a large rock off the barrier to Baldwin Drive that Hamden had placed there on the state's behalf to keep ATVs and other vehicles off Baldwin Drive. That rock has not been put back, but rests off to the side.

West Shepard Avenue West Side Junkpile

Having done trail work at West Rock since 2007 and having hiked and bicycled at the park since the 1990s, I had seen the junk pile on the west side of West Shepard Avenue. I never met the homeowner who lived there, but I certainly have seen the things left behind, presumably by him.

The 25.79-acre property on the west side of the road was owned by a family member until the state purchased it on June 20, 2008. At that point, any items left in the area should have been removed, but they were not.

I worked on the project on the west side of the road starting in January 2018 and worked on it periodically through the year, mostly by myself and occasionally with help from others. I then did nothing on this project again until one visit in September 2021 and another in May 2022. Finally, I returned to project on a more regular basis with five visits from October and November 2022.

 

With those visits, I pulled up the foam insulation, as I collected the trash and stacked the bricks. I carried out bags and buckets filed with trash for proper disposal off-site. In 2018, another volunteer removed a truckload of junk, including some of the larger items.

 

In November 2022, I used a hand truck to wheel down to the West Shepard Avenue gate the larger items for collection by the state. This included PVC pipes, a cut up telephone pole with metal foot pegs, the sides to a wooden trailer, a metal bedframe, and plenty of rotted wood.

 

The last major item to remove from this junk pile took place on Jan. 1, 2023, when another volunteer and I rolled out a metal tank to the gate. Someone had taken most of the PVC pipes from November 2022, but the rest of the items were still there. I listed them on the Hamden See, Click, Fix site, and the town of Hamden quickly took them away.

 

Prior to moving items to the gate, someone had taken about half the bricks from the pile. The remaining 100 bricks I wheeled up West Shepard Avenue and placed them in a wash out section of road where they were soon covered by gravel pushed into the gully by rainstorms.

The junk pile south of the property at 574 West Shepard Ave. is clearly visible in this aerial view from the 2007 Hamden GIS maps. The map incorrectly labels the road as Baldwin Drive.

The junk pile south of the property at 574 West Shepard Ave. is still visible in this aerial view from the 2016 Hamden GIS maps, eight years after the state purchased the property. The map incorrectly labels the road as Baldwin Drive.

The pile is no longer visible in this 2023 aerial view from the Hamden GIS maps after it was cleaned up by volunteers. The map incorrectly labels the road as Baldwin Drive.

The total junk removed included the following: 37 buckets of trash with bottles, cans, and pieces of foam insulation, 120 gallon-sized flowerpots, 12 car tires, 15 PVC pipes about 10 feet in length, 15 sheets of foam insulation, three metal grates, a comforter, two plastic bins, a pile of bricks 4 feet by 4 feet by 3 feet high, cut up section of telephone pole, wood sides to a trailer, boards covered with chicken wire, metal bedframe, and metal oil tank.

The junkyard off West Shepard Avenue is partially cleaned up and organized on July 22, 2018.

An oil tank rests under a tree behind trash, bricks, and planting pots in the junkyard off West Shepard Avenue on July 22, 2018.

Bricks have been piled and planter pots gathered in the junkyard off West Shepard Avenue on July 22, 2018.

A tarp, cut up pieces of a telephone pole, and a metal tank from the junkyard off West Shepard Avenue awaited collection at the gate to the road by Rayzoe Terrace on Jan. 1, 2023. They were removed by the town of Hamden.

The former junkyard off West Shepard Avenue has all major pieces of junk removed and the area can now regenerate, as seen Jan. 1, 2023.

Junk Pile East of West Shepard Avenue

This aerial view from the 2007 Hamden GIS maps shows piles of logs on West Shepard Avenue at the junction with Baldwin Drive and also along the east side of West Shepard Avenue. 
Website: https://hamden.mapxpress.net/ags_map/

This 2006 aerial photo from the Hamden GIS maps clearly shows a large pile of logs opposite the barn (top) and house (bottom) at 574 West Shepard Ave. The map incorrectly labels the road as Baldwin Drive.

This 2007 aerial photo from the Hamden GIS maps shows piles of logs at the edge of the area with the center completely cleared of any plant life. The map incorrectly labels the road as Baldwin Drive.

The next aerial photo on the Hamden GIS site maps is from 2013, which shows the area cleared of logs and still without any plant life, along with assorted junked items. The metal storage trailer by the road is now clearly visible.

After the 2013 photo, the image from the Hamden GIS maps jumps to 2016 shows plant life growing and starting to hide the dumped items. The map incorrectly labels the road as Baldwin Drive.

In this 2023 image from the Hamden GIS maps, trees are visible and plant life growing and hiding the dumped items even more than in 2016. They are most likely hidden beneath the mat of the invasive mugwort reed. The roof of the storage trailer that appeared white in the 2016 photo now is brown, due to being covered by the native grapevines. The map incorrectly labels the road as Baldwin Drive.

The 12.56-acre property on the east side of West Shepard Avenue was purchased by the state on Aug. 14, 1986, so there should have been no question this was not private property. The metal storage container and a metal trailer for hauling items behind a car were the obvious items that did not belong in the state park. Little else was visible from the road due to the downslope and the heavy covering of mugwort.

In December 2024, I descended the slope off West Shepard Avenue to the east and explored the cleared area. The ground had visibly been substantially altered as evidenced by the slope, the irregular shape of the ground with sharp drop-offs in places, sunken areas, and humps of dirt in the area. I quickly became aware of all the trash and dumped items. In particular, I noticed a wooden cold frame under a honey locust tree, scattered plastic flowerpots, plastic bags filled with household trash, and planks sticking up from the ground at back of the cleared area. During that exploration, I moved some items up to the road, including a pet carrier, a garden hose, and part of car tire.

We began work on the east side area of West Shepard Avenue in January 2025 and continuing into April 2025. We had to dig the boards and metal fence parts out of the ground, which was difficult because it was frozen. The lumber was both in dumped piles and also used as cold frames for growing plants. Another challenge was having to carry the items upslope, which was a good cardiovascular workout. The work also involved cutting away the sharp thorned multi-flora rose, which was growing as high as 12 feet over the lumber in some areas. We were able to remove some of those 30 gallon trash bags, but others still need to be taken away.

The trash bags contain lots of colored, round cans that I presume to be cat food because there are also plastic containers for cat treats, one of which said to use by January 2010, and another by March 2010. Other common items in the trash bags are white foam trays commonly used for packaging meat, and Poland Spring water bottles. I wonder why the trash bags were left on the property when Hamden offers free trash pickup to its residents.

Other items we removed included four pickup truck tires, a tractor tire, a motorcycle tire, a 20 foot aluminum ladder, metal fence pipes, metal patio furniture, three metal light fixtures, green metal fence posts for a wire-mesh fence, about 15 five-gallon buckets, two screen doors, two double-paned windows for a house, a kid’s plastic pool, two traffic cones, three 30-gallon plastic barrels, and a white plastic animal trap. One volunteer cut apart the metal trailer and removed the metal to have it recycled.

I returned multiple times from January to April 2025 to continue to remove items. In February, I cut up the cold frame and added that wood to the pile along the road. I also removed all the trash that was in the storage trailer, which included a 30-gallon trash can half-filled with broken glass and about 100 chewing tobacco cans scattered across the floor. With each visit, I fill my car with the trash I find on the property, a mixture of the bags of household trash buried just under the surface, along with the other items I find scattered across the area, including plastic flowerpots and trays.

With the thaw in March we were able to dig out many more boards with still more remaining. Some of the work involves breaking apart the rotted tree trunks and stumps along the edge of the slope. I worked on partially digging out an applicance that appears to be a clothes dryer, but I will not know for sure until I full excavate it.

There is a car engine buried in the ground near the honey locust tree. I remember seeing another one in the ground along the east side of West Shepard Avenue near the transition to the Sanford Feeder Trail that I need to find again. Both need to be dug out and removed.

Volunteers from Quinnipiac University's Big Event are scheduled to help on Saturday, April 12 with a particular focus on bringing the lumber up to the road.

This page is a work in progress. Details and photos will be added as time allows and as the project continues.

A pile of pressure treated lumber and steel fencing remain at the back of the downslope about 150 feet east of West Shepard Ave. on Jan. 11, 2025. The lumber in the foreground was moved up to West Shepard Avenue on Feb. 15.

 Volunteers removed more pressure treated lumber and steel fencing from the back of the downslope and plan to return on April 12 to continue work on this project.

The wood pile just above the slope when it was mostly buried under the dirt grows as volunteers remove boards, as seen on April 6, 2025.

Looking down from the slope where the wood was buried is another pile of wood that has been pulled out of the dirt and awaits being moved to higher ground, as seen on April 6, 2025.

A water cooler was located downslope about 100 feet east of West Shepard Ave. and was removed on Jan. 11, 2025, and brought to a recycling facility on Feb. 18 for proper disposal.

The remaining wood from a cold frame is located downslope about 100 feet east of West Shepard Ave. on Jan. 11, 2025. This was cut up on Feb. 15 and the wood brought up to the road and then down to the gate on March 8.

This kitchen sink was buried just under the dirt at the back of the pile and was pulled out on April 6, 2025, and will be recycled once it is removed from the area.

This view south shows the pile of junk moved to this location from east of West Shepard Ave. on Jan. 11, 2025. Most of these items have been taken away by volunteers.

This view north shows the pile of junk moved to this location from east of West Shepard Ave. on Jan. 11, 2025. The tires were removed for recycling by a volunteer.

This view south shows the large pile of wood, the windows, and the water cooler moved to this location from east of West Shepard Ave. on Jan. 11, 2025. The water cooler was carted away by a volunteer on Feb. 17 for recycling on Feb. 18.

Over multiple work sessions in January and February 2025, with volunteers removing items for proper disposal or recycling, the junk pile has been shrinking as seen here on Feb. 17, 2025. The trailer on which the items rest was cut apart by a volunteer and hauled away as scrap metal on March 8, 2025.

 The pile was a fraction of its size on March 8, as volunteers continued to take away items and brought most of the pile down to the gate for easier removal. The wheelbarrow was removed on March 12 for recycling.

This storage trailer is the most prominent feature of the dumped area. The April 6, 2025, and will be recycled once it is removed from the area. To the right of the faded image of a chair is a yellow image of a light. The late Robert (June 2, 1917-Dec. 3, 1998) and Florence Blosveren (Jan. 2, 1916-Dec. 12, 2010) operated a lamp shop at 420 Winthrop Ave. in the Westville section of New Haven. When contacted about the trailer in 2024, their son Marc said he did not know how the trailer got to West Shepard Avenue and did not want it. 

The Connecticut Secretary of State's website lists the business name as Blosveren Lamp & Spray Shop, which was formed on Oct. 5, 1962. The business as dissolved on April 29, 2021 by the secretary of state due to failure to file annual reports, which it had not done since Nov. 1, 2001. The property at 420 Winthrop Ave. was vacant land in 2025 and was also vacant dating back to 2008 in Google Street Views. A photo of Robert and his daughter Fern is posted to this page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Westville.Village1/posts/i-just-came-across-this-pic-of-big-bob-and-fern-blosvern-at-their-cabana-at-the-/10154739543355965/

Birth and death dates on the couple came from this website:

https://newhaventorahcenter.org/cemetery_index.asp?show=B

The Library of Congress has a phone directory from 1951, which lists the business as being at 1438 Whalley Ave., New Haven. The nearest address in 2025 was the Athenian Plaza at 1440 Whalley Ave.: https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/gdc/gdcustel/us/te/le/di/re/c0/45/15/usteledirec04515/usteledirec04515_djvu.txt 

A plate on the lower right corner of the trailer lists the company Clark Equipment, Brown Trailer Division with the cities Reading, PA, Spokane, Wash., and Michigan City, Ind. The website Funding Universe indicates Clark acquired Brown Truck Trailer in 1959. In 2025, the company was named Clark Material Handling and its website states that Brown Trailer Division ceased operations in 1975. The website for Brown Industries states that Brown was purchased by Ashton-Richards Company in 1975 and changed its name to Brown Cargo Van.

These websites lead me to believe the trailer was manufactured some time between 1959 and 1975.

https://www.clarkmhc.com/faq-items/where-can-i-get-parts-and-information-for-a-brown-trailer-built-by-the-clark-equipment-company/

https://bcvi.com/about-us/history/

https://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/clark-equipment-company-history/

A sticker on the trailer shows that it was distributed and serviced by the Connecticut Wheel and Rim Co. of a town that could be Hartford or Stratford, the sticker was partially peeled and the first three letters of the name are missing. According to the Secretary of State's office that business was established in 1933 and dissolved in 1990 with a New Haven post office box used as the filing address.

Baldwin Drive Dumped Areas

Baldwin Drive was open to the public from the late 1930s to about 1982 and has been disrespected by people who used the road and left their trash behind. The areas most affected were the wide sections of the road, which were presumably places people could park to enjoy the view from the top. In any given stretch of road, it has been easy to fill a bucket or more with bottles that people tossed into the woods. They have been there a long time, as evidenced by their designs, such as the squat brown Schmidt’s beer bottles, or the seven-ounce Miller Pony bottles.

 

Assorted bottles and cans lie in the leaves along the shoulder of Baldwin Drive on Dec. 29, 2020, looking just as they did when they were likely tossed there in the 1970s. They were removed by volunteers and recycled or placed in the trash, depending on their condition.

Glen Lake Overlook

The area most affected is the only actual pull-off on the west side of the road, located 2.8 miles north of the junction with Regicide Drive, the park’s entry road. From this overlook, there are screened views of Glen Lake in Woodbridge. The Regicides Trail crosses through the area, and the North Summit Trail descends into Woodbridge.

Summer 2008 was the one year I was a paid seasonal state employee, earning the princely sum of $12 per hour. This job allowed me to drive a state pickup truck and I was also able to get help from other seasonal employees. We filled the pickup truck five times with junk from the slope below the area, including a steel tank, a gas station sign, gas station hoses, two mattress frames, and the roof to a pickup truck.

I also removed many buckets worth of broken glass bottles. In addition, I swept the pavement closest to the viewpoint, which was challenging to do because the glass pieces drop into the uneven pavement.

Since 2008, I have revisited the area to pick up more broken glass. In August 2016, I filled three buckets with bottles and other trash. Most of the slope is clear, but the pavement remains a work in progress.

 

Old bottles and cans and bits of broken glass from the slope of the Glen Lake overlook off Baldwin Drive fill five boxes used to collect them and remove them from West Rock on Aug. 18, 2016. Note the pop-top lid in the can next to the Budweiser can in the top box, a design that clears shows the age of these cans and bottles.

East Side Overlook

The first pull-off area is located 1.2 miles north of Regicide Drive, on the east side of the road looking toward Lake Wintergreen. In 2014, two volunteers helped me remove bricks that someone had dumped over the side. We used them to fill the post holes by the road. We also hauled out a bunch of junk from the bottom of the hill, including a metal cabinet, two bed springs, a tire, some metal chair frames, and other sort of junk.  We also collected 3 buckets’ worth of old bottles and cans, plus lots of broken glass from the slope.

 

A Pontiac hubcap and a metal car part and five buckets of bottles and cans were removed from the woods off Baldwin Drive on June 29, 2018.

East Side Rocky Slope

One area that is not an overlook that had items dumped is the east side of Baldwin Drive, 1.6 miles north of Regicide Drive and a tenth of a mile south of the Blue-White Trail. This spot is located about 100 feet into the woods, which seems odd that someone would go to that much trouble to dump items, as compared to just leaving them by the side of the road. Adding to their challenge is the fact that the rocks on that side of the road are about four feet higher than the road.

I worked on this area mostly by myself with help one day from another volunteer to cart away what I hauled out. I worked on this from 2018 to 2020. The largest item and the only remaining item is an engine block, which is still in the woods as of April 2025, due to its heavy weight. Other metal items that were removed include a torque converter, a light fixture, a car radio, part of an air cleaner, and a car horn. I also removed a load of vinyl siding, foam insulation and wires, and filled 10 buckets with trash.

 

 

Tires are stacked in the woods on the west side of Baldwin Drive, 4.3 miles north of the main entrance, as they were being carried upslope by a volunteer on June 21, 2018. 

The tires and other junk hauled out of the woods pose for a picture on Baldwin Drive on June 21, 2018 before being removed for off-site disposal.

North of Yellow Trail, East Side Overlook

A multi-year group project from 2018 to 2023 has been cleaning up the east side of Baldwin Drive, four miles north of Regicide Drive, about a tenth of a mile north of the Yellow Trail at a spot where the Regicides Trail crosses the road from west to east. This wide spot in the road has few trees, probably because of the rocky slope created at this location by the widening. The entire fence line was thickly lined with invasive plants, primarily multi-flora rose and bittersweet vines. Removing the invasives allowed volunteers to reach all the trash left behind. There are still more invasives to remove, but most have been cut away.

The larger items included three metal trashcans and 55-gallon drum, which the state hauled away. Other items included a child’s fire engine with pedals, three car tires, a Pontiac wheel cover, a transmission gear, a car differential, a metal shaft, the post to a bumper jack, a porcelain sink or toilet, a child’s typewriter, a bicycle tire, and a metal post attached to a concrete base. We collected 40 buckets worth of old bottles and cans from the slope. 

There is still trash to collect from this slope, which is a challenge because it is steep with loose rock.

 

Boxes and buckets full of trash rest on Baldwin Drive after being removed from the east slope of the road, 0.1 miles north of the Yellow Trail on Dec. 7, 2019.

 

These milk crates and the tire were found about 100 feet in the woods near the northern end of Baldwin Drive on May 1, 2021. Volunteers loaded up a pickup truck and brought them to the main entrance for collection by the state.

South of Lake Watrous Overlook, West Side

In the woods on the west side of the road, 4.5 miles north of Regicide Drive, just before the Regicides Trail ascent to the Lake Watrous overlook was a quantity of junk that I removed in 2018. This included two bicycle handlebars, a box fan, a car radio, a small fluorescent light fixture, and plus four buckets of old bottles and cans. In another west side location nearby, I went hundreds of feet downslope to push and carry six tires and two rims, along with a TV set, an entry rug, assorted small car parts, and 2 buckets of trash, all of which I removed from the park for proper disposal.

Mattress springs and other pieces of metal were removed from the woods by the third switchback curve on Baldwin Drive on Nov. 14, 2020.