The ‘Hancock Brook Trail‘ is a 2.8-mile (4.5 km) Blue-Blazed hiking trail Waterville Section of the City of Waterburyin New Haven County close to the borders of Thomaston and Plymouth, Litchfield County, Connecticut. It is contained overwhelmingly in a section of the Mattatuck State Forest bounded by Hancock Brook on the east, Thomaston Avenue on the west and Spruce Brook Road / Route 262 to the north. The trail is named for Hancock Brook which the trail follows on both the east and west sections of the loop .
The Sheffield Street over Hancock Brook (State Bridge No. 5038) is now a condemned ruins blocked from any traffic by concrete barriers. A sign is posted warning that no vehicular nor pedestrian traffic may cross it (it is extremely dangerous). The Sheffield Street Bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is a fifty-six foot ‘iron bridge (a lenticular pony truss) which was built in 1884 by the Berlin Iron Bridge Company.The trail is a loop and is shaped like a long finger or cigar. Half is along a path that follows a fast flowing stream with man made walls and the other half returns along the high ridge with views of the surrounding areas.
https://theairlandandsea.com/2019/03/hancock-brook-trail-guide.html
