By Dan May
On Our Land
Dan May
Spring is here, and thoughts of many residents turn to golf. Orange has a number of golf courses within its boundaries, and several others are nearby in bordering towns. Collectively they comprise some of the largest open spaces in the region.
They are easy to identify on Google satellite images, as the patterns of fairways look like odd hieroglyphic symbols from above. The largest of these is the 27-hole Racebrook Country Club, purchased by Orange in 2021 with the intent to protect it for recreation and green space. From above though, the golf course looks nothing like the larger conservation area just to the north known as Racebrook Tract. What a difference a forest makes.
I am not a golfer but enjoy meals and events at area clubs. While there, however, my mind can drift to wondering how the site was picked and the course laid out and graded; how drainage might have been changed for water hazards; how much sand was imported for bunkers, etc. Geology and landscape architecture go hand in hand.
My favorite course in town for landscape consideration is Orange Hills Country Club. It straddles a bedrock ridge between Silver Brook and one of its tributaries. The hills here are more pronounced than at nearby clubs, and water hazards more apparent. You will have to ask a golfer if it is considered a tougher course than others in Orange.
Other town courses are differentiated by features of the glacial and river deposits on which they were constructed. They are transected by floodplains of Indian River, Race Brook or the Wepawaug River, and the courses of these rivers follow older post-glacial streams and lake beds. From north to south, the landscape also has less local relief. So by the time one gets to Milford’s Orchards Golf Course, the terrain is nearly flat and easily walkable.
The largest nearly contiguous area of open space near Orange is in the northeast corner of town where it abuts Woodbridge, New Haven and West Haven. This area between Routes 34 and 15 includes Racebrook Tract, the Regional Water Authority property surrounding Maltby Lakes and the Yale Nature Preserve and Golf Course. If the nearby Racebrook Country Club south of Route 34 and Woodbridge’s Oak Lane Golf Course as well as the former country club north of Route 15 also are included, the total “green” area is over 2,000 acres.
I often hike through Racebrook Tract and the adjacent RWA property. The tract is open to the public and access to the Maltby Lakes area can be obtained for a modest permit fee from RWA. Several weeks ago, I joined a group that hiked from the Maltby reservoirs into the Yale Nature Preserve that abuts the university’s golf course along its western boundary.
We enjoyed good elevated views from the preserve across parts of this course, which is currently being renovated to reopen in 2026. It is nestled in the headwaters of the Cove River, and the course layout and terrain make it one of the toughest collegiate courses in the nation. The juxtaposition of forested nature preserves with a manicured, open and sculpted golf course is perhaps more striking on the ground than from above.
Last fall, I also had the chance to walk through the abandoned Woodbridge Country Club just to the north across Route 15 with a group in search of song sparrows. This course closed to play in 2016 after Woodbridge bought it for conservation purposes. Barely 10 years later, it’s nearly impossible to tell green from fairway from rough, which now is about 8 feet tall. Ecological succession is underway and if left alone, it will look like Racebrook Tract in about a century.
After centuries of European-style usage, there is little if any old-growth forest in the town limits. Rock walls are ubiquitous and much of the landscape is “unnatural.” However, Orange’s diverse open spaces are one of its most attractive features for many residents. These range from actively maintained golf courses and parks as well as schoolyard and athletic fields, to conservation areas around water reservoirs or managed by the town or the land trust, to remnants of previously widespread farm operations.
These spaces are an important part of the Orange’s character, and feature prominently in the ongoing revision of its plan of conservation and development. Public commentary is encouraged, with open spaces mapped and discussed in Chapter 7 at: www.orange-ct.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5124/Chapter-7-Open-Space-Historic-and-Community-Facilities.
Dan May is a local geologist.