Situated two miles southwest of Sheffield, this 250-acre reserve and wildlife sanctuary encompasses undulating pastures, a limestone ridge, fens and wooded swamps, and a deciduous and coniferous forest. The parkland’s rugged summit affords panoramic views of Mount Everett and the surrounding Taconic Mountains to the west and north. Fields sown with hay, a constructed pond, fieldstone walls and pasture fences remain as vestiges of the land’s agricultural heritage, while a 30-foot high concrete stack, platform, work shed, and several quarry holes attest to the property’s brief tenure as an industrial site, when the Massachusetts Lime Company operated a lime quarry and kiln from 1909 to 1912.
In 1963, mathematician Edna Sheinhart made the property her home. She stewarded the agricultural land, used primarily as a sheep pasture, until 1990, when she donated 215 acres to Massachusetts Audubon Society in memory of her friend, Marguerite Darkow. The parkland was fitted with two miles of trails, including the Lime Kiln Loop that passes the foundations of the lime kiln, and the Quarry/Taconic Vista Loop that skirts the quarries’ edges. Portions of these paths were created from an existing ore-cart track and a network of fire roads. Originally called the Mount Everett Wildlife Sanctuary, the reserve’s name was changed to Lime Kiln Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in 2007.
