The Appalachian Trail, running nearly 2,000 miles from Maine to Georgia was developed starting in 1921. The Connecticut portion of the trail was built between 1930 and 1933.

Approximately eight miles of the trail originally ran through Cornwall, from the Cornwall Bridge railroad station, through Dudleytown to Cathedral Pines, and crossing through Mohawk Mountain Ski Area and Mohawk State Forest.

The Appalachian Trail was rerouted through Sharon in the 1980s, but much of the trail through Cornwall has since been maintained as the Mohawk Trail by the Connecticut Forest & Park Association as a Blue-Blazed Hiking Trail.

Highlights of the Cornwall section of the Appalachian Trail (now Mohawk Trail) in a 1959 guidebook included the Adirondack-style shelter built by the Camp Toumey CCC, and charcoal burners’ shacks near Cornwall Bridge.