With the culmination of many years of work focused on tourism producing information-based resources in town, the Guilford Preservation Alliance (GPA), working with town officials and other citizens, has produced a comprehensive map and guide.

The hope is that it has the potential to bolster tourism and real estate, as well as inform residents interested in exploring the Guilford landscape.

Featuring a large number of recreational and cultural opportunities and drawing on extensive geographic and environmental data, the map grew out of the same impetus as the kiosk next to the community center, according to GPA members, and is meant to serve as a stepping stone for both townsfolk and visitors to access the town, showing everything from hiking trails to school facilities.

“People who were coming to the kiosk were actually looking for a home, and they wanted a general idea of how far the green was from where they were looking, what schools they were looking at,” said Martha Safirstein, a GPA board member who also played a key role in getting the kiosk project off the ground. “This map really fulfills a lot of needs for folks who are visiting the town.”

“It feels like almost the last step in our tourism initiative,” said GPA President Shirley Girioni.

The GPA is a non-profit focused on preservation and protection of Guilford, according to its website, including restoration of buildings and landscapes. The kiosk, which currently sits next to the Community Center, was one of the organization’s most visible projects, and includes other guidance and educational resources.

With the kiosk in its sixth year, Safirstein said that putting together an accessible map that included more than just hiking trails and the green seemed like an obvious need, and was often requested by visitors. In its initial form, the map does focus mostly on recreational opportunities, but GPA members said it is possible that other cultural or historic landmarks could be added in the future.

Environmental Planner Kevin Magee helped with the specific geographic data and official maps, while GPA members Safirstein and Tracy Tomaselli, who also works as a historian at the Guilford Free Library, spearheaded the rest of the project with support from the rest of the organization.

Every destination and landmark includes important ancillary information—if a beach has fees or lifeguards, for instance, whether fishing is allowed at a certain place, or the size or difficulty of hiking trails.

Magee pointed out that someone could use the map to navigate a walking journey from the Long Island Sound to the town’s northern border staying entirely in recreational open space and trails.

Every school property and the recreational opportunities available there are also part of the map.

Working out all the details has been an extensive process, though, according to Magee and Pat Kral (another GPA board member), lasting at least four years and going through several iterations.

“This really was a team effort,” said Safirstein.

In the short term, GPA members said the plan is to turn the map into foldable, portable versions that could be handed out or carried by people visiting the town. In the long term, Safirstein said the “open source” nature of the map means that other people could take it upon themselves to expand the level of detail in the map, or add on new categories or landmarks- from notable historic buildings to other open space recreation.

“If anybody wishes to extrapolate on this map, the better. The more the better—it’s better to have more information than less,” Safirstein said.

To learn more about the GPA, visit guilfordpreservation.org.