In 1980, as a memorial to her husband Stephen, summer resident Bessie Wright Phillips of Salem, MA gifted 71 acres on Otter Pond to the Town of New London. The property is owned by the Town of New London and managed by the New London Conservation Commission. It has over 1,600 feet of frontage on Otter Pond and over 700 feet of frontage on Otter Pond Brook which flows from Goose Hole Pond into Otter Pond. The Phillips Preserve is open to the public for low impact recreation, offering significant trails on the property.