Lace up your hiking boots: Wareham has trails to spare this spring

Mar 30, 2022

The cold is dissipating, the sun is shining (more) and the gardens are blooming after a long winter, so it’s official: Spring has come.

As the weather warms up, many residents may be looking for a good place to go for a relaxing walk or adventurous hike outdoors.

Wareham Week spoke with Elise Leduc-Fleming, executive director of the Wareham Land Trust, to learn more about conservation land around town. The trust owns and holds conservation restrictions on hundreds of acres of land in Wareham. Many are open to the public and offer scenic hikes around local ponds, forests and cranberry bogs.

Grab your walking shoes and fill up a water bottle: it’s time to check out some greenspaces around town.

1. North Water Street Beach

If you’re looking for a calm walk along the shore, this place is for you. The Onset beach area offers a nice view onto the water without a massive hike, especially during low tides. Leduc-Fleming said the area is good for little picnics, watching the sunset or letting kids run around in the sand.

“Not so much of a hike, necessarily,” she said, “but a really beautiful place in an otherwise densely developed and sort of privately carved out part of town.”

Parking for the beach is allowed along North Water Street, though watch out for “Resident Only” parking regulations in Onset.

Take a walk along the beach at North Water Street, where a long sandy strip is revealed during low tide.

2. Whitlock’s Landing

A small, half-acre preserve on Glen Charlie Road, Whitlock’s Landing is a good spot for launching canoes and kayaks into Mill Pond, Leduc-Fleming said. A parking area is available, though there’s no boat ramp for larger craft.

3. Tweedy and Barnes Preserve

This preserve can be found on Blackmore Pond Road, and it offers a 1.5-mile trail loop with several spur trails along the water. Leduc-Fleming said hikers can find nice overlooks of the Sippican River at Tweedy and Barnes.

Most of the preserve is fairly flat, she said, though there is one tricky spot where hikers must contend with a little steepness to get over a stream. Much of the trails run along a former cranberry bog and an old railroad bed, so the preserve is fairly accessible. Parking is available off Blackmore Pond Road.

4. Mark’s Cove Conservation Area

This land offers a good example, Leduc-Fleming said, of how collaboration between landowners can result in a big greenspace open to all. The conservation area is made up of land parcels owned by several entities, including the trust, Buzzards bay Coalition and Mass Audubon, she said, and the “quilt” of preserved land makes up more than 100 acres of walking trails and salt marshes.

Three loop systems offer trails of various difficulty, and they total about three miles of relatively flat land altogether. One loop takes hikers around an old bog, while the other two meander through the forest and around salt marshes, where hikers can find view platforms.

Parking is available at the end of Nicholas Drive off Cromesett Road.

5. Agawam River Trail

Those looking for a kid-friendly and accessible trail can park at the end of Knowles Avenue for a walk along the Agawam River Trail.

The short trail offers a good spot for bird-watching and launching kayaks. The riverfront preserve is a little more than eight acres.

People take their dogs for a walk along the Agawam River Trail. Photos by: Alexandra Weliever.

6. Agawam River Pine Barrens

Almost 70 acres of land await more adventurous hikers in this plot of land.

To get to the entrance of the pine barrens, drivers must park on the shoulder of Glen Charlie Road just north of Agawam Road, then hike about 1.3 miles to the southern end of the Agawam River Pine Barrens property. Once hikers get to the natural gas line right-of-way along Agawam Road, they’ve reached the start of the pine barrens.

The pine barrens provide a more varied, interesting terrain, Leduc-Fleming said. Hikers can enjoy the trails and find their way to Glen Charlie Pond to fish or kayak.

7. and 8. Fearing Hill and Douglas S. Westgate

These two properties are connected, Leduc-Fleming said, with two entrances available.

One entrance on Fearing Hill Road offers room for a few cars, while the other has decent parking space off Paper Mill Road, she said. The two conservation areas comprise about 114 acres of wetlands and bogs bordering the Weweantic River.

Hikers can traverse across old bogs, bridges overlooking streams and boardwalks and overlook spots along the river.

“So it’s not just a walk in the woods, though a walk in the woods is lovely,” Leduc-Fleming said. “It has a lot more varied scenery than most of the properties.”

9. Bryant Farm

The town is still working to make parking available for Bryant Farm, Leduc-Fleming said, but for the moment some have made use of the nearby driving range parking lot on Sandwich Road over the winter.

Bryant Farm sits next to Minot Forest, and a trail connects the two, she said, but hikers are advised to not cross active railroad tracks between the properties. Hikers can travel on miles of paths through the woods of Bryant Farm, or meander their way to a meadow and views of the Agawam River.

To get to the trailhead, hikers can look to the right of the driving range’s building to find a small sign indicating the beginning of the trail.

10. Murphy Freedom Preserve

The Wareham Land Trust holds a conservation restriction on the Murphy Freedom Preserve, which is just one piece of Minot Forest. The preserve offers many trails and a new parking area, just a half mile from the preserve’s entrance.

Hikers should find parking on the southern end of an intersection between Stillman Memorial Drive and Indian Neck Road. Walking down Indian Neck Road will lead hikers to the preserve’s entrance.

11. Woods at Great Neck

Within the Great Neck Conservation Area, the Woods at Great Neck offer hikers several loops of trails and overlook spots onto Little Harbor Country Club, Leduc-Fleming said.

The first stretch of trails shows bog boards over wetlands, and hikers can find a sitting area where they can view Swan Pond. Parking is available at Crooked River Road, near the trailhead.

12. Great Neck Wildlife Sanctuary

This land is partly owned by Mass Audubon, though the Wareham Land Trust holds several conservation restrictions on parts of the property. Several local homeowners have allowed trails to open over parts of their land, a rarity that makes this area stand out, Leduc-Fleming said.

The preserve is more than 300 acres of open space, including marshes, woods and trails. Osprey nests are also visible from one scenic vista in the sanctuary. Parking is available at the end of Great Neck Road, near a Mass Audubon welcome sign.