Ownership

Town owned with CELT easement

Location

Extends north from the Route 77 and Spurwink Avenue intersection. Get directions to Spurwink trail (link to maps). Get directions to Spurwink trail.

Access

Parking for the Spurwink trail is directly across from the water treatment plant on Spurwink Avenue, at the pump station also on the west side of Spurwink Avenue, or at the top of the hill next to the Gull Crest Fields entrance.

Description/History

Once home to the Poor Farm for indigent families, this town-owned property offers spectacular panoramic views of the Spurwink Marsh from the open fields filled with wildflowers. A wooded trail begins at the far (southern) corner of the field and passes through an old grove of apple trees and raspberry bushes and continues past a late 19th-century cemetery before ending at the Spurwink Church.

This 150-acre property offers an exceptional opportunity to view migrating waterfowl as well as hawks, herons, and egrets along the marsh edge. Walkers can regularly see the colorful antics of the bobolink, whose distinctive flight pattern and voice are often seen and heard along the marsh, alongside the many bluebirds and swallows nesting in field boxes. Evening and early morning visitors may spot the occasional deer, moose, coyote, or fox in the fields.

Rules

Please see Town Greenbelt Trails Map for Rules.

Date Protected

2000