Peabody-Fitch Woods & Narramissic Historical Farm

I recently checked out another Loon Echo Land Trust property, located at the beautiful Peabody-Fitch Woods & Narramissic Historical Farm.  Over the past year, there has been a lot of work put into making an accessible trail, parking lot, and overall grooming of the farm. The farm is owned by the Bridgton Historical Society and the surrounding woods are owned by LELT. The two organizations have been working together to make this a very welcoming place for everyone to visit. This is what I love to see, organizations coming together to make the world a better place 

 

The trail is called Peggy’s Pasture Loop. That is exactly what it is.  A rectangular loop around the field behind the old farmhouse. The trail starts at a perfectly flat and well-constructed parking lot. It also has 4 resting spots with benches. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the recommendation of Jon from LELT who joined me on the hike, I decided to turn right and do the loop counterclockwise.  The trail at this section has eroded a bit so the surface is a bit soft and hard to push.  Jon is working on figuring out a solution for that to make it stay firm.  As we get to the first turn the trail starts to go up,  The entire property is on a gradual incline.  Both sides of the loop go up the incline,  I found it hard to push in some areas due to the erosion.  Also, there are parts of the incline that are steeper than the overall gradual slope.  I went back the next day to check the slope to make sure I wasn’t wrong in that assessment.  I found if the incline were perfect from end to end with no flat spots or changes in grade it would be a perfect 5 percent grade. The issue with it being steeper comes when the trail flattens out for a while or at least gets less steep. That makes the next section shorter and steeper. If my math is correct some of the sections are in the 11 percent range but only for very short distances. This is still within trail accessibility guidelines but does make it harder to push along the trail.  I used an app called OSMAnd to figure out the slope so it may not be perfectly accurate, I do think it is probably quite close. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the trail makes another turn through a rock wall it begins to flatten out.  At the second resting spot, the trail becomes perfectly flat and firm.  The erosion issue is not a problem along the entire top stretch. There are also stunning views of the property all along the trail. There are going to be viewing spots constructed in the future, This will make it easier for those of us who use wheelchairs to get a better look, 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had the benefit of Jon walking with me.  He is an encyclopedia of the history of this beautiful farm.  I think he should do a video to add to the experience. People could either watch beforehand or along their walk.  As I was thinking about this idea I remembered that Mt. Washington Auto Road does an audio tour.  This might be something that would make trails more accessible also. It could enhance the experience for sighted people but also enhance the experience for people with visual impairments, 

 

I would highly recommend everyone check out this beautiful place.  Even though this trail is only about a half-mile in length, I could see spending hours there taking in the views. There are also chances for bird watching and other activities