New Walking Trail Guide
Features Eight Conservation Destinations

Looking to find your way in the woods? Celebrating its 20th Anniversary of preserving land, the nonprofit Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT) has published a free, full color, 22-page walking trail guide that offers trail maps, trailhead driving directions, and photos for eight conservation destinations across Harwich. The guide is freely available at the Harwich Community Center, libraries, town hall, and the Harwich Chamber of Commerce. Provide your mailing address to HCT by calling 508-432-3997 or emailing hct@cape.com and your trail guide will be arriving soon.

The guide offers trail maps for a variety of conservation lands protected by HCT, the town, or cooperatively protected by HCT and the town, including:

HCT’s 30-acre Coy’s Brook Woodlands

HCT’s 5-acre Lee Baldwin Memorial Woodlands (wheelchair accessible)

HCT’s 12-acre A. Janet DeFulvio Wildlife Sanctuary Boardwalk (wheelchair accessible)

HCT’s 60-acre Bank Street Bogs Nature Preserve

Town’s 259-acre Bell’s Neck Conservation Lands

Town’s 57-acre Thompson’s Field Conservation Area

Town’s nearly 70-acre Island Pond Conservation Lands and adjoining 9-acre William & Barbara Hacker Wildlife Sanctuary on the Cape Cod Rail Trail bike path

Town’s 77-acre D. Isabel Smith Monomoy River Conservation Lands

All trail maps will soon also be available for free download on this website. Click here to access available trail map downloads.

Check out HCT's fall schedule of free guided walks, including a tour of the Cape Cod Lavender Farm and a certified organic cranberry farm, by clicking here.

“This new trail guide will help folks find their way to some very scenic sites,” said, HCT Executive Director Michael Lach.

The Town Trail Committee is very excited about the trail guide and is glad to have collaborated with HCT on the project,” said Dick Thomas, Chair, Town of Harwich Trail Committee.

Earlier this summer, HCT, the Town Trail Committee, and the Town Conservation Commission with approval from the Board of Selectmen and funding from the Community Preservation Committee as well as Barnstable County worked with timberframer John Miller to install six trailhead kiosks that now display larger versions of each trail guide map. AmeriCorps member Christin Marshall and HCT volunteer Tony Pane mapped each trail with a GPS (Global Positioning System) device. With consultation by Town Conservation Commission Chairman Chet Berg, HCT volunteer Richard Cooper built and installed trail guide dispensers at each kiosk HCT’s new Outreach & Stewardship Coordinator Ryan Mann worked with HCT volunteer and trail committee member Matt Cushing to post trail arrow signs at key trail intersections. The guide was designed by HCT and Nancy Shoemaker in West Harwich and the trail maps were created by HCT staff.

“Support from HCT members, volunteers and the Town Trail Committee truly made this trail guide a team effort,” said Michael Lach.

“The guide provides an inviting and informative introduction to a variety of walking trails, including two wheelchair accessible boardwalks,” said HCT President and founding Trustee Robert Smith.