QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: 30 acres
- Trail Mileage: ~2.3 miles
- Pets: yes
- Difficulty: easy
- Sights: mature spruce-fir forest, northern end of Lily Pond
The trail on this 30-acre Island Heritage Trust preserve starts out through a beautiful mossy forest. While the start of the trail is fairly flat and easy, it gets a touch more rugged the deeper into the preserve you go, over rocks and roots. It’s very well-signed, with maps at every intersection. The highlight might be where the trail emerges onto the pond. The pond bottom here looks a bit mucky — there is better swimming down at the other end, in Lily Pond Park.
The name of the preserve refers to a 400-acre parcel that was managed by the Deer Isle Church from 1797 to 2016 to support parish ministers who used the land — known as “glebe land,” for their sheep, cows, gardens, and woodlots. Glebe is an old English word for land owned by a parish church!
Directions: (From the land trust): From the Deer Isle Causeway, drive South on Route 15 for approximately 4 miles. Shortly past Deer Isle Village, turn left onto King Row. Less than a mile down King Row, the Church Land Preserve parking lot will be on your left.
