QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: Not sure
- Trail Mileage: ~6.5 miles in network
- Pets: yes
- Difficulty: easy to moderate
- Sights: fields, woods, Batson River, labyrinth
The Kennebunkport Conservation Trust has done a remarkable job building up a trail system through town. Emmons is close to three other extensive preserves and trail systems—Tyler Brook, Cape Porpoise Greenbelt, and the Smith Preserve (although you have to travel along road to get to this last one). It’s worth it to check out the town map to see how everything pieces together. Emmons Preserve is close to the trust’s headquarters, and features a beautiful stream and stone labyrinth.
You can walk from Emmons to Tyler Brook Preserve, and then from there to the Cape Porpoise Greenbelt. It’s about four miles from one end to the other.
The 0.7-mile Beachwood Trail, from Beachwood Park, crosses an old landfill, now adorned with some incredible signs about the history of the seemingly once-beloved dump (which had an anti-litter beauty pageant associated with it!). (I think we should all appreciate our local transfer stations with festivities — perhaps it would make us consider how to reduce the amount of waste we generate by consuming less, or consuming differently!)
Directions: To start at Emmons Preserve, parking is available at 57 Gravelly Brook Road, a dirt road close to the intersection of Goose Rocks Road and Lester Wildes Road. Limited parking is also available at both ends of Jeremy’s Trail. To access Tyler Preserve, drive down Tyler Brook Lane off of Route 9. Follow the road until you reach small gravel parking area. And to park near Cape Porpoise Greenbelt, drive down Clement Huff Road and look for the conservation sign to your right. You can also pick up the trail at Beachwood Park, a little park on Dump Road, which is off Beachwood Avenue.
