QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: 88 acres
- Trail Mileage: ~2 miles in network
- Pets: yes
- Difficulty: easy
- Sights: military fort, beaches
Fort Foster is a stunning town park, with lots to offer walkers or people just looking for an ocean view. It has military history and ruins, a playground, a 565-foot pier, pretty picnic table sites, a freshwater marsh, four pebbly-sandy beaches, beautiful views of Portsmouth Harbor, and great trails (some of them also suitable for wheelchairs).
You can follow a wide, flat, accessible seaside trail for about 0.6 miles, the ocean shining beside you. The birding is wonderful here, and even in early October, many birds and monarch butterflies were darting and weaving through the shrubs.
The roughly 2 miles of trails are an amalgam of paved road, dirt road, packed-gravel path, grassy lane, and footpath. The access road is paved, and a couple of dirt roads branch off it. The main walking path along the sea is well made of fine, crushed gravel. When you curve round the bend into the woods at the north end of the park, the trail becomes more of a regular footpath, with roots and rocks.
The fort, which was completed in 1901, was fully operational from then until 1946, before closing for good in 1948. Its main mission was to protect Portsmouth Harbor and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard through the World Wars.
The site is incredibly popular in the summer, when the park charges a daily rate, so if you can, I recommend visiting in the off season, between Labor Day and Memorial Day. Dogs are allowed off-leash before 10 am and after 3 pm, and during these hours, this place becomes a mecca for dog lovers.
The town lists some important dates on its website for when there is no attendant collecting fees or checking passes (required from May to September), and when the front gate is open during the shoulder seasons. The gate is closed in winter. Even when the gate is open, allowing people to drive in and park at one of the many in-park spaces, some people prefer to park outside the gate to walk the pleasant access road to the shore.
Tip: The attendant told me that if you visit in the summer and arrive before the park opens, you can park at the closed gate and walk the trails and beaches for free.
Directions: The fort entrance is off Pocahontas Road. You can park along side the road outside the gate, or if the gate is open, you can drive the access road to one of the several parking areas within the park boundaries. There are lots of places to park.
