Main Stream Preserve

To get to this Coastal Mountains Land Trust preserve, you first walk a little grassy path to a 0.3-mile discontinued road. This will bring you to the 0.5-mile Loop Trail and a 0.1-mile spur to the reedy banks of Main Stream.

Soon after starting your walk, you’ll hear the soothing sound of flowing water, and at 0.1 mile, you can find its source. Duck in to the short side trail on your left to check out some bucolic rapids. Once you return to the main path and walk a bit farther, you’ll be encouraged to again take a side trail to the stream. This time it is to see the heavy stonework remains of a 19th-century mill owned and operated by the Roberts family.

A kiosk with information explains the history of the site and offers a lot of information about the prosperous Roberts. In the settlement that grew up here, the Roberts built a schoolhouse and store. One line from the panel is kind of haunting: “Several house foundations still exist along the roads; some still have blooming lilacs, day lilies, and apple trees…but many of the roads that once existed are now only depressions in the woods.”

Continuing on, you’ll be encouraged to avoid an area flooded by beavers and follow a path that brings you through a pretty fir forest and hemlock grove. The trail ends at the stream.

Directions: (From the land trust:) From Stockton Springs, take Route 1 north, then turn onto Harris Road by Just Barb’s Restaurant. Turn left onto Green Valley Road, then right onto Old County Road, then left onto Sherer Road. A little parking area is at the end of Sherer Road on the left, with enough space for about three cars.