QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: 450 acres
- Trail Mileage: 2.5 miles in network
- Pets: yes
- Difficulty: easy
- Sights: living museum, working sawmill, covered bridge, old forest, stone dam
By Travis Chandler
A living history museum, this site has two characters. During its popular events, it has a festive, nostalgic atmosphere that showcases life in interior Maine, as far back as 1790, when many communities were reliant on the logging industry. These occasions include many demonstrations, hay rides and period food.
When an event is not happening, the site has a more reflective, quiet feel. For me, the Frontier Log House is especially poignant, as the home is exactly as my great uncle describes in his memoir of 1825. The squat, squalid, dark and smoky home starkly reveals what many of our ancestors endured. To raise children through Maine winters inside that?
Watching the alewives ascend a traditional fish ladder in the spring is another great time to visit outside of scheduled events.
The hiking trails, especially the Nature Trail and the Blue Trail, are enjoyable to walk and another reason to come on less busy days. The Blue Trail brings you through beautiful old-growth forest. Other sights include a covered bridge and a working waterwheel sawmill.
Go-Back Trail — This is a short looped trail — it takes 15 minutes to walk — that consists of gravel and compacted dirt, with interpretive displays. The trail is used for safe demonstrations of Lombard Log Haulers.
Nature Trail — The 30-minute nature trail is a delightful walk down a grassy lane to a view of the marshy Blackman Stream. It is wide enough for two people to hike side by side as they read information panels.
Blue Trail — The 60-minute blue trail is more in tune to what hikers might expect of a forest walk. It branches out from the Nature Trail to meander through old forest. A loop of about 1.7 miles (including the Nature Trail), the Blue Trail is an interesting and enjoyable primitive hike among massive, towering pines, spruce and hemlock.
Directions: At the intersections of Route 9 and Route 178 in Eddington, take a left and go about 4.5 miles to US Government Road. A big Logging Museum sign will be on the left while the gravel road is on the right. Stay straight on the gravel road for 1.1 miles signs for the logging museum to a huge, two-part parking lot. The start of the hiking trails will be on the right for the Go-Back Trail, or through the wooden gate leading down the hill for the Nature and Blue Trails.
