QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: 71 acres
- Trail Mileage: ~0.7 miles in total
- Pets: yes
- Difficulty: easy
- Sights: Machias River
This 71-acre Maine Coast Heritage Trust preserve, which was brand new in 2024, offers a there-and-back, 0.3-mile trail that includes a gentle uphill to a modest overlook of the town of Machias and the Machias River. Along the way, you can make a detour to an old homestead and cemetery—the remains of the first European family, the Meserves, who settled here in the late 1700s and lived on the land until the 1880s.
The blue-blazed trail leaves the dirt parking area and enters a forest of balsam firs and birches. The path is fairly flat to start, with sections filled in with sand or gravel and bordered with larger stones. There are solid boardwalks in a couple of spots, with wire mesh for secure footing, and new benches and picnic tables at intervals.
The forest opens up and gets grassier and rootier underfoot as you take the detour to the homestead site, which features an old apple orchard and spreading multi-trunk white pines. The cemetery, just off the main path, was, in 2024, oddly scrubbed of vegetation, presumably an effect of site clearing. Its stark aspect will no doubt soften as plants start to move back in. It is thought about 13 members of the Meserve family are buried here. The final grave was dug in in 1853.
Back on the main trail, the path turns slightly uphill and you start hearing the sounds of Machias as you approach the outcrop that marks the overlook and far end of the trail. From this final point, you’ll have a somewhat veiled and distant view through red spruces of the Machias River, with Route 1 businesses on the opposite shore.
Enjoy the plentiful moss, particularly haircap and red-stemmed feather moss. In warmer months, you might also see goldthread and starflower. Bird sightings on a July visit: a brown creeper seen creeping up a small snag, a Northern parula warbler, black-throated green warbler, and winter wren.
Post by Abby McBride.
Directions: (From the Maine Coast Heritage Trust) From Route 1 in Machias (just south of where the road crosses the Machias River), turn east onto Route 92 (becomes Elm Street). Continue 1.2 miles to reach the large parking area on the left.
