QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: 73 acres
- Trail Mileage: ~0.3 miles one way
- Pets: yes
- Difficulty: easy
- Sights: tower ruins
This 73-acre preserve certainly sounds like it was once quite a stunning destination! At the trailhead, the Coastal Mountains Land Trust has posted an ad from 1886 that is one of the best descriptions of a hike I’ve ever read: “[It’s a] most desirable and enchanting spot on earth…upon the Summit of MT. PERCIVAL, Northport, whose shores are washed by the Atlantic. Tourists from all quarters of the globe say the view from its summit is more ravishing than can be obtained from any other mountain.” And it continues.
Sadly, the tower that tourists used to climb to see the “city and hamlets, mountains, forests, and fields, cattle, horses, and sheep…and the most beautiful bay in the world,” is in crumbles, with just the bottom stones remaining. And the growing forest blocks the view. The summit (502 feet) is reachable via a moderately easy 0.3-mile, one-way trail up through woods.
Directions: (From the land trust) From Lincolnville Beach, take Route 1 north 4.9 miles, taking a slight right onto Shore Road. Continue 1 mile as it turns into Pound Hill Road, then turn right at the fork onto Upper Bluff Road. Continue for 0.5 miles to preserve entrance on the left, across from the mailbox marked 220 Upper Bluff Road. Park along the road.
