Old Chapman Farm, Bucksport

If you have a high-clearance car, you drive the dirt access road all the way to the blueberry barrens, starting your walk at the edge of a field harvested for its organic berries. From the marked trailhead and small parking area, which is big enough for two cars, continue down a hill about 0.1 mile to reach the start of the footpath, marked with a hiking sign and blue blazes. If you reach the bridge over Coby Brook, you’ve gone too far.

Then you can follow the blazed trail into the woods for a moderately early 1-mile loop through forest. When we visited, there was a little spur to a “beaver meadow.”

Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust says this area was once part was part of a “small farming community called Long Pond Settlement. In 1860 there were more than 30 active farms, two schoolhouses, a blacksmith shop and a store.” By 1950, however, there were no homes left standing. You can still see a few leftovers of the community: cellar holes, apple trees and stone walls.

Because we don’t have a high-clearance car, we parking at the composting facility, 1.1 miles up the road, where hikers are allowed to park between April 15 and November 15. The large parking area is posted with a sign for Old Chapman Farm. The road actually remains in pretty good shape — passable even for a low-clearance car — until the last ~0.3 miles, when it narrows and roughens.

Directions: (From the land trust) From the Mast Hill Road and Moosehorn Drive intersection in Bucksport, drive 2.5 miles north on Upper Long Pond Road, a gravel road maintained to the town sludge storage facility. North of that it becomes rough and you need good ground clearance. From April 15 to Nov. 15, you may park in a signed area at the town facility and walk/ bike 1.1 mile to the fields. Adventurous drivers will find a small parking area by the side of the road, about 600 feet from the forest trail.