Perkinstown Wildlife Commons

At this 288-acre Wells Conservation Commission preserve, you start out walking down a short, well-made footpath that soon intersects with wide wood roads. There are two marked trails — Barbara’s Trail and Perkinstown Loop — both of them wide and fairly easy.

When I visited in May, the place was filled with birdsong. I heard and/or saw at least one but often more of these guys: Nashville warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, pine warbler, prairie warbler, black-and-white warbler, black-throated green warbler, wild turkey, barred owl, cat bird, eastern phoebe, rose-breasted grosbeak, Northern house wren, and ovenbird.

The there-and-back Barbara’s trail is roughly 1.2 miles; it ends at a sign marking the end of the WCC’s hiking path (although the track continues on beyond the sign, eventually emerging onto a housing development). Perkinstown Loop makes a 0.7-mile loop through woods, including a section along the straight pipeline corridor (it looks like there might have been a railroad here, too, many years ago, since you can see old ties).

When I first walked this trail, you could do a second loop in the southern half of the property, but it went through some soggy terrain and was, I believe, discontinued. Yet, in the spring of 2026, it appeared as if work was being done to resurrect it, so I’ve added it back to my Google map, in a thin blue line.

Directions: Turn onto Thompson Road from Perry Oliver Road. Park at the end of the cul-de-sac.