QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: ~300 acres
- Trail Mileage: ~1 mile
- Pets: yes
- Difficulty: easy
- Sights: Shaker history, sacred sites, pastures
The ~1-mile Shrine Trail is part of the Brothers of Christian Instruction’s Notre Dame Spiritual Center, which welcomes visitors to walk the grounds. If you do the loop, you’ll be treated to a gentle forested hike and to a few sights from this area’s long spiritual history.
Shakers first moved to Alfred, a “holy land,” in the 1780s, making it one of the earliest Shaker communities. In 1931, the Alfred community merged with the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester, the last active community of living Shakers in the world. They left their land and cluster of buildings in Alfred to the Brothers of Christian Instruction. Close to the Shrine Trail is the Alfred Shaker Museum, which has never been open when I’ve been in the area, unfortunately.
Trail signs have been put up at the start of the trail and at a few places around the loop, helping you stick to the right route. The trails begins as a straight paved path to a neat, orderly cemetery. After the cemetery, the pavement ends, transitioning to a dirt road. While this 0.2-mile leg of the walk is probably passable for some wheelchairs, the condition deteriorates the farther along it goes.
When the trail reaches a crumbling old shrine, it takes a sharp left turn, gradually climbing past a field. From the shrine onwards, the paths are wide and easy but not wheelchair accessible. When the path makes another hard left, you can disregard the little green arrow pointing to a narrow path leading into the woods. (There seems to be an informal trail system back here.)
Continue to follow the wide, easy path to a pretty granite outcropping with a cross. I also found a faint, tagged path that makes a little loop behind the cross. If you continue along the Shrine Trail, it’ll come out onto the field behind the main buildings and parking area.
Directions: From Alfred village center, follow Rt. 202 east for 1.1 miles. Veer right onto Shaker Hill Road. Continue 0.5 miles up Shaker Hill. Look for trailhead on your right. I believe you can park in the large parking lot close to the trailhead. You can also park at the museum.
