By John Nye Cullity
The Sandwich Conservation
Trust is pleased to continue with our monthly guided walks, now that the snow
is gone. Next Sunday’s hike will be held at 2 P.M., in the town-owned Maple Swamp
Conservation Lands, off Service Road, about halfway between Rt. 6 Exits 3 and
4.
For anyone who has not
visited this 770 acre preserve, this walk will serve as a good introduction.
This area is a place of wonderfully dramatic topography – the hills and hollows
of the glacial moraine. In the early days of Sandwich settlement, this uneven
land was divided into 20 to 40 acre woodlots, providing timber and fuel for the
coastal farms. For much of the 20th century, these woods were
abandoned, a real wilderness.
Preservation began in 1966, when the town purchased several of the
woodlots from the East Sandwich Friends Meeting – the Quakers, and we’ve been
adding to it ever since.
At this time of year, the
shape of the land can be better seen through the leafless woods. Perhaps we can
glimpse the Maple Swamp itself – several acres of wetland in the bottom of a
huge hollow. The walk is free of charge. It will last about an hour-and-a-half,
and is fairly strenuous, with loose stones and roots to watch out for. The walk
will be canceled if it rains.
The Sandwich Conservation
Trust is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1985, and is dedicated to the
preservation of undeveloped land in Sandwich. Our website is
www.sandwichconservation trust.org. We
are also on Facebook and have an e-newsletter, through which notices of our
walks and meetings are given. If you have questions, feel free to call me at
(508) 888-7629.
![]() |
The photo shows power lines which pass through the Maple Swamp Conservation Lands present an interesting, shorn view of the glacial moraine. This view was taken in 1968. John Nye Cullity photo |
No comments:
Post a Comment