Harwich Conservation Trust Publishes Walking Trail Guide

by Alan Pollock

            HARWICH — After the crush of summer on Cape Cod, a quiet getaway might be closer than you think.  And with its newly published, full-color pamphlet of its walking trails, the Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT) wants to be your guide. 

           The 22-page booklet is free and is being mailed to postal customers in Harwich and HCT members.  Some of the individual trail maps in the booklet are also available to be downloaded from the trust’s website.

            “This new trail guide will help folks find their way to some very scenic sites,” Executive Director Michael Lach said in a news release.  The booklet was a collaboration between the trust and the Harwich Trail Committee, and it provides information about conservation lands owned by HCT and by the town.

            “The guide provides an inviting and informative introduction to a variety of walking trails, including two wheelchair-accessible boardwalks,” HCT President Robert Smith said.

            Clear maps and colorful photos guide visitors to the 30-acre Coy’s Brook Woodlands, the Lee Baldwin Memorial Woodlands, the A. Janet DeFulvio Wildlife Sanctuary Boardwalk, the Bell’s Neck conservation lands, and larger tracts like the Bank Street Bogs, Thompson’s Field, the Island Pond conservation lands and the 77-acre D. Isabel Smith Monomoy River Conservation Lands.

            The booklet, which is printed on recycled paper with soy-based ink, shows the best places to park, the length of each walking trail, and some of the history of the parcel.  It was designed by the trust and by Nancy Shoemaker of West Harwich.

            The trail maps themselves were produced with GPS data gathered by Christin Marshall of AmeriCorps Cape Cod and Tony Paine of the Senior Environmental Corps.  Volunteers walked each trail, installing trail arrow signs at key intersections.  Earlier this summer, HCT, the trail committee and the Harwich Conservation Commission used a grant from the Community Preservation Committee and Barnstable County to build six trailhead kiosks displaying larger versions of each map.  The kiosks were built by John Miller.

            “Support from HCT members, volunteers and the town trail committee truly made this trail guide a team effort,” Lach said.

            The trail guide will be available, free of charge, at the Harwich Community Center, the town’s three libraries, town hall and local chambers of commerce.

9/4/08