Accessible Trail Opens At Window On The Bay

ORLEANS – A new trail and parking area at Window on the Bay Conservation Area improves access to the parcel overlooking Pleasant Bay.

The Orleans Conservation Trust, which has had stewardship of the property since 2022, held a ceremony June 12 to celebrate the new 150-foot-long stone dust trail. The 1.8-acre property also includes space for handicapped parking as well as a wheelchair-accessible picnic table.

The property used to house two summer rental cottages but is now protected as conservation land, noted the trust’s executive director, Stephen O’Grady.

“We’re all standing within the Pleasant Bay Area Of Critical And Environmental Concern right now, so to be able to rewild this area and have it function as a more natural ecosystem was a really important effort for OCT,” he said.

O’Grady said of the approximately 700 acres under the trust’s stewardship, Window on the Bay is the first to offer an accessible trail in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“And it’s the first of its kind in Orleans,” he said.