Tucked away in a tranquil wooded corner of Crystal Spring Farm in Brunswick is a lovely stone labyrinth. Not a maze but instead a one winding route by means of a sequence of concentric rings, the path is meant “to be walked deliberately,” in accordance to a indication in the vicinity of the circle’s entrance. A few granite slab benches at the labyrinth’s center invite guests to relax and replicate.
Crystal Spring Farm in Brunswick is property to a performing farm and 5 miles of mountaineering trails Carey Kish photograph
The “Labyrinth in the Woods” is just one particular of the several superb highlights of Crystal Spring Farm, a 331-acre parcel found just 1 1/2 miles south of downtown Brunswick. Owned and managed by the Brunswick-Topsham Land Believe in, approximately 5 miles of nice foot trails wind by the forests and fields of this ecologically loaded home.
In 1994, when it turned recognised that 160 acres of working farmland on the south aspect of Enjoyable Hill Highway were being about to go up for sale, the fledgling land trust, just 9 several years old at the time, took notice. The landowners hoped to maintain the assets in agriculture, and the land believe in observed this as a golden chance to establish a good group source.
The prevailing sentiment was “how can we not do this?” reported Angela Twitchell, govt director of the Brunswick-Topsham Land Rely on. And with that, the venture moved forward and the do the job of garnering community guidance and boosting the needed cash started. The land was inevitably obtained in 1998, but by then, the land belief now experienced its eye on the adjoining 160 acres on the north facet of the road.
“We labored out a different offer with the homeowners to get the further land in excess of time,” Twitchell pointed out. Brunswick-Topsham Land Belief embarked on a different cash marketing campaign, and with a raise from a Land for Maine’s Foreseeable future grant, the purchase was done in 2008. Considering that then, quite a few smaller sized parcels have been extra to “complete what was a little bit of a puzzle.”
Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust’s mission is to defend and steward the specific locations throughout the communities of Brunswick, Topsham and Bowdoin, to offer leisure chances, connect people today to character, and assist local agriculture and fisheries. The acquisition of Crystal Spring Farm, viewed as the Trust’s signature assets, checked all of these packing containers.
“There was great group affection for this home from the start,” Twitchell explained. Enter from general public meetings assisted shape how the land rely on would deal with the land. With active agriculture a substantial precedence, a farmer was observed to operate the farm and a farmer’s market place was established. Ad hoc trails existed but a far more official network would take some get the job done.
On the south aspect of Pleasant Hill Street, the trails had been made in the 1990s. The East Path leaves the most important trailhead and heads for a junction at the assets boundary. Listed here, the Quarry Trail breaks absent to the west to pay a visit to the web site of an outdated quarry and brings you in see of a photo voltaic array erected in 2016 that generates electricity for the farm.
Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust’s Crystal Spring Farm capabilities nearly 5 miles of climbing trails. Carey Kish photograph
Continuing on the East Path, the path skirts the farm fields and swings close to a wonderful minor pond just before crossing Excellent Gully Stream. Past the brief Ravine Path loop, the East Trail meets the Blueberry Loop, which will make a good circuit through a exceptional sandplain grassland where by 21 acres of managed lowbush blueberry barrens are available to the general public for berry finding.
The trails on the north side of Pleasant Hill Highway were laid out and crafted in the 2000s by the Brunswick-Topsham Land Belief and a cadre of volunteers. The main route by the combined woods is the Key Loop, which is intersected by seven connector trails that make it possible for you to shorten your hike or investigate additional as you wish. The Backyard Path is not to be skipped, as it visits the aforementioned labyrinth as well as the local community garden, which was set up 10 several years ago to mature food stuff for a local starvation avoidance system.
Because its start in 1985, the Brunswick-Topsham Land Have faith in has conserved 3,148 acres about around 60 attributes about just one-3rd of the acreage is owned outright even though the remainder is safeguarded by way of conservation easements. All explained to, there are very well over 20 miles of hiking trails to be liked, so get your walking sneakers and working day pack and arrive acquire great a look all around.
Carey Kish of Mount Desert Island is a veteran hiker and freelance writer. His most recent reserve, Beer Hiking New England, will be out there afterwards this calendar year. Observe a lot more of Carey’s adventures on Fb and Instagram @careykish
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