The Town Forest is one of Amesbury's best kept secrets. The City of Amesbury owns and manages the 80-acre property. The property is located between Kimball Road and the Great Swamp and is criss-crossed by many miles of well-labeled trails.
Greenbelt’s 29-acre Bartlett Reservation makes up the middle of a conserved swath of land and is connected to the Town Forest via the Great Swamp Trail, which includes a 300-foot boardwalk. The southern portion of the City’s Woodsom Farm property is located to the north and the M. Rice Conservation Area to the east. Much of the adjacent lands are primarily swamp.
Prior to English settlement, the area was a homeland of the Pentucket, a branch of the Pennacook-Abenaki people of the lower Merrimack Valley in New Hampshire. The Pentucket would have been stewards of the land’s oaks and white pines as well as the birches and beeches of nearby Woodsom Farm.
The Great Swamp consists of over 250 acres of pristine cedar and deciduous swamp habitat. Hikers can follow the Great Swamp trail over highland ridges and boardwalks to explore deep into the heart of the forest. Connections can be made to Woodsom Farm. Note that many trails in the swamp, former logging roads, are dead-ends.
Trails
5.2 miles of medium terrain
Flora & Fauna
Look for Lady’s Slippers, Fiddlehead ferns and vernal pools in the spring. Shagbark hickory, beaked hazelnut and flowering witch hazel can be found along the trails. You may spot wild turkey and white-tailed deer.
