The New Shaw Farm Trail

The new Shaw Farm Trail that links the bike path with the Nasketucket Bay State Reservation is the best thing that could happen to someone like me who runs the bike path practically every day and, frankly, has grown kind of bored with it.

The addition of this single mile has opened up a world I actually never knew existed. I admit that until the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new trail on Friday, July 31, I was ignorant of the splendor of the small network of trails at the state reservation that meander through meadows and wind through the woods to the bay. “Gosh,” I said to myself two weeks ago. “I don’t have enough meadow in my life.” (Really, I actually said that.) That concern is gone for good now. There’s plenty of meadow now for all of us.

I am quickly cultivating a close, intimate relationship with the new trail and the ensuing state reservation. In fact, I’ve taken that right turn onto the Shaw Farm Trail every single day since the grand opening last Friday. I’m becoming familiar with every step up onto every long, boarded bog bridge and then down again. Every bend in the way ahead, every corner that looks out onto the bucolic scene of the DeNormandie Farm, and the myriad meadows – some with the monochromatic white of a thousand Queen Anne’s Lace flowers (wild carrot) and others that dazzle with purple clover and a dozen other flower species – the audacity of nature to interrupt a moment with the intoxicating perfume of the collective olfactory force of thousands of flowers.

The first thing a perceptive person would notice at the start of the trail on a hot summer day is how the temperature drops nearly ten degrees once you are absorbed into the asylum of the shadow of the canopy of trees above, along with the unadulterated airy breeze coming straight off the bay. Walking along the old stone wall that defines the edge of the farm, the vista opens up at the first bend in the way, offering an unobstructed view of the red farmhouse, the barn swallows, those airborne acrobats, and, of course, the blue bay below.

The trail continues on, leading deeper into the woods and gently winding every so often, leading to little unexpected scenes along the way before it joins the wide, grassy Bridle Path of the Nasketucket Bay State Reservation. This is where I leave you to explore this trail on your own, if you haven’t already run there like a forest freak to be one of the first to leave their footprints. I refrain from possibly diminishing the element of delight and surprise for anyone.

I do caution walkers and runners that there are some stubborn, sneaky little spots of poison ivy throughout the trail. Being a newly blazed trail, it takes a while for it to establish itself, so poison ivy and scattered groundcover will be encountered along the way for some time. Of course, wear the appropriate clothing and permethrin-treated shoes to keep the ticks off. The South Coast is ground zero for Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases.

The new trailhead straddles the Mattapoisett/Fairhaven line, perpendicular to the bike path near Shaw Road in Fairhaven. A bike rack has been installed so you can lock up your bike and take a break from the bike path.

This trail, and the addition of 416 acres of farmland and woodlands, was six years and $6 million in the making. It is a gift we have given ourselves as town meeting members and as taxpayers. Overlook the heat, ignore the pesky horseflies, grab the kids, and leash up the dog. Take a Hike along the new Shaw Farm Trail and get to know it – make it a part of your life, visit often, and may we care for it and keep it new, no matter how many hundreds of times our souls take our bodies to wander through it.

By Jean Perry