Trails of Essex County

In September 2024, I visited places and attended programs in Essex National Heritage Area as part of its annual event Trails & Sails. During my trip, I hiked on several trails in the area, most of which were maintained either by Greenbelt, which is Essex County’s land trust, or by The Trustees of Reservations, a non-profit organization in Massachusetts.

Beverly Commons Conservation Area is located in Beverly, MA and jointly managed by the City of Beverly and Greenbelt. The property currently encompases 409 acres (1.66 square km) of forest and 13.2 miles (21.2 km) of trails. I walked about half of those trails. As for the history of this area, families of the accused during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 hid in these woods until the hysteria subsided. The first plots of land were conserved in 1979, while the most recent sections were added in 2011. When visiting this trail, note that it has no proper parking lot, and visitors park on a hilly residential roundabout. Both hikers and mountain bikers enjoy this trail, so keep an eye out for each other, especially near the rocky sections.

Not far away is much smaller Alt Reservation maintained by Greenbelt. At 62 acres (0.25 km) with 1.6 miles (2.6 km) of easy trails, this peaceful walk includes an overgrown lookout and is suitable for teaching children how to follow a trail. Additionally, this property has a small parking lot for three or four cars. The area was farmland until the early 20^th century, and the area was conserved in 1986, so the trees are still young and fairly small.

I revisited the Monoliths in Manchester-by-the-Sea, formerly known as Agassiz Rock, which has been maintained by the Trustees since 1957. If you have ever read informational signage in New England and learned that the big rocks came from glaciers, you have Swiss-American Harvard professor Louis Agassiz to thank, as he came up with this theory, leading to the park being named in his honor. Unfortunately, his other favorite theory was polygenism, the false idea that Europeans had different ancestors than Africans and were therefore superior. (I previously wrote essays which referenced the stance of the Catholic Church against this very bad theory and another of its very bad supporters, James Hunt.)

Sites in the park now honor local people who supported its conservation effort, but this history is equally bizarre. JD’s Peak is named for John J. Donovan Jr. and Megan Donovan, a wealthy couple who apparently donated to the Trustees, including a bequeathment after John Jr.’s sudden death from cancer at age forty-three in 2015. His father, former MIT professor John Sr., forged documents and altered audio recordings attempting to revert all bequeathments to himself and seemed to have served prison time for his misdeeds between 2022 and 2024. For those uninterested in local drama, the walk is peaceful and scenic, including a lookout at the top of the hill and many large boulders along the route. Off-road parking for five to seven cars is available near the trailhead.

My next hiking stop was Warren Weld Woodland in Essex maintained by Greenbelt. This trail system connected to the Wilderness Conservation Area by Candlewood Hill maintained by Manchester-Essex Conservation Trust (MECT). This swampy area included signs of beavers, who had chewed through trees near the trail. The total size of Warren Weld Woodland is 106 acres (0.43 square km) with 2.2 miles (3.5 km) of moderately difficult trails, but the real challenge is figuring out where the Greenbelt property ends and the MECT property begins. Off-road parking for three to five cars is available near the trailhead.

Concerning the history of this property, this park will likely retain its name, as it was gifted by Anne Warren Weld, described as “a deep water sailor and early Cape Ann environmentalist”. She came from a prominent Boston Brahmin family and married fellow Boston Brahmin Philip Saltonstall Weld, Sr. at King’s Chapel in Boston in 1937. A nice obituary was written for Philip describing him as a record-setting yacht racer and newspaper publisher, while Anne “traveled extensively” and was considered his sailing partner, suggesting that she was equally capable in a boat but likely not encouraged to pursue records as a woman living in the mid 20^th century. Thanks to her work as an environmentalist and art community supporter, she continues to be recognized even after her death in 1992.