This Kennebunk Land Trust property seems like it could be a great birding spot! A wide, grassy 0.4-mile corridor brings you to a small meadow on the Mousam River and to wetland area. The trail circles the perimeter of the field before returning up the same path to the trailhead, for a roughly 1.2-mile walk.
The Franciscan monastery is just minutes from Kennebunkport’s downtown and offers a peaceful contrast to the busy, commercial center. The friars invite the public onto their estate — which includes a guest house, paved walking trails, and gardens designed by the Frederick Law Olmsted Brothers. The public is welcome during opening hours, from sunrise to
I love the name of downtown Kennebunk’s Hope Cemetery, which, when you do visit it, does inspire hope (either in this world or the next!). The roughly 2.4 miles of trails that abut the cemetery are immaculately maintained. The trails to the north of the Hope Woods parking area are all universally accessible, with the
Though this trail can have some grassy areas, it is still a pleasant walk, with lovely stretches along the river. From the trailhead, you walk down a somewhat steep access path to the flat section of the preserve, which is nearly encircled by a Mousam River oxbow. You’ll see blazes at the bottom of the
It’s an incredible idea, a 3,000-mile “green trail” from Maine to Florida. While some of the 62-mile Eastern Trail is off road in Maine (from South Portland to Kittery), the majority is (right now) along roads, some of them busy. Nonetheless, you can have an enjoyable outing on an off-road, flat, easy, well-maintained gravel or
This 80-acre Kennebunk Land Trust preserve is tucked into a patch of woods close to downtown. It includes some nice walking in a deciduous forest that transitions dramatically to a coniferous one, and over a curvy brook, which I’ve seen turn a milky green in winter. The 2.3-mile trail system is well blazed and easy
This is a straight-ish, wide path, good for bicycling, that starts close to Sea Road School (actually, a little north of the school, at the railroad tracks) and ends up, about 3 miles later, close to the beach. The trail was once an old train track, and is flat and easy. The most beautiful section
This is a there-and-back 0.7-mile trail on a 38-acre Kennebunk Land Trust preserve with views of the Mousam River. It ends at the train tracks. The land trust says this is a wonderful place to look for warblers during migration, and that the broad marshy area you gaze at from the first viewpoint is where
This map shows both the Kennebunk plains (blue) and Wells Barren (orange). This is a phenomenal area — a grasslands and pine barrens, protected by The Nature Conservancy, the state, and other organizations — which is home to several rare or endangered species. In late summer, the fields bloom with the world’s largest population of