0.9 mi. loop; single and cart track; parking near 86 Landing Road, Kingston; trail through the former hay field to rocky outlook over Kingston Bay with single tracks through woods.
One of the crown jewels of the Duxbury trail system is the Bay Farm Conservation Area, an 80-acre preserve on Kingston Bay that is located in both Duxbury and Kingston. Originally a dairy farm, at one point it was the site of the Duxbury Playhouse which was a summer stock theatre with a revolving stage. Duxbury acquired 44 of its acres in 1973, and in 1987 Kingston bought a nearby 37 acres while later that year the state bought the 8 acres in between those two parcels to connect them. The property contains artifacts from an 8,000-year-old Native American site, and pilgrim settlers were farming the land as early as 1627.
Trails here are highly popular with residents from both towns because of the granite ledge outlook called Cedar Rocks, and also due to the pleasure of walking through meadow fields which are rare compared to our more common forest trails. From Cedar Rocks and the beach on its shoreline, you can see Miles Standish Monument, Rocky Nook, Clark’s Island, Gurnet Light, Saquish, and the Jones River. The beach here is also the southern terminus of the Bay Circuit Trail, which is more than 230 miles long and passes through 37 towns. The Bay Circuit Trail is the straight path from the parking lot to the beach. From the perspective of the parking lot, almost immediately to the right of the Bay Circuit Trail is the Kingston town line, and Kingston’s trails which are blazed yellow and orange charmingly meander through cedar groves and shrubs. The most popular walking loop is 1.7 miles and follows the far-left trail to Cedar Rocks, and then follows the yellow trail to do the orange loop, and back to the yellow trail to the parking lot.
Despite the town putting in some wooden boardwalks to help with muddy conditions, regular visitors know the best time to visit Bay Farm is at least 2-3 days after it rains! For that reason, and to make this beautiful and popular site accessible to all, Duxbury is using a grant from the state to build an ADA-compliant pathway to Cedar Rocks. The accompanying map shows its approximate planned route in purple. The new handicapped access trail will be 8 feet wide, made of permeable material, and will have a platform on the right side of Cedar Rocks. It will allow handicapped access year-round (assuming no snow) and is expected to be constructed this autumn.
Look for the 42nd Parallel granite marker which is on the latitude that is used as the border of 6 states, and see if you can find the cleverly hidden geocache on the property!
Duxbury Trails:
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