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Brook/River/Garden Loop

November 1, 2019

Hike Direction and Map – Full PDF

 

trail mapDriving Directions

  • From Downtown Hanover, drive S on S. Main St. for 0.3 miles
  • Parking area is on R just before electric substation and bridge over Mink Brook.

What You Should Know

  • Start your hike AFTER 11AM if you’d like to do the loop and visit the garden. Bring binoculars and a bird book!
  • Today’s hike takes you along lower Mink Brook on a flat, ADA accessible path with benches. You can retrace your steps OR
  • For a more challenging hike, continue on the banks of the CT River on a narrow, sometimes steep path and climb to the neighborhood tucked behind downtown. Return on quiet streets, visiting a small meditation garden that glows in fall.
  • Dogs are welcome if under your control. Please pick up after your pet.
  • Foot travel only.

Brief Hiking Directions

  • Take the gravel path down through the gate and bear R along Mink Brook.
  • The gravel path ends across from the Water Reclamation Facility. Turn around here OR
  • Stay straight on a woods path; turn R at river’s edge
  • Follow path along river to wood steps
  • Climb wood steps to gate at Maple St./Downing St.
  • Walk down Maple St.; turn R on Pleasant St. and R on School St.
  • Follow School St. to sharp curve; visit Li Graben Meditation Garden
  • Continue on School St. (becomes Huntley Ave.)
  • Turn R onto S. Main St. and return to your car.

The Full Story

  • Walk toward the electric station, bearing R before its parking lot, and go through the gate (better ADA access is from this lower lot). Bear R onto the packed gravel path along the water. You’ll notice that the trees are alive with birds at this season, stocking up on seeds and berries before launching themselves into the great migratory stream of wings that flows south along the Connecticut River flyway in fall.
  • ADA section of River TrailThe Town of Hanover undertook an ambitious project in the summer/fall of 2019 to create a 3,700 foot fully ADA compliant, accessible path along this beautiful stream (marked in red on aerial photo). Benches beckon visitors to stop and enjoy the views, reflections, and especially the waterfowl that frequent this area.
  • Note the blue and white tags identifying this as Town Conservation land. Working with the Town, the Hanover Conservancy (then the Hanover Conservation Council) contributed half the purchase price for the 15.7 acre former Edgerton property on Mink
  • Brook and the river in 1973. With protection of the Conservancy’s Mink Brook Nature Preserve just upstream in 1999, nearly 2 miles of the stream are now protected and open to the public.
  • Fall is the perfect time to enjoy the foliage and feathered things here. The flame of maples may be winding down, but the oaks are golden bronze and we can (if grudgingly) enjoy the brilliant foliage of burning bush, an invasive garden escape. Note the sewer covers along the path – you and the wastewater piped under your feet are both traveling in the same direction – toward renewal! Thankfully, the Water Reclamation Facility (once known as a wastewater treatment plant) to which it is headed has restored Mink Brook and the Connecticut River from the ugly open sewers of the 1960s back to the beautiful waterways they are today.
  • merganserLower Mink Brook, so close to the Connecticut River flyway, is known for its waterfowl. On the day we scouted this route (Oct. 30), two male hooded mergansers (R ) were bobbing their bright white mops of head feathers and croaking in attempts to impress the less gaudy females with them. Further downstream, a dozen Canada geese rested on a fallen log (below). Occasional broad stone slabs and more formal benches invite you to stop to watch.
  • virginia waterleaf
  • At the first bend you’ll see pink flagging marking a patch of Virginia waterleaf (L), a plant of moist woods and floodplains, considered threatened in NH. It is protected here.
  • As you proceed, note the steep slopes at R, decorated with evergreen Christmas fern.
  • Like similar slopes at the Rinker-Steele Natural Area and Kendal Riverfront Park, these are remnants of Lake Hitchcock, which flooded this area as the glacier receded.
  • The brook bends, its original channel filled with river water backed up behind Wilder Dam just a short distance downstream on the Connecticut. Before the dam was built in 1950, this would have been a narrow but obviously flowing stream, probably small and shallow enough to wade through at this time of year.
  • Soon the Water Reclamation Facility comes into view. 20 minutes’ walk from your car, and opposite the plant, the ADA path ends. Here you can choose to turn around and see what new birds might have alighted in your wake, or continue on.
    Canada geese on log
  • To continue, proceed straight ahead on an un-blazed woods path across a wet area and up a knob. At the top, turn L for a short way to where the path ends at the mouth of Mink Brook. Take care on the hemlock-clad point – the clay soils are slippery when wet. The brook may be narrow here, but it is the largest in Hanover, draining an 18 sq.mi. watershed from the ridge of Moose Mtn. through Etna and along Greensboro Road.
  • Return to the intersection and stay straight down a short hill, following the river for <15 minutes to another viewpoint. The path narrows as it passes another inlet. Stay L along the water as several paths join at R. The trail is narrow and benched, and passes a small island that was part of the shore before Wilder Dam flooded the area. Sinewy stems of ironwood or musclewood trees lean toward the water. Across the river a short section of railroad bed is visible, but beyond the sounds of I-91 and yard work in the neighborhood above, you might as well be 100 miles from civilization.
  • The trail, unmarked but easy to follow, skirts another backwater and rises to another point of land. Watch for bald eagles – on our scouting day, an immature and an adult were perching overhead. Eagles have made a substantial comeback in the last 10 years, with dozens of nests along the Connecticut where there was only one in 1995. Some overwinter in this area, where they fish in the open water around Wilder Dam.
  • The view S from the point includes the pine and hemlock-clad South Esker, another natural area purchased by the Conservancy and Town in 1971. See our Hikes of the Month to visit those trails. Across the river appear benches and trails at the Montshire Museum in VT.
  • The trail passes over a steep-sided ridge with water on both sides. A few minutes later, take the R fork through a cut in a large log and head up a set of wooden steps. The trail swings R, edged with sections of cut log, and then curves up more steeply among the homes on the ridge above. Wood steps are your guide.
  • gate at end of Maple Street
  • 7 minutes’ hike up from the eagles’ point, arrive at the top of the ridge and a gate (walk around) at the junction of Maple and Downing Streets. A handsome new kiosk displays a useful map and signs remind that the trail is open from dawn to dusk only. Parking for this part of the trail is at the other end of Maple Street.
  • Nathan's GardenStart down Maple St.; opposite the junction with River Ridge Rd,, look for the entrance to Nathan’s Garden at L. This beautiful secluded natural area (R ) is open to the public (dawn to dusk) through the kindness of the landowner. Make a note to come back in spring and summer.
  • Continue on Maple St. Can you spot the bear family on a weathervane? For all the civilized look of this neighborhood, it’s prime bear territory, or at least it was until the neighbors took in their birdfeeders and covered up their compost piles, and the bears went elsewhere.
  • This part of the hike (<½ hour) makes you wish you’d brought a field guide to historic architecture along with your bird guide. Turrets, porches, eave decorations, fanciful shingles, and even stained glass panels evoke the 1860s-1920s when this neighborhood grew up. It’s a pleasant mix of Italianate, Second Empire, Stick, Queen Anne, Shingle, and Colonial Revival styles. Bright-leaved barberry and burning bush decorate front yards, more appropriate habitat than streambanks.
  • Turn R on Pleasant St. and enjoy the view out over the Mink Brook valley as it curves to the L.
  • Turn R on School St. If you are pressed for time, turn L on Ripley and R onto S. Main St. to return to your car.
  • You’ll be glad you continued on School St., passing the pretty forested section at L, and over the brook at R.
  • garden sign
  • Just before the street curves L, watch for a small sign at R welcoming you to the Li Graben Meditation Garden, open noon to sunset. Follow the short stone path and turn R onto a wooden deck path that leads to a tiny covered seating area. Here, you can contemplate the brook below and a peaceful scene created by stones arranged in a gravel bed. Azaleas will be bouncing with color in spring, but at this time of year, you’re treated to the brilliant yellow feathery blossoms of witchhazelwitchhazel (L)! Sit for a bit to enjoy the silent company of a public-spirited landowner who provides this space. In the shelter, discover a journal of poems left by visitors, including one who declared, “the river is Byootyefl!”
  • Return to School St. and follow it down as it becomes Huntley Rd., marveling at this neighborhood arranged on the challenging terrain left by glacial Lake Hitchcock.
  • Turn R onto S. Main Street. Your car is close, but the fun is not over. Just as the small parking area comes into view, note the Greek Revival style brick cape that sits across the road on your L. This house was built in 1840 by Ruben Benton, a Hanover selectman at the time, when his earlier home burned. In 1852, Ruben’s son Charles added a massive barn (131’ x 45’, four stories high) that was a landmark in town for a century. In 1885, the Benton Farm included 150 acres of land in Hanover and 174 in abutting Lebanon, 140 Merino sheep, and a sawmill. That land included the brook side area you’ve just explored plus the Mink Brook Nature Preserve and much more.
  • old view of farm and gullies
    The Benton Farm – view N to Hanover village across Mink Brook c. 1865
  • After Charles Benton’s death, his family sold the farm to Dartmouth College for $4,500. Five years later in 1903, the college traded this farm for Charles Stone’s farm on the Wolfeboro Road in the future Trescott Water Supply lands to make room for the new Fletcher Reservoir. Stone milked his dairy herd at the Trescott lands in the morning, herded them down Reservoir and Lyme Roads into town and down Main Street, and milked them in their new barn that evening.
  • The Stones later sold off pieces of their farm to the electric company (1928), to the town to re-route S. Main Street, to the hydro power company to allow Wilder Dam to flood the lower brook, and for residential development on parts of Buell St., Mourlyn, and S. Main, among other things. Finally, in 1949, the Stones sold the remaining 169 acres to three families who developed the residential area around Brook Road, and the landmark barn came down.
  • Time to return to your car at R.

This Hanover Hike of the Month has been generously sponsored by

Lyme Timber Company logo

November 2019

Filed Under: Hike of the Month, Mink Brook, November Tagged With: ADA, evergreen Christmas fern, merganser, Virginia waterleaf

Fullington Farm & Old Highway 34

December 1, 2017

Hike Directions and Trail Map – Full PDF

 

Fullington Farm hike mapDriving Directions

  • From Downtown Hanover, drive N on N. Park Street and turn R onto Route 10N.
  • Drive past the golf course, through a rotary, past the Richmond School, and through a smaller rotary.
  • Continue 1.5 miles past the smaller rotary on Route 10 and turn L at the entrance for Wilson’s Landing.
  • Park in the gravel-surfaced lot next to the Connecticut River. Sunset is an especially lovely time for a walk on the river path, but give yourself plenty of daylight if you plan to hike Old Highway 34.

What You Should Know

  • You can opt to explore just the gentle path along the river, the more challenging Old Highway 34, or both to get a fuller sense of the variable character of Hanover’s Connecticut River corridor.
  • You’ll be walking on lands owned by the Town of Hanover, Friends of Hanover Crew (briefly) and Dartmouth College. Conservation easements protect some but not all of this land.
  • Dogs are welcome but must be under your control; please pick up after your pet. You will need a leash.

Hiking Directions – Fullington Farm River Path

  • Begin at Wilson’s Landing. This town-owned public river access area is named for Wilson Fullington, one of a family of riverfront farmers who worked this fertile land with its ample gambrel dairy barn. That property and 2.4 acres of land are now owned by the Friends of Hanover Crew.
  • Before starting your hike, walk to the water’s edge. From here, you enjoy a splendid view up the mighty Connecticut, the largest river in New England. This area is the scene of many regional crew races on the flat water impounded by Wilder Dam, a few miles downstream. When leaves are off the trees, flat-topped Smarts Mountain in Lyme appears on the horizon to the N. The Hanover Conservation Commission recently led an extensive effort to improve the public boat landing here, adding picnic tables, comfortable benches, a dock, improved boat launch, and timber-framed information kiosk.
  • The flooding of this area by Wilder Dam in 1950 changed the shoreline, and this is a great place to look for waterfowl in the quiet backwater and for smaller birds nesting in the shrubby growth nearby. At this season the slender cattails are dispersing their seeds and look like they’re wearing shaggy fleece coats. You can admire the festive scarlet twigs of red osier dogwood – there’s a good clump next to the boat landing. This native New England shrub, which grows well in wet places, is highly valued by wildlife for its nutritious white berries. You won’t see those because they don’t last long!
  • Leave your car and walk back up the gravel drive as far as the sign at R indicating that this land is protected by the Land Conservation Investment Program and the Trust for NH Lands. This was New Hampshire’s first venture into conservation on a state-wide scale, authorized by the Legislature in 1987, which appropriated $25 million that was spent (with $3.3 million of private funds) to protect over 100,000 acres of much appreciated land before the program closed in 1993. The Huntington Hill lands nearby in Hanover were also protected through this program. The Hanover Conservancy, then known as the Hanover Conservation Council, led a fund-raising campaign for the local match. The land remains privately owned but is now protected by a permanent conservation easement held by the Town.
  • merganser in flightEnough talk, let’s walk! Turn R off the drive and onto the mown path just before the gravel path leading to the crew boathouse. Turn S along the river. For the next few minutes you’ll have a good view of the backwater, where dabbling ducks and other waterfowl shelter in this quiet area off the mainstem, especially during the fall migration. The Connecticut River is a major migration corridor for these and other birds. On the afternoon we walked this path, the lowering sun lit the white breast of a migrating common merganser, its rapid wingbeats echoing the intent of its outstretched neck as it flew south, low and fast, over the water. (R – male in flight)
  • Meadowsweet, goldenrod, and other rough herbs and shrubs grow near the bank, along with sumac, red and silver maple. This riparian buffer helps capture any sediment in the runoff from the fields that might be headed toward the river. Common among them is invasive honeysuckle, easily picked out with its scrappy bark, low arching branches, and opposite buds. This shrub is especially obvious around the gullies and cavities in the bank at the bottom of the field.
  • About 8 minutes into your walk, pass through a gap in a hedgerow marking the boundary of a larger field. You’re in a world apart – while you can hear the sounds of cars on Route 10 above and Route 5 across the river, your view is much more wholesome – all rolling fields and river. The rich soils under the sod, a gift of the river, are among the most fertile in the country. Indeed, they are among the most valuable agricultural soils in Hanover.
  • The mown path curves R around a gully; glance to the N for a nice view of Smarts Mountain and the point of wet land extending downstream from Wilson’s Landing (when leaves are off the trees).
  • Soon the big white barn of the Dartmouth Organic Farm comes into view above at L, along with the low building now housing the Hampshire Cooperative Nursery School. These are the current uses of what was the last dairy farm of any significance in Hanover – the Dartmouth Dairy, also known as the Fullington Farm. Four generations of Fullingtons worked this land, most recently with a milk processing and bottling plant run by Haslett Fullington and his brother, Wilson. Their fleet of trucks delivered milk produced by their herd of Guernseys to the college and beyond. Dartmouth bought the property in 1972.
  • 1892 Fullington area map
    1892 map of the area

    The Fullingtons had been on the land since at least 1860, and lived in the c. 1820 cape house that stood near the large and handsome early barn. In 1885, the Grafton County Gazetteer listed William Fullington as farming 220 acres with 300 head of registered Merino sheep and a sugarbush of 120 maples. The College tore down the nearly 200-year-old farmhouse in the summer of 2017. (R- 1892 map of the area)

  • Today, your path passes an experimental planting area, bee hives, and a nursery of evergreen and deciduous trees on the fields where the Fullingtons once grew feed for their cows or pastured their sheep. The path approaches the south boundary where a gravel drive curves up to Route 10. You can walk back to your car along the road, but it’s more fun to retrace your steps and head north on the mown path along the river.
  • As you do, note the sole many-stemmed tree standing nearby on the riverbank, a sole representative of the grand and towering silver maple floodplain forest that once blanketed the riverbottom here – after the glacier left but before European settlers cleared the alluvial plains for farming, before the Smiths and Fullingtons, and before Wilder Dam inundated the shoreline. Silver maples tolerate flooding and are supremely adapted to such a setting.
  • As you return N, the pine-studded crest of an esker looms beyond the barn roof. This is part of a ribbon of sand left behind by melting water under the glacier as it covered this area thousands of years ago. You can explore another piece of this geological ribbon at the South Esker (Hanover Hike of the Month, August).
  • The low sun of the approaching winter plays tricks as you walk N along the river. Your shadow reaches forty feet ahead and the light reflects off the river, illuminating golden brown oak leaves still clinging to their branches. Oaks are thought to have evolved in the south and never developed the knack of dropping their leaves in fall as those of northern maples and birches do.
  • Pass through the hedgerow and enjoy a fine view of the beautiful white dairy barn.
  • It appears that both the old farms you pass on this walk have been present for centuries – no surprise given their desirable soils. Just north of the barn, a fine two-story farmhouse stood from 1771 until it was torn down in 2018. Historic maps indicate that this riverfront farm was occupied by one I. Smith in 1855 (when the Fullington Farm was owned by a B. Tisdale), and in 1892 by F. W. Smith. We’re guessing that the Fullingtons bought their neighbors’ place sometime around 1910 to make room for a son and his family, updating the old Smith farmhouse with a generous front porch.
  • Turn L toward the boat landing and back to your car. Resolve to return for a family picnic by the river!

Hiking Directions – Old Highway 34

  • If you have another half hour and energy to spare, cap off your adventure with another hike into the past. If it is hunting season, you’ll want to dress in fashion – blaze orange.
  • You can either walk or drive to the nearby trailhead. Return to Route 10, turn R and then L up a short gravel drive. This leads to an unmarked parking area N of the flat old river terrace that today sees less action from glacial Lake Hitchcock and more from soccer players. In winter, trucks deliver snow plowed from downtown streets to this spot, allowing it to melt into the ground close to the river where any contaminants mixed with the snow cannot interfere with drinking water wells or the river directly.
  • Walk around the green metal gate across the entrance to the old road. In 1794, Highway 34 ran “from Ezra Carpenter’s on the Wolfeboro Road to Elias Newton’s on the River Road” (meaning Route 10). Its S end continues as Grasse Road linking Reservoir Road to Trescott Road. In 1979, Town Meeting voted to discontinue the N part subject to gates and bars such as this one. The Town still owns the right of way.
  • You’ll soon reach signs indicating the college’s shooting range; the old road probably passed through that area. Instead, you will turn R, away from the range, and skirt the L edge of the field, hiking uphill. The college’s sugarhouse is visible at R. Does the sap from William Fullington’s 120 maples boil there?
  • When the nursery school is in session, this area becomes an outdoor classroom. It looks like fun!
  • unnamed brook in Fullington areaNo more than 5 minutes from the gate, the narrow historic road becomes evident again, passing straight up into the woods. It climbs steadily on the R side of a narrow little valley, heavily wooded with large hemlocks and white pine. One can only imagine the strength required of a farm horse to draw a laden wagon up this hill. The remains of an old stone wall appear at R, confirming the nature of the old way. An unnamed stream tumbles down the hillside at L through a shaded and undisturbed valley. It’s the clear waters of small, cool, well-oxygenated streams like this that provide relief for fish in the Connecticut River below.
  • 10 minutes from the lower gate, you’ll reach another one. This is your turnaround point today. Pause to note a lovely small waterfall at L (photo). At R is undeniable evidence that the forest beyond was once the Fullingtons’ diligently maintained pasture – many strands of barbed wire still attached to the stump of a long-dead tree.
  • At this point, Highway 34 bears gently R and enters a maze of trails on Oak Hill before it ends at Reservoir Road, 1.8 miles from your starting point. That’s a challenge for another day.
  • Return to your car, enjoying the gentle conversation of the brook and wondering, as we do, why it never earned a proper name. We think it should be Fullington Brook.

December 2017, updated August 2020

Filed Under: December, Hike of the Month Tagged With: Class VI Road, Fullington Farm, Highway 34, merganser

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