Cornhill Woodlands – Marshfield, MA
This morning we, well really me because my kids only ever answer “the beach” when I ask them where they want to go, decided to go to Cornhill Woodlands for our hike. There’s a great little (secret so don’t tell) bench at the end of Cornhill Lane in Marshfield that is a perfect quiet spot to watch the birds in the marsh or the kayakers and boaters in the summer. Well don’t be confused with the Cornhill Woodlands Trail location because the parking lot isn’t on this street 🙂 I learned that when I drove up and down the street looking for the one I saw in the picture, there are two entrances to the woods but no lot. It’s actually located on Union Street and it’s the same parking lot you’ll park in for the Phillips Farm. The parking lot could use a little work and it’s a tad small, big enough for 6ish cars but one may have to park in a giant hole.
From the parking lot you’ll see the signs for the entrance, follow along the trail with the blue markers over a bridge and past some rock walls until you meet a fork, continuing right will keep you on the blue trail and to the left you’ll follow the in and out red marked trail. A little further down the way you’ll meet another fork, we continued down to the right to loop through the back of the Woodlands along the swap trail. Something cute we didn’t except to see, some awesomely constructed gnomes houses! Big hit with the toddlers of course. There was also a super old well that is further in on the trail too.
The blue trail has two loops and the further one walks down to the North River, beautiful on a clear day but today was a little foggy. It was still really nice though and we found a tree stump to sit on for our applesauce mid hike snack. Walking away from the marsh you’ll be met with either the yellow markers or blue to loop back through the woods. We stayed to the right up the hill to the yellow and a few more bridges.
The blue trail has two loops and the further one walks down to the North River, beautiful on a clear day but today was a little foggy. It was still really nice though and we found a tree stump to sit on for our applesauce mid hike snack. Walking away from the marsh you’ll be met with either the yellow markers or blue to loop back through the woods. We stayed to the right up the hill to the yellow and a few more bridges.
This trail was pretty cool because there are hundreds of new pine trees growing, which is much needed since it also looks like there are a whole mess that snapped in half during some storms. Most of the trails though are very rooty and rocky, we did find a few places where my son could run, which is basically his favorite thing, but mostly he had to hold my hand so he didn’t trip (and still did anyways of course)
Overall, there were a good amount of bridges so good bridge rating for us, definitely not stroller friendly, you’ll learn that pretty quickly walking from the parking lot. Really a nice spot though! I read in a few social media posts before that there are some giant unleashed pups that they’ve encountered on the trail and we did as well. They pretty much minded their own business but my son (even with two dogs at home) was a little terrified of the huge newfoundland’s barking at him in the middle of the trail. Just a bit of a warning since one of our dogs would not be as understanding of these dogs coming near him.
These hikes, along with the Nelson Memorial Forest and Phillips Farm are all close together and can all be accessed pretty much from one another. Cornhill Woodland though is on the other side of Union Street so just be careful crossing the road to enter.
