Phillips Farm – Marshfield, MA
This super weird thing happened this morning when I let our dogs out, there was this giant bright thing in the sky that I didn’t think was ever around here anymore. That’s right, the SUN, it’s out today for the first time in what literally feels like a month, although I think it’s only been 4 days but who’s counting (me, I am). Some much needed vitamin D is good for every one, especially two toddlers and a mother that all need some nice dry fresh air!
This morning I wanted to stay close to home because my son woke up early and since he already had a few meltdowns I wasn’t sure how long of a hike he would be able to muster. Fast forward three hours and my non napper is was fast asleep in his room so not venturing too far was probably a good idea! Luckily, we have a whole bunch of conservation land, hikes and walks pretty close, it’s just picking one that’s usually the tough part.
The Phillips Farm Conversation land is located off Union Street in Marshfield and is a short walk through the woods into an open field that was filled with birds and buttercups. The field itself isn’t mowed regularly but there was a path up the hill to a bench that you see when you drive by the Phillips Farm sign on Highland Street. The land, which is a Wildlands Trust location, was originally owned by the Phillips family over 150 years ago. You can read more about the property on the Wildlands Trust website!
The best thing about this location is that it’s connected to SO many other trails! First, to access Phillips Farm you’ll park in the same parking lot that’d park if you were to hike Cornhill Woodlands. If you aren’t familiar with either location, the parking lot is located on Union Street, and if you are heading towards the North River Bridge, the parking lot is going to be on your left. Once you’re on the trail you’ll pretty quickly be met with a line of bridge docks that cross over a very muddy and swampy area. This was a cool bridge system, which you know is important to us, so that was fun right off the bat. When you continue on down the trail you’ll walk right into a four way intersection, I would recommend the AllTrails app being pulled up on your phone because like I said there is a LOT of land back here and you don’t want to get lost! If you take a right at the intersection you’ll end up eventually meeting up with the Phillips Farm field, along with two benches and a giant boulder that is dedicated to the Phillips Family. Back at the fork, if you go to the left you’d make your way into the Nelson Memorial Forest, we hiked there a few months ago and it eventually takes you right out onto the banks of the North River, it’s a beautiful spot! In my mind I wanted to make it out there today but there was no chance we were accomplishing that feat. If you were to stay straight at the fork you’d travel out to the Cove Creek Nature Area, based on the Marshfield.gov website out a lot of the are out there is private property (which again is why I would pull up AllTrails), we started out that way but eventually needed to turn around because after 4 days of rain it was a giant mudfest.
If you’re up for hiking but can’t decide if you’re in the mood for a long or short trail, I would totally recommend this place! It’s great that there are so many options here all in one spot! If you wanted to travel only around Phillips Farm its only about 1 mile, but you can definitely stretch that out further by including Nelson Memorial, Cornhill or Union Street Woodland. Stroller wise, that’s a no, there were roots, bridges and lots of mud all over the place so stick with your carrier and as far as the bridges go, since we only really stayed on the Phillips Farm trail there was only the first one, but it was still pretty neat! We’ll be back for sure to check out the view from the North River again, just maybe not on a day my son is up at the crack of dawn 🙂
