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Macdonald Conservation Area
NOTICE 7.1.2024: A mangy fox has been sighted near the Macdonald parking area on Old Kents Hill Rd. Please use caution and keep your dog on a leash.
Photo Credit: Jane Davis
Location and Description:
Location: Readfield, Maine
Property Description: The property consisting of 100 acres, has trails that feature a beautiful beech forest, several small bridge crossings over tributaries of Jones Brook, old farm foundations and the remnants of 19th century livestock lanes. These conservation lands are part of a much larger undeveloped landscape of forests and wetlands which are critical habitat for black bear and moose – wildlife species with extensive home ranges.
Directions: From Route 133 near Berry Pond, turn north on North Wayne Road for 3 miles to the T; turn right (east) on the Kents Hill Road; go 1 mile uphill (past the Innes Ridge Rd on left); look for a KLT sign, parking is on the left side of the road at the sign, please do not block the road or driveways. Hike downhill on the dirt road for 0.1 miles, look for a KLT sign and trailhead on the right after crossing Jones Brook.
NOTE: PLEASE KEEP DOGS ON LEASH UNTIL REACHING THE JONES BROOK TRAILHEAD. WHEN HIKING, ALWAYS KEEP DOGS ON LEASH OR UNDER VOICE COMMAND.
Usage and Trails
Allowable Uses: hiking, nature observation, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, hunting in season. No motorized vehicles. Dogs are allowed on a leash or under voice command. Please clean up after your pets.
Jones Brook: 1.7 mile loop trail begins at the KLT trailhead off the Kents Hill Road. It follows the northern loop of the Readfield Town Forest trail to the Town Farm Road and the Selden Smith Farm foundations.
Huntoon Cemetery: 0.4 mile trail begins at the Cemetery and connects to the Town Farm Road near the Smith Homestead foundation.
Parking: Look for a KLT parking sign; parking is available on the left side of the road at the sign, please do not block the road or driveways.
Note: In bird nesting season some trails may be marked closed. Heed these signs.
Macdonald Conservation Area is covered with various species of mushroom throughout the property.
History:
In the 1800s the Selden Smith family farmed what is today’s Macdonald Woods. A town road, part of today’s trail network, linked the Smith farm to neighbors in Wayne and Readfield and to markets in larger communities. A one-room schoolhouse, Readfield District #6, was 0.25 miles north of the Smith farm. The Smith house and barn foundations are reminders of a time when orchards, pastures, and fields would have surrounded this farmhouse. In 2003, Douglas and Jessie Macdonald donated 100 acres of the former Smith farm to KLT for the protection of wildlife habitat and the preservation of New England’s farm history.
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