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Webber-Rogers Farmstead Conservation Area
Potter's Brook at the Webber-Rogers Farmstead.
Photo: Jim St. Pierre ©
Location and Description:
Location: Litchfield, Maine
Property Description: The 117-acre Webber-Rogers Farmstead Conservation preserves the agricultural history of Litchfield, once a thriving farming community, while also offering beautiful natural scenery. Visitors can see the over 2,200 feet of wooded shoreline along Upper Pleasant Pond and the remains of a 100 year old apple orchard. With 15.2 acres of working agricultural fields and 92 acres of fields and woodlands, the conservation easement ensures this land with forever be free from development while allowing for sustainable agriculture and forestry.
Directions: From the Gardiner area: take Route 201 south from Gardiner. Just over 3 miles south of Route 295 interchange, turn right onto Thorofare Rd and the left onto Plains Rd. The trailhead will be on your left just after the stream.
Usage and Trails
Allowable Uses: hiking, nature observation, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing,snowmobiling on designated trails, hunting with landowner permission.
Note: Due to sensitive wildlife habitat, dogs are not allowed.
Shore Trail: 0.7 mile, easy; after the sign in box, cross a small bridge and bear left for this trail, which features views of the pond.
Ridge Trail: 0.5 mile, easy; a sharp right turn at the end of the Shore Trail leads to the Ridge trail, which loops back through the woods and field edges to the trailhead.
Parking: Park on Plains Road.
A view of the pond from the Shore Trail.
Photo: Jim St. Pierre ©
History:
The northern portion of the land was first settled about 1811 by George Ridleywho came to Litchfield from Truro, MA. In 1841 Nahum Hatch purchased the Ridley farmstead and the corner became known as Hatch's corner and the lower end of Potter Brook became Hatch stream. His decedents built many of the existing buildings on the property. The Webber family for whom the easement is named first settled on the eastern shore of Upper Pleasant Pond in the 1790's. George Webber , the first settler, had served in General Washington's barge crew during the Revolution. They acquired the southern portion of the land and farmed there. His decedents include George M. Rogers, Jr., one of the donors of the easement, who also purchased the land settled by Ridley. In 2005 he fulfilled a lifelong dream and , through a conservation easement, preserved from development the land that he had loved since childhood.