Little River Quest
OLD TOWN HILL, NEWBURY
THE T R US T E E S O F R E S E RVAT I O N S
DIRECTIONS
We are more than 100,000 people like you from every
corner of Massachusetts.We love the outdoors.We love
the distinctive charms of New England. And we believe
in celebrating and protecting them – for ourselves, for
our children, and for generations to come.
From Route 95, take exit 54 and follow Route 133
East to Route 1. Turn left at lights and follow for 4.8
miles to Boston Road (yellow flasher). Turn right, then
bear right (1/3 mile) onto Hay Street, follow Hay Street
for 1 mile and then take a right turn onto Newman
Road. Parking is 1/2 mile on right (10 cars).
Together with our neighbors, we care for special places, like
Old Town Hill, across the Commonwealth. We inspire a
commitment to protect these irreplaceable natural and
cultural treasures because of their value to our lives
every day. Visit us at www.thetrustees.org.
H OW TO QU E S T
The Quest begins at the parking area. The trail of
clues brings you on a prehistoric path ending at a
mystery place where the Quest Treasure Box is hidden.
When you find the Quest treasure, be sure to sign
in, collect a copy of our Quest stamp, and replace the
box for the next visitor.Allow at least an hour to get to
the Quest treasure box location.Then return on your
own back to the parking area. Stay on trails to avoid
poison ivy. Please don’t pick wildflowers. Happy trails!
Little River Quest | OLD TOWN HILL, NEWBURY
LET’S BEGIN
STOP B: Little Pasture
Welcome to the Little River Quest at Old Town Hill.
Follow the rhyming trail clue directions to get to each STOP.
Stay to the left where the sun is vast;
observe the field of harvest grass.3
Enjoy this open space in any season;
it is now conserved for many a reason.
A lot has changed on this section of Old Town Hill,
but the one thing that stands still,
this prehistoric path remains the same,
used by man for thousands of years
– “Little River” trail is the name.
Youthful eyes and senses have provided these clues
to snake you along this journey – enjoy the scenic views.
It requires you to use your imaginations,
in order to find the destinations.
YOUR CLUES
Directions to Stop A:
You’re off on the trail through the trees,
places of homes for birds and bees.
Be right, take no bends,
enter the tree cave – see where it ends.
A knoll on the left and marsh on the right,
stop when you reach a spot open and bright.
Enjoy this warm sunny spot with a salt marsh view,
if you’re lucky a dragonfly may land on you.
STOP A: Dike – Sunny Spot
This place was a main attraction in 1623,
when the first early settlers came by sea.
They harvested salt marsh hay,
stacked it on staddle1 posts to stay.
Turn around – where did the salt marsh go?
The roadway prevents saltwater flow.
Now native salt marsh grasses will not grow,
invasive2 common cord grass seed will sow.
Directions to Stop B:
Head along the trail into the shade,
keep straight, going up a slight grade.
After you go over the bump,
enter through the stone wall – your heart starts to jump.
Early spring listen and look around,
wildlife and butterflies do abound.
In June birds nest in grass tufts on the ground,
listen…bobolink’s4 melodious sound.
Fall, after the grass is cut, run around!
Journey to the island, what can be found?
Lie on the grasses looking at cloud formations.
Let us know what came to your imaginations.
Directions to Stop C:
Travel along a trail between field and woodland,
until a small opening appears on your left hand.
Take the small path as thin as a sliver,
go down the hill, towards the river.
STOP C: Riding Tree
Hop on and up and take a ride,
a nice spot open and wide.
This sturdy old tree is an oak,
don’t fall off or you’ll get a soak.
Directions to Stop D:
Back up the hill
or along the river still?
Depends on the tide
where you can stride.
STOP D: Little River
Flowing with the tides, why is it different depths
every time you come here and walk in these steps?
Driven high and low like tides of the sea,
pulled with the force of the moon’s gravity.
Enjoy the edge by the Little River,
snaking around it meets with the Parker.
Once a mode of travel, boating is still a pleasure,
it’s truly our local recreational treasure.
Little River Quest | OLD TOWN HILL, NEWBURY
Directions to Stop E:
When you have had enough fun,
back on trail, out o’ the sun.
From the bottom up a twisted trunk look for,
when you find it we’ll tell you a little more.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Open up the box and enjoy learning,
about this place you must be yearning.
Sign in our logbook,
and stamp your own passbook.
STOP E: Eastern Redcedar “Red Juniper” (Juniperus virginiana)
Be sure to leave us a note, drawing, song, or poem
about what you see, hear, or feel today while you roam.
The special feature of this tree,
beside the twisted trunk – sniff 5 and see.
The wood from these trees made the staddles,
storing hay ’til they fed their cattle.
Directions to Stop F:
For thousands6 of years on this very land,
many reasons brought visitors of man.
Camping, hunting, fishing, and farming, too;
now look for stones placed by man as a clue.
Little River Quest, by the River Valley Charter School
Ali and Lynn’s 6th Grade Class, Fall 2007
Aisha, Cam, Grady, Julia, Kurt, Laura and Mark
FOOTNOTES
1
Staddles were built with Eastern Redcedar and used to lift hay from
the tide waters as a stack platform.
2
Phragmites here are an invasive grass – invasives are plants that
humans have introduced into an ecosystem that take over a habitat
and crowd out native species.
3
Cultural grasses mowed for livestock feed after bobolink nesting
season has ended. Because of the increasing rarity of grasslands in
this region, these fields are one of the property’s most significant
ecological features.The rare bobolink depends on these grasses to
nest and breed, not to mention pollinators like butterflies and all
the wildlife that need to feed.
4
Bobolink is a rare, grassland bird.They migrate all the way from
Argentina to nest and breed here!
5
Cedar oil for medicine and perfumes is obtained from the wood
and leaves. Description: Evergreen, aromatic with trunk often angled
and buttressed at base and narrow, compact, columnar crown. Bark
reddish-brown; thin, fibrous and shreddy. It was prized by the colonists
for building furniture, rail fences, and long cabins. The heartwood
was once almost exclusively the source of wood for pencils.
6
Archeological evidence about prehistoric path:Vikings, Penecooks,
and early settlers found their way to the Little River.Two families
were primarily responsible for the slow evolution of the landscape
between 1715 and 1975.The first was the Hale-Newman family.
Over the course of the 19th-century, the Newmans consolidated
small parcels bought from several owners into what became known
as the large, productive, and well-known Newman Farm.
STOP F: Stone Wall
A stone wall dividing two different land uses,
one side is pasture grasses.
The other side is a woodlot –
time passed since abandonment.
Directions to Stop G:
Now you’re heading almost back,
with one more stop on the track.
Seek a tree with eyes and an arrow,
take the trail that snakes uphill narrow.
STOP G: Oak & Pine Knoll
You’ll see trees that are always green,
until a sunny open view can be seen.
Higher and higher till you reach a seat,
sit down for a while and rest your feet.
Notice how the grasses take the shape of waves,
you might see a squirrel, watch how it behaves.
Beyond the marsh the river is in view,
this place is a treasure for me and for you.
Now that you are rested, and have been quite Quested,
find the Treasure Box where a bird might be nested.
Little River Quest | OLD TOWN HILL, NEWBURY
© 2009 THE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS 01/09