A 0.5-mile loop trail begins at the parking area and brings visitors to a ledge outcrop that provides views of Woodward Cove. A 0.3-mile water access trail connects the parking area with the mudflats of Woodward Cove.
Apple trees are frequent; most of the land appears to have once been an apple orchard or a combination of pasture and orchard land, as indicated by an old stone wall that runs through the property parallel to ME-24 (Gurnet Road.) The preserve is predominantly forested upland, with some areas of narrow gullies that support forested wetlands. Throughout the upland portion of the property, balsam fir is notably common in the understory, and may represent the future dominant canopy species of the property.
The salt-hay saltmarsh community at the head of the cove is the third largest in Brunswick as mapped by the Maine Natural Areas Program (MNAP) and is known to support breeding saltmarsh sparrows (a species of State Special Concern) and populations of rare saltmarsh false-foxglove and native wild honeysuckle. The marsh and mudflat habitat are within one mile of an active bald eagle nest and active heron colony. Both species have been observed on the property. Overall, Woodward Cove is known to provide habitat for 22 Species of Special Concern as identified by Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and 33 Species of Greatest Conservation Need as identified in Maine’s Wildlife Action Plan.
The 24-acre Woodward Cove preserve has 1,500 feet of tidal frontage on Woodward Cove, which drains into the New Meadows River. The Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust purchased the property from the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick in 2016 to protect its ecological and recreational value and, most notably, to permanently preserve the access it provides to the productive mudflats and waters of Woodward Cove, which shellfish and baitworm harvesters used for years before the property was conserved.
For more information, visit the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust website, or contact:
From Maine Street in Brunswick, take ME-24 S (Bath Road.) After 2.5 miles, turn right onto ME-24. Continue south on ME-24 for another 2.2 miles, to the gravel parking area on the left side of the road.
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