18 DOGTOWN COMMONS HIKE

KEY AT-A-GLANCE INFORMATION

LENGTH: 5.25 miles

DIFFICULTY: Moderate

SCENERY: Woods of oak, pine, and beech, ancient cellar holes and granite boulders inscribed with words of inspiration

EXPOSURE: Mostly shaded

TRAFFIC: Light

TRAIL SURFACE: Varies from packed earth to rough rocky spots

HIKING TIME: 3 hours

SEASON: Year-round dawn–dusk

ACCESS: Free

MAPS: Available at parking lot

FACILITIES: None

SPECIAL COMMENTS: Because of Dogtown Common’s rugged terrain and interweaving trails both named and unnamed, it is a good idea to pack a compass and plenty of water.

WHEELCHAIR TRAVERSABLE: No

DRIVING DISTANCE FROM BOSTON COMMON: 30 miles

Dogtown Commons Hike

UTM Zone (WGS84) 19T

Easting: 363364

Northing: 4721527

Latitude: N 42° 38' 02"

Longitude: W 70° 39' 59"

Directions

From Boston, take MA 128 north to Gloucester. At the large traffic circle, exit left onto MA 127 toward Annisquam and follow it 0.5 miles, crossing a small bridge. Turn right onto Reynard Street. Follow Reynard street to the end and turn onto Cherry Street; soon after, turn up a steep road to the right, marked with a sign for Dogtown Common.

IN BRIEF

This hike tours historic Dogtown, a settlement abandoned nearly two centuries ago. After an inauspicious start, the hike gains interest as it follows a trail marked by boulders engraved with words of inspiration. Meandering footpaths lead to forsaken cart roads as the hike weaves through beech woods piled high with granite rubble, skirts swamp, and passes overgrown cellar holes while completing a circuit.

DESCRIPTION

Named for the many dogs that watched over the women and children of the village while the men were at sea, Cape Ann’s Dogtown is as benignly mysterious as its name. In the 1600s, subsistent farmers built modest single-story homes here and spent their days striving to eke a living from the most ungiving land. Stone after stone was pulled from the ground to clear it for tilling and grazing. With ocean waters thick with fish just over their aching shoulders, it’s no wonder Dogtown’s men saw the folly of their labor and one by one took to the sea. By the mid-1800s, Dogtown was completely abandoned. The last to leave was a former slave named Cornelius “Black Neil” Finson. In the winter of 1830, Finson was found nearly frozen in a cellar and taken to the poorhouse, where he died soon after.

In time, philanthropist Roger Babson, a descendant of one of Gloucester’s oldest families, donated much of Dogtown’s 3,000 acres to the City of Gloucester. Nature has all but reclaimed Dogtown which is now held in trust by Gloucester and Rockport to be preserved in perpetuity.

From the parking area, walk along Dogtown Road, heading southeast a short way to where it curves left and the pavement cedes to gravel. Here, you will encounter a gate limiting access to pedestrians and bicycles. Continue until the path dead-ends. Ahead, the tremendous mound of cast-off Christmas trees and other organic waste you see is not the town dump but Gloucester’s new composting facility.

Look to the right to find the trailhead. Once you have walked in a few yards, notice a tree marked with the letter “G” and a sign that reads “Public Watershed,” with a list of rules and regulations. The trail winds gently through woods, first uphill then down. Boulders of all sizes and weatherworn shapes lie amid spindly oaks and cedars stunted and stooped due to scant nutrients and the granite ledge at their roots.

After passing a stand of birch, you will see the Babson Reservoir at the bottom of the slope in front of you. Here, glacial erosion stripped away topsoil, leaving massive chunks of rock.

Make your way down the embankment 100 feet or so to the water, following the trail as best you can. Evidence suggests that the course of the trail has been interpreted in many ways over the years, and as a result no one way is the right way. Once at the water’s edge, bear left. At the lake’s eastern end, the trail regains definition and heads uphill to a clearing above the water. A passing train on the Boston–Gloucester line may draw your attention to the train tracks running along the opposite shore.

Continue northeast, through a split in a stone wall, and straight ahead you will see a large stone inscribed “Truth.” This startling find confirms that you have reached the Babson Boulder Trail. During the Great Depression, millionaire Roger Babson hired stonecutters to carve words of inspiration into 23 boulders scattered along this route.

Stay to the left of “Truth” and follow a rocky stretch along an esker. You will come to a large thermometer nailed to a tree partway down the left-hand slope. Next to this piece of hardware is a sign marked 22. Another trail forks left here, but stay on the esker as the Babson Boulder Trail heads on to the right.

Peering between beech limbs, you will notice a neat network of stone walls laid out in a tumbling grid. Like a Scottish fairyland, the place has a mystical feel. Leathery ear-shaped fungi fastened to nearly every stone seem to listen for secrets. A little farther along, you will find another of Babson’s boulders, this one inscribed “Work.” Continuing eastward you will begin to notice mountain laurel adding softness to the hardwood forest. A water tower is just visible in the distance to the right, and a bit farther along, you will encounter a boulder carved with the word “Courage.”

Note that several colors seem to denote the same trail; follow the blotches without concerning yourself with a particular color. After cutting through a gap in a stone wall, bear left. The other route leads across the railroad track to the Babson Museum.

Hiking northward takes you to the “Loyalty” boulder. The trail then becomes narrow and winds like the cow path it may once have been. One supposes this rugged terrain crippled more than one milk-heavy cow. Farther along, heading northwest while stepping among stones, keep an eye out for what looks like a large fossil not far from a boulder on the left with the inscription “Kindness.”

At this point, the trail levels and begins to smooth. The beeches thin, making way for blueberries. Up ahead, you will find two more Babson stones, the first marked “Ideas,” the second “Industry.” Just beyond these, the trail forks right to take you to the enormous Uncle Andrew’s Rock, bearing the words “Spiritual Power.”

Make a semicircle around Uncle Andrew’s rock and rejoin the Babson Boulder Trail. From here, the footing becomes grassy and flat, and the tangled thickets give way to pretty stands of birches. A short distance ahead, the path leads into a circular clearing with a large tree at the center. As trails radiate seemingly from all points, walk across the circle to a path slightly to the left of a large cedar tree. When this trail forks, bear right. A little farther along, look for a sign marked “10,” denoting Art’s Trail. Rather than taking this route, pick up the Tarr Trail, which heads right to another gathering of dwarfing boulders. Tarr Trail immediately turns squirrelly, becoming narrow and winding as it heads southeast. Coming to the end of a tricky downhill, the trail arrives at a wide intersection. A tree standing directly ahead is marked with red, white, and blue. Turn left here and ascends the facing slope. Here, again, you will see spots of all colors marking the way; turn a blind eye to all but lime green. The trail then weaves erratically northward as ragged rocks heaved together by glacial force make forging a straight route impossible.

As you twist through crevices to make your way along this goat path, listen for a stream to the west. The volume of both sound and water increase as you reach a wetland at the foot of the Tarr Trail esker. Red pine replaces beech as the dominant tree in these parts. Several big pines disgorged by lightning stand like atrophied corpses near the trail.

Reaching another clearing, you will notice a sign marked “13,” denoting an old gravel pit. Continue to the left to hike northwest. Young beeches crowd out pines, and barbed-wire fencing subdued by rust lines the path.

Arriving at a rise called “Raccoon Ledges,” the trail splits to the left and right. Choose the lefthand route, and continue northeast. Following the groove of the trail—not the color blotches—you’ll soon come to a small vernal pool on the left. You may even see an abandoned off-road bike marked “For sale by owner.”

After turning northwest, the trail runs downhill to the boardwalk at Briar Swamp. Be careful not to be lured off to the right by another trail running southeast. Look north to see a stone dam or causeway. The boardwalk is to the right, hidden in reeds. If you like, split off here for a short walk through the briar; otherwise, hike across the causeway. Up ahead, you come to a broad intersection where the boardwalk ends and Luce Trail starts. Continue walking northwest, passing trails heading sharply left.

Leaving the wetland, the trail becomes wider and much easier to follow. Passing another trail heading to the right, continue as the trail bends distinctly westward. After running southeast for a stretch, the trail passes to the right of Peter’s Pulpit, another extraordinary boulder. Beyond, the gravel route veers west along woods of cedar.

Pass another trail heading left and continue on what is now called “Common Road.” Looking into the woods, you might spot a stone carved with the number 34. This and others like it mark where Dogtown homes once stood.

On arriving at junction “2” turn left onto Adams Pine Trail. When you come to a split, continue left, to head southeast. The trail makes a loop then bisects another path. Cross this intersection and continue straight, to travel west. Before long, the trail ends at the service road for the Goose Cove Reservoir. Follow this paved road downhill to the right, keeping an eye out for a trail heading left back into the woods.

Follow this trail as it turns southwest, climbs past a pond, and continues over a narrow concrete dam. Winding on further, the trail converges with a stone wall, crosses a boardwalk, then comes to an end directly across from where the hike began.

NEARBY ATTRACTIONS

If sightseeing interests you after your hike, one destination to consider is Rockport’s Bearskin Neck. This small peninsula located at one of Cape Ann’s easternmost points has been the center of activity since settlers arrived in the 1600s. Once a busy docking area for fishing boats and the ships that ferried Cape Ann’s granite to Boston and ports as far away as South America. Bearskin Neck is now a bustling artist colony with galleries, bookstores, boutiques, and eateries. From Cherry Street drive south 0.5 miles, turn right onto Poplar Street. At 0.2 miles turn left onto Washington Street/MA 127 south, and take the third exit from rotary onto MA 128 north. Turn left onto MA 127 and continue 2.8 miles. Turn right onto High Street, then turn left onto MA 127A north to Bearskin Neck, Rockport.