Valentine Farm
Description
The 1.2 mile accessible trail meanders through woods and alongside fields. It is divided into East and West Loops, both bring you back to the main parking lot. The surface is hard-packed gravel and is flat.
A spur off the main trail has a steep descent and leads to a grass-surfaced loop around a field with beautiful views of the Androscoggin River.
Special Features
The site of the former Spring Grove Farm (and long the Valentine family home). This establishment furnished summer travelers of the 1880s and 1890s with a quiet retreat that was only a few minutes ride by wagon from the Grand Trunk Railway station. Many of Bethel's visitors found the privacy and rural settings of such farms preferable to the village hotels then available.
Valentine Farm is now home to the Mahoosuc Land Trust office and the Habitat For All Pollinator Garden.
How This Place Became Open To the Public
Richard "Dick" Valentine bequethed the 150-acre Valentine Farm to Mahoosuc Land Trust in 2015. The office opened in late 2016 in Dick's former house. The accessible trail was established in 2018 and the Habiat For All Garden opened to the public in 2019.
