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Log inA wild idea
A wild idea
by Outspoken on Sun Aug 24, 2008 8:39 am
A wild idea
Damariscotta River Association plans a town-to-country trail showcasing the area around beautiful Great Salt Bay.
By DEIRDRE FLEMING
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
EDGECOMB — The trail lies only miles from Route 1, yet is deep enough in the woods to offer a buffer from the busy summer sounds.
And because of the care taken to keep this tract of forestland "wild," it is reminiscent of some of the more remote parts of Maine.
"It's like the western Maine mountains, isn't it?" said a beaming Steven Hufnagel of the Damariscotta River Association as he moved along the trail.
Indeed, the footpath begins like a dress rehearsal for the Appalachian Trail.
What Hufnagel was searching for with distracted intensity was an unexpected piece of the past within the 95-acre Sherman Lake Preserve.
Hufnagel hurried along the logging road and suddenly dove into a young forest. He pushed aside branches until he had found a large old oak left from farm days long ago.
With the help of this personal landmark, he backtracked through the woods until he found what he sought: a huge pile of plywood and shingles laying on, of all things, an old piano.
The old farmhouse ruins offered a flash into the past and an exciting sojourn off the trail. Odd and spectacular as the historic spectacle was, it was emblematic of the 20-mile heritage area around Great Salt Bay that the association has helped protect.
Like so much of the protected 2,900 acres, the Sherman Lake parcel remains remarkably untouched with signs of wildlife everywhere, and is a visual reminder of another time.
The entire Great Salt Bay area is a nationally significant, historic natural spot that holds prehistoric shell middens -- ghostly white piles of shells created by shellfish harvests centuries ago. Some of the midden piles are more than 2,000 years old.
The area is rich with natural wonders: eagles nesting near an historic downtown street; an unusual salt marsh lush with a spongy multicolored bog; mud flats that are home to horseshoe crabs.
What's more, the association is on the brink of offering something entirely unique in Maine -- a trail that would lead from downtown Damariscotta two miles to the Great Salt Bay Farm, throwing open the doorway from urban sprawl to green space.
"That's the vision. And we're not that far way," Hufnagel said.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=205780&ac=Go
Photos By Tim Greenway/Staff Photographer
Damariscotta River Association plans a town-to-country trail showcasing the area around beautiful Great Salt Bay.
By DEIRDRE FLEMING
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
EDGECOMB — The trail lies only miles from Route 1, yet is deep enough in the woods to offer a buffer from the busy summer sounds.
And because of the care taken to keep this tract of forestland "wild," it is reminiscent of some of the more remote parts of Maine.
"It's like the western Maine mountains, isn't it?" said a beaming Steven Hufnagel of the Damariscotta River Association as he moved along the trail.
Indeed, the footpath begins like a dress rehearsal for the Appalachian Trail.
What Hufnagel was searching for with distracted intensity was an unexpected piece of the past within the 95-acre Sherman Lake Preserve.
Hufnagel hurried along the logging road and suddenly dove into a young forest. He pushed aside branches until he had found a large old oak left from farm days long ago.
With the help of this personal landmark, he backtracked through the woods until he found what he sought: a huge pile of plywood and shingles laying on, of all things, an old piano.
The old farmhouse ruins offered a flash into the past and an exciting sojourn off the trail. Odd and spectacular as the historic spectacle was, it was emblematic of the 20-mile heritage area around Great Salt Bay that the association has helped protect.
Like so much of the protected 2,900 acres, the Sherman Lake parcel remains remarkably untouched with signs of wildlife everywhere, and is a visual reminder of another time.
The entire Great Salt Bay area is a nationally significant, historic natural spot that holds prehistoric shell middens -- ghostly white piles of shells created by shellfish harvests centuries ago. Some of the midden piles are more than 2,000 years old.
The area is rich with natural wonders: eagles nesting near an historic downtown street; an unusual salt marsh lush with a spongy multicolored bog; mud flats that are home to horseshoe crabs.
What's more, the association is on the brink of offering something entirely unique in Maine -- a trail that would lead from downtown Damariscotta two miles to the Great Salt Bay Farm, throwing open the doorway from urban sprawl to green space.
"That's the vision. And we're not that far way," Hufnagel said.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=205780&ac=Go
Photos By Tim Greenway/Staff Photographer
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
