In the past few years, something great has been happening near the south end of the Cheshire Rail Trail. The Monadnock Conservancy has purchased 77 acres of land on the west side of Sip Pond from Craig Chamberlain.
This land is adjacent to the rail trail and designated as the Chamberlain Conservation Area. They have added a trail head off of Old Turnpike Road and replaced a very narrow bridge on the rail trail. They have also added a peninsula trail off of the rail trail that goes out into Sip Pond.
In the past few weeks, the Conservancy has renovated over two miles of the Cheshire Rail Trail from Old Turnpike Road to the southern most crossing of Templeton Turnpike. This effort was spearheaded by Rick Brackett, Land Manager for the Conservancy. Rick and his volunteers, along with John Holman and the crew from Holman Contracting cut and chipped brush and tree limbs, improved drainage, graded the trail, and added a tremendous amount of stone dust.
Due to the exceptionally wet summer, many sections of the trail were pretty soggy and presented a challenge for the team as they had manage the work within the budget. They did a great job of choosing where and how much material to add to the trail.
If there was any doubt that there used to be a railroad here, take a look at this photo of old ties.
We’re not sure whether the beavers approve of the work or not.
The team finished the work just in time before the first snowfall of the year. A small effort remains to remediate a bridge near Templeton Turnpike that is a little too short to cover the abutment on one end.
Many thanks to Rick Brackett, the Monadnock Conservancy, volunteers from the Monadnock Sno Moles, and Holman Contracting for their amazing work in the past few weeks. Also, many thanks to the Sno Moles for financial assistance with this project. Let’s hope this effort inspires others in the region to compete similar work on other sections of the rail trails!
