The Walpole Trails Committee invites you and your family to visit one of our public farms (current and former) on New Year’s Day. You choose: The Norfolk County Agricultural School on 150 acres of active farmland; Adams Farm, on 700 acres of former farmland; or Jarvis Farm/Town Forest on 365 acres of former farmland. Event is self-guided. Trails will be marked for easy wayfinding.
The Aggie
400 Main St, Walpole, MA 02081
This property is the centerpiece of the 2022 First Day Hike. Here you get 150+ acres of pristine and active farmland — the smell of cows & horses grazing, the sound of tractors humming & students working, and the quiet of the backwoods that few who don’t go to school here know exist. Follow the trail marked with First Day Hike arrows. Note that during the school year when class is in session, access is restricted — but on weekends and holidays everyone is invited to hike the hayfields and forests of the Norfolk County Agricultural School.
Adams Farm
999 North St, Walpole, MA 02081
If you haven’t yet discovered Walpole’s Adams Farm in any New England season, you might as well make this your first hike of the year. Sure, there’s the 365 acres of land purchased by the town in 1998 for you to explore on foot or mountain bike, but that doesn’t actually include another 335 — for a total of 700 acres — of adjacent open space preserved by Norfolk County and the NEFF. Your New Year’s hike can explore the outlying trail, which will be marked for Jan. 1. But we hope you’ll return in the spring, summer, and fall to discover the rest.
Jarvis Farm
691 Common St, Walpole, MA 02081
Jarvis Farm is 25 acres of town-owned land that leads across a beautiful boardwalk to enter 365 acres that is the Walpole Town Forest. Jarvis Farm is the site of the longtime home of the former Sharon Country Day Camp, and the former site of an active farm run by generations of the Jarvis family. Two hiking options here include the 2.25 mile marked red-line on your map, or the unmarked 3-mile blue line.