From downtown Hanover and the Green, follow Route 10 N for 4.2 miles to River Road and turn L.
Follow River Road for 0.5 mile.
Just past Purling Brooks Drive, cross Slade Brook near its confluence with the Connecticut River.
Turn immediately R into the small parking area.
What You Should Know
Today’s hike begins at the Hanover Conservancy’s Jim and Evalyn Hornig Natural Area at Lower Slade Brook. It continues on land owned by DHMC to Rt. 10, then follows Rt. 10 N to Pipers Lane. A short walk through this neighborhood ends at the Class VI section, a rough lane past town-owned land down to River Road, where you’ll enjoy river views on the way back to your car.
Bring binoculars and guides to both birds and wildflowers. Spring has arrived in all its diversity!
Foot travel only in the Natural Area.
Please pick up after your pet. Dogs must be under your strict control, especially while passing along Rt. 10 and through the Pipers Lane neighborhood.
The trail in the Natural Area is not blazed but is easy to follow. Wooden arrows and signs mark turns.
Brief Hiking Directions
Start on the trail that begins at the kiosk.
After the third waterfall, the trail bears L and uphill. After leaving the Natural Area, turn R at signs for Rt. 10.
Turn L on Rte. 10 and follow the shoulder 0.4 miles to Pipers Lane.
Turn L on Pipers Lane and follow to its maintained end. Continue on the unmaintained section to River Road.
Turn L on River Road and walk 0.5 miles to return to your car.
Slade Brook watershed
The Full Story
Take a moment to check the kiosk display and map before embarking on the trail beyond the rocks.
Slade Brook flows 4.0 miles from a wetland near Three Mile Road west to the Connecticut River, draining a largely forested 2.55 square mile watershed. Nearly a third of this watershed is permanently protected, including the 38-acre Lower Slade Brook Natural Area, Huntington Hill Wildlife Management Area, Moister Meadow, and several other parcels.
At this time of year, the dark green of stiff-stemmed horsetail, or scouring rush, is prominent. Our forebears used this primitive native plant, its tissues naturally fortified with silica, to scrub dishes.
The brook takes its name from Capt. Samuel Slade (1747-1826), a leading citizen of Hanover who came to town around 1774. He served in the Revolutionary War at Fort Ticonderoga. He, his wife Sarah, and their 13 children lived a mile north of Hanover Center (house later burned). His grandson, Samuel Thompson Slade (b. 1810) married a Huntington girl from the neighborhood. Generations of Slades are buried at Hanover Center.
Louisiana waterthrushIn May, migrating songbirds using the Connecticut River as a flyway will linger near the river in forests like this as they prepare to return to their upland breeding grounds. Listen as you walk for the Louisiana waterthrush. The male’s song is a musical, distinctive series of descending notes followed by a warble. The hilly forest surrounding Slade Brook offers prime habitat for this bird. The NH Fish & Game Department recognizes the Slade Brook corridor as among the highest quality habitat in the state.
The trail follows a gently rising path on a terrace above the brook that may have been an early tote road.
Within a few minutes’ walk from your car, the first flume comes into view and the trail heads up a short rise. A second flume appears above the first. They are at their sparkling best at this time of year.
The trail soon levels again and offers a view down onto the floodplain of the brook at R. The wet, mossy expanse hints at its value for storing water during heavy rains and snowmelt.
As you continue, the trail moves a short distance from the brook into a grove of hemlock, yellow birch, and white pine. Admire the birches’ glowing papery bark. Some, growing on the rotting remains of old fallen trees, are working on a giraffe imitation as their roots stretch down to the soil. The forest promises a cool retreat when you return on a hot summer day.
About 12 minutes’ walk from your car, you catch the sound of water again, drawing you a few feet off the trail to a log bench built by Conservancy volunteers. Here you can view the uppermost and largest waterfall. The brook tumbles down stepped ledges, hemmed in by a sheer moss-covered wall, and then sluices away to the SW through a short, narrow gorge. The entire 1,630 acre watershed drains through this slender point.
After admiring the falls, continue up the path. Stepping stones lead across the brook to a short (0.15 mile) side trail to the Purling Brooks neighborhood. The public may use this trail as far as the Natural Area boundary, but it’s not on our route today.
Jim HornigWhen a developer proposed 17 houses here, the Conservancy (then the Hanover Conservation Council) suggested an alternative that resulted in 10 homes clustered on 20 acres on the site of a former gravel pit S of the brook, with the rest of the property left intact. This solution protected the brook and its valley, allowing the public to enjoy the waterfalls and trails. The Conservancy also holds a conservation easement on the stream-side portions of the house lots on the far side. Jim Hornig, former president of the Council, was the inspiring force behind this idea, and in 2005 the Council named the Natural Area in honor of Jim (right) and his wife, Evalyn.
Watch for the sharp L turn as the trail heads away from the brook and somewhat steeply up to the height of land. About 5 minutes past the falls, you’ll see a remnant of barbed wire at R, marked with flagging, a reminder of the grazing history of this area.
The trail continues past the Conservancy boundary to a junction with signs. Turn R onto a nearly flat logging road that leads 0.25 miles to Rt. 10. An old stone wall, a reminder of this land’s former farming history, is at L.
You’re now passing over land bequeathed to the hospital that is occasionally logged for income. This becomes clear as you arrive at a wide log landing with a recently thinned (2017) red pine plantation at R.
5 minutes later, the sound of occasional traffic announces your arrival at Rt. 10, where a chain blocks the logging road. Turn L on Rt. 10 for the 10-minute walk on the shoulder of the wide state highway, a stark contrast to the historic Class VI road you’ll soon visit.
10 minutes later, turn L onto Pipers Lane. A one-room schoolhouse, known as the County Road School, stood on this corner from at least 1855 through 1892. By 1926 it had been moved across the road.
Now a dispersed residential neighborhood, this area was once part of the Piper Farm. Today, it’s something of a showcase for solar energy installations by ReVision Energy. At #2, a 8.4kW system has 30 modules mounted on the ground in two separate arrays that will produce 10,222 kWh/year of electricity. This also helps heat and cool the home with air source heat pumps. Nearby at #3, a 11.52 kW system with 36 roof-mounted modules can produce 10,587 kWh/year of electricity. A bit further down the lane, at #9, is a 10.24kW system with 32 modules that can produce nearly that amount.
This reminds us that the Dartmouth Organic Farm you may have passed on the way to River Road has a 9.8kW solar array put up by ReVision that has been operating since 2017. The array, mounted on the S side of the newer barn’s roof, is set to produce 11,000 kWh of electricity (14% of what the farm used then).
About 10 minutes’ gentle walk from Route 10, arrive at two architecturally distinct homes book-ending the last traveled portion of Pipers Lane. At L is a sleek modern home facing the beautiful Slade Brook Valley. Its open fields and forested edges are fine wildlife habitat. At R is an historic house, home in the 19th century to generations of the Smith family. Note the granite hitching post out front. (Map at R – 1892)
1892 mapThings are pretty quiet here now, but maybe less so 200 years ago. Laid out in 1816, this road connected River Road with “the County Road” (now Lyme Road/Route 10). In 1932, the steep, difficult-to-maintain lower (NW) end was finally discontinued and made subject to gates and bars. You’ll see why very shortly. By that time, it had been called Pipers Lane for decades, after the family owning the nearby farm. The town still owns the right of way over the old road, not the roadbed itself.
A few steps down the historic road, bear R at a Y, following an old stone wall at R topped with barbed wire, a reminder of open pastures of earlier times. Soon the road swings N as it follows the steep and winding path of a small drainage. This drainage, which you’ll be hopping over occasionally, may be not be impressive now, but at one time it had the power to gouge out the ravine you’re now descending. Indeed, this is a classic remnant of glacial Lake Hitchcock. This steep, narrow cut was carved out thousands of years ago by a wandering Slade Brook as it scoured through the soft lake-bottom sediments left behind by the retreating glacial lake. You can visit several other places in Hanover that exhibit this same dramatic effect: Trout Brook trail at the Mink Brook Nature Preserve, Kendal Riverfront Park, and the Rinker-Steele Natural Area.
Starting at the sharp bend in the old road, you’ll be passing the Beryl Piper Little Nature Preserve on the R for the next 1/3 mile. This 3.4 acre parcel was purchased by the Town of Hanover from the Piper family in 2004. Year-round, the looming slopes of the ravine are clothed with evergreen Christmas fern, but at this time of year, ephemeral spring wildflowers may pop up among them. Most are native, but you may find the cheerful, early yellow daisy-like flowers of introduced coltsfoot, especially in disturbed areas.
Near the bottom of the ravine you cross a forlorn heaved culvert, the bane of a road crew’s days. A sudden heavy storm uprooted it a few years ago as the old road washed out yet again.
This place might be a highway engineer’s nightmare, but it is also a dream for dogtooth violet, also known as trout lily. Its camouflaged leaves of green splotched with brown suddenly appear at this time of year, followed by single (sometimes two) nodding yellow down-ward facing lily flowers.
The old road eventually leads you to River Rd, near the junction of Grant Rd. The Connecticut itself appears beyond the houses perched just above its floodplain. Turn L for the easy ½-mile walk back to your car.
Just past #30 River Road, the river draws close. The Hanover Conservancy owns 900 feet of riverbank here, acquired in 2005 with the Lower Slade Brook Natural Area.
As you arrive back at your car, take a moment to view the confluence of tiny Slade Brook with the largest river in New England. From its headwaters in Hanover Center, its waters are now joining those of thousands of others on their way to Long Island Sound.
This Hanover Hike of the Month has been generously sponsored by
From downtown, head N on Rt. 10 past Hanover Conservancy offices
Continue on Route 10, 3.3 miles past the N rotary
Turn R on Old Lyme Rd. and drive 0.2 miles to a sharp bend.
Park on R on gravel shoulder at sign for Upper Slade Brook.
What You Should Know
Foot travel only, except for Old Spencer Road.
Dogs are welcome but must be under close control.
This loop hike passes through the Barnes Estate, owned and managed by Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, before reaching the Huntington Hill Wildlife Management Area, a major privately owned parcel protected by a conservation easement held by the NH Fish and Game Department.
Trails are marked in some places; plans are being developed for a new trail map.
Hiking Directions
A sign bearing a white arrow with yellow lettering directs you to Upper Slade Brook on a path leading in to the woods. Begin your hike here.
In a few yards you’ll pass over a narrow wooden footbridge, built by the Hanover Conservation Council (now Conservancy) and town volunteers in 2000. This crossing replaces an earlier one – below at L is the old stone abutment for the bridge that once carried Old Spencer Road over this stream. This road, built in 1816 to link Old Lyme Road with Dogford Road, was discontinued subject to gates and bars in 1932.
Follow Old Spencer Road through the woods and up the hill. This is part of the former Barnes Estate, now owned by DHMC. In 2017 this area was logged significantly.
About 7-8 minutes from the bridge, you’ll reach a junction marked with a yellow-lettered sign. Old Spencer Road continues straight uphill. Bear L onto the Bridle Path. It has been used recently as a skid trail, but quickly narrows and you’ll soon hear the music of Slade Brook at L.
After 5 minutes’ walk from Old Spencer Road, a sturdy wooden bridge comes into view as you cross onto the Huntington Hill Wildlife Management Area.
Pause on the bridge to admire both the workmanship and the partnership that built it in May-July, 2017. A determined team of 20 volunteers, led by Hugh Mellert and the Hanover Conservation Commission’s Trails Committee, built the bridge with permission of the private landowners and help from the Upper Valley Trails Alliance, Hanover Public Works, Hanover Conservancy, Cardigan Mountain Highlanders, DHMC, neighbors, and hikers who happened by and jumped in. Funds for materials were donated and the 250 person hours of labor were free. This new bridge replaces one that’s been gone for 50 years, and provides a safe and valuable connection to the network of trails on Huntington Hill.
Huntington Hill Wildlife Management Area (outlined in yellow on this forest stand map) is managed for recreation, timber, and wildlife habitat. The NH Fish and Game Department holds a permanent conservation easement on 464 acres of privately owned land here, and also on a 31-acre piece connecting it to Hanover Center Road, where the Hanover Conservancy holds a secondary easement. Forests and vegetation cover are highly variable, with deciduous, mixed, and coniferous forest types. Hemlocks dominate the brook valley (lower L). Much timber stand improvement has been done over the last 40 years under the guidance of professional foresters.
Now turn your attention to the brook itself, and the fascinating variety of rocks composing its bed. Water-worn granite alternates with leaves of uplifted, slanted sedimentary rock that speak volumes about the deep geological history of this place.
Two trails meet at the far end of the bridge. Bear L onto the wider of the two (you’ll come back on the other one) and head steadily uphill through a pine/hemlock forest. Faded pink flagging marks the route.
About 10 minutes’ walk from the bridge, you reach the top of a rise where the Barnes Trail comes in at L by two large white pines. Another wooden sign with yellow lettering confirms your location. Continue straight for Goodfellow Meadows. Just ahead, another trail junction is visible. You’ll take that path on your way back.
15 minutes’ gentle steady walk uphill from the bridge, a trail comes in at R. Continue straight toward the opening that appears ahead. An orange diamond with arrow is posted at L, guiding your way forward.
Pass briefly into a brushy wildlife opening of berry bushes and popple. Think like a bear and keep an eye out for ripe fruit before reentering the woods. Places like this are also excellent habitat for hares.
In 6 more minutes’ walk, arrive at an open meadow bounded on the far side by a stately line of trees. A minor trail comes in at R – you’ll be returning on that trail to this point later.
Walk straight through the meadow, a stark contrast to the piney woods below. The meadow is filled at this season with golden black-eyed Susans and goldenrod, white yarrow and Queen Anne’s lace, and deep blue cow vetch among the grasses. Wildlife appreciate openings like this, vestiges of the much more open agricultural landscape that once existed here in New Hampshire. Listen for the conversational trill of the song sparrow.
Nearing a small red maple at L, note the barely perceptible shift in the tilt of the land beneath your feet. You are crossing the watershed boundary from Slade Brook behind you to the watershed of Pingree Brook, ahead.
As you approach the wall of tall trees at the far end of the meadow, a break in the trees appears and you arrive at an opening in the stone wall. Beyond stretch a grand, wide, rolling hayfield and wonderful views to the west and northwest. On the day we visited, newly mown hay was being turned to dry and the air was full of its sweet scent. While a woman driving a tractor was managing this task today, we could easily imagine a horse drawn tedder (R) doing the job a century ago.
While it’s hard to keep your eyes off the distant horizon, wrest them away to the stone wall close by. Among the larger stones are many smaller fist-sized ones, clues that the land growing grass today was once cultivated, prompting the farmer to remove and dump here any small stones that might damage his equipment or discourage seedlings.
Turn R and head up along the edge of the hayfield close to the tree line.
You’ll pass another break in the stone wall, but continue until the 19th century barn comes into view and you reach a sturdy post carrying a bluebird house and the familiar orange diamond with arrow. Views are even broader here. Imagine a time when these hills were 85% open sheep pasture and cropland, rather than 85% forested. In 1840, when Hanover’s human population was about 2,600, its sheep population was 11,024!
A low yellow-painted iron post by the stone wall marks your turn back into the woods here. Turn R again onto a well-worn path that follows the wall back in the direction you just came. From this vantage, it’s easy to read the former farming use in the strands of barbed wire laying over wider sheep fencing. A line of fine old maples punctuates the wall, testifying to the passage of time on this farm.
As the trail swings gently up to the L, sharp eyes will find the hood of a 1930s-era truck, another remnant of farm days past. The trail moves away from the field and wall and back into the Slade Brook watershed. Continue straight and head WSW and eventually S, gently up. Occasional flagging appears at R.
15 minutes from the field, an opening appears through the trees; just before reaching it, turn R onto a narrower trail just past a handsome straight-boled red oak at R.
A few yards later, this link ends at a T; turn R.
3 minutes later, you arrive back at the first open meadow. Look for the small red maple dead ahead. Stop and admire the views you couldn’t see when you first traversed a lower part of this field.
Paths diverge here following the forest edges; you bear L, noting blueberry bushes at your feet, and pass along the edge of the meadow before quickly regaining the shelter of the woods.
5 minutes later, rejoin the trail at the end of the meadow. Turn L and retrace your steps downhill, bringing you in 10 minutes back to the yellow painted sign for the Barnes Trail. If you’re in a very big hurry, you can take this trail to return directly to your car (about 12 minutes), but you’ll miss a nice treat (20 minutes, not including time lingering by the brook).
To continue your hike, turn to face uphill and after 15-20 paces, turn R onto a new trail that largely follows the contour after a short log crossing of a small drainage. The trail soon takes on the look of a very old woods road, with a sunken bed just wide enough for a cart. The old road starts down into Slade Brook’s hemlock-shaded valley.
5 minutes from the last junction, you reach the brook at a footbridge constructed in September, 2018 by Hanover Trails Committee volunteers and the public-spirited landowner. Today, our route keeps us on this side of the brook.
Turn R and follow the brook down through its steep-sided valley, noting how tree roots hold the streambank in place. In some places, you can see where the brook makes several channels during high water, and then recedes to the lowest of them as waters subside, rearranging its bed every time. A thrush’s song plays a duet with the water’s music.
Watch closely for a shift in the trail up to the R under a tipped hemlock as the trail leaves the brookside to avoid a section of uplifted ledges. Occasional orange arrow signs point the way, but you need only to keep the brook on your L. It seems a privilege to be accompanying this little brook on its trip to the Connecticut River, spilling over tiny waterfalls and enlivening occasional pools as it tumbles on its wood-strewn way. If you brought a snack with you, find a likely looking rock perch to enjoy it now.
6 minutes from the old crossing, return to the new bridge. The trail you took on the way out comes in at R.
Past the bridge, you’ll know when you’ve returned to DHMC land when logging slash appears by the trail. Limbs and branches are left behind to return nutrients to the soil and feed the next generation of trees.
3 minutes from the bridge, arrive again at Old Spencer Road. Turn R and head down 4 minutes to the lower bridge and your car.
Please respect the generosity of these landowners by leaving no trace of your visit and enjoy the memories and photographs you take home.
The windstorm of Oct. 29-30 visited our trails and it will take time to clear all the paths. Our volunteers made much progress at Balch Hill on 10/31 and at Lower Slade Brook on 11/4. Please get in touch to report other obstructions. New volunteers always welcome!
From downtown, head N on Rt. 10 past Hanover Conservancy offices
Continue on Route 10, 3.3 miles past the N rotary
Turn R on Old Lyme Rd. and drive 0.2 miles to a sharp bend.
Park on R on gravel shoulder.
What You Should Know
Foot travel only, except for Old Spencer Road.
Dogs are welcome but must be under close control.
This loop hike passes through the Barnes Estate, owned and managed by Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, before reaching the Huntington Hill Wildlife Management Area, a major privately owned parcel protected by a conservation easement held by the NH Fish and Game Department.
Hiking Directions
There’s a secret waiting for you right here, before you start into the woods. Walk a few dozen yards back down Old Lyme Road to the guard rail marking Slade Brook’s passage below. Look carefully on the left beyond the far end of the rail for a dramatic drylaid stone bridge abutment. This once carried the original road linking Hanover to Lyme and points north. Today, we whiz by this area at 50+mph on a much straightened, widened, and otherwise altered route. Imagine journeying to Lyme on the poky narrow road that existed before Dartmouth urged the state to “improve” travel to its new Skiway in Lyme Center.
Back at your car, look for two routes into the woods. At L, a woods road heads uphill, blocked with a cable. This is where you’ll return. At R, a clear, narrower level path leads in to the woods. Begin your hike here.
In a few yards you’ll pass over a narrow wooden footbridge, built by volunteers shortly before the Hanover Conservancy protected the Jim and Evalyn Hornig Natural Area at Lower Slade Brook, just downstream from Route 10. (2007) This crossing replaces an earlier one – look down to the left to see remains of the old stone abutment for the bridge that once carried Old Spencer Road over this stream.
Follow Old Spencer Road through the woods and up the hill to an upper river terrace that was once the shore of glacial Lake Hitchcock. This land is part of the former Barnes Estate, now owned by DHMC.
Old Spencer Road links Old Lyme Road with Dogford Road, built in 1816 “from Benjamin Thatcher’s to the County Road.” Thatcher’s place (known today as the Nutt Farm on Dogford Road) was later owned by Captain Uel Spencer. Town Meeting voted to discontinue the road subject to gates and bars in Hanover is criss-crossed with dozens of early roads like this one, providing fine hiking, snowshoeing, horseback riding, biking, and skiing now that they are retired and no longer maintained for more intensive use.
About 7-8 minutes from the bridge, you’ll reach a tree down across the old road (which may be gone by the time you read this) and a junction. Old Spencer Road continues straight uphill. A logging skid trail is visible nearby at R. What appears to be another skid trail bears off Old Spencer Road at L. This is the Bridle Path, and your turn. Before taking it, continue another minute or two up the old road as it fully reveals its historic character. Partly buried stone walls mark each side and the roadbed appears sunken between them. Barbed wire follows the wall on the S side, a reminder that cattle once pastured here before the forest returned.
Watch for wildlife – on the day we visited, a fisher paused here on the wall to observe us. The largest member of the weasel family, the fisher is a lithe and talented predator that makes a specialty of dining on porcupine.
Return to the junction and take the Bridle Path that veers NE. It too has been used recently as a skid trail, but it quickly narrows and you’ll soon hear the music of Slade Brook at L.
After five minutes’ walk from Old Spencer Road, a new wooden bridge comes into view as you cross onto the Huntington Hill Wildlife Management Area.
Pause on the bridge to admire both the workmanship and the partnership that built it in May-July, 2017. A determined team of 20 volunteers, led by Hugh Mellert and the Hanover Conservation Commission’s Trails Committee, built the bridge with permission of the private landowners and help from the Upper Valley Trails Alliance, Hanover Public Works, Hanover Conservancy, Cardigan Mountain Highlanders, DHMC, neighbors, and hikers who happened by and jumped in. Funds for materials were donated and the 250 person hours of labor were free. This new bridge replaces one that’s been gone for 50 years, and provides a safe and valuable connection to the network of trails on Huntington Hill.
Now turn your attention to the brook itself, and the fascinating variety of rocks composing its bed. Water-worn granite alternates with leaves of uplifted, slanted sedimentary rock that speak volumes about the deep geological history of this place.
Two trails meet at the far end of the bridge. Bear L onto the wider of the two and head steadily uphill through a pine/hemlock forest. Faded pink flagging marks the route.
About 10 minutes’ walk from the bridge, you reach the top of a rise where the Barnes Trail comes in at L by two large white pines. Just ahead, another trail junction is visible.
Turn L onto the Barnes Trail and head down the narrower, pine needle- strewn path. The Barnes Trail is easy to follow as it meanders pleasantly down the slope. There’s a nice patch of foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) on the R just before you cross a small drainage. Resolve to come back in May to see this native wildflower in bloom. The Barnes Trail begins to feel like an old woods road.
Cross another, larger drainage. Ten minutes’ walk from the last junction, reach a sunny opening filled with native wildflowers like Queen Anne’s Lace and various kinds of goldenrods, but with an ominous patch of Japanese knotweed. This log landing provides a valuable bit of open habitat nevertheless.
Continue across the clearing and re-enter the woods.
The trail, now an obvious logging road, passes through another small opening and then swings L and heads down to where your car awaits.
Please respect the generosity of these landowners by leaving no trace of your visit and enjoy the memories and photographs you take home.
From downtown Hanover and the Green, follow Route 10 north for 4.2 miles to River Road and turn left.
Follow River Road for 0.5 mile.
Just past Purling Brooks Drive, cross Slade Brook near its confluence with the Connecticut River.
Turn immediately right into the small parking area.
What You Should Know
Foot travel only. Dogs are welcome but must be under close control; please pick up after your pet.
The trail is not blazed but is easy to follow. Wooden arrows mark important turns.
Hiking Directions
Take a moment to check the kiosk display and map before embarking on the trail beyond the rocks.
Slade Brook flows 4.0 miles from a wetland near Three Mile Road west to the Connecticut River, draining a largely forested 2.55 square mile watershed. Nearly a third of this watershed is permanently protected, including the 38-acre Lower Slade Brook Natural Area, Huntington Hill Wildlife Management Area, Moister Meadow, and several other parcels.
At this time of year, the dark green of stiff-stemmed horsetail, or scouring rush, is prominent. Our forebears used this primitive native plant, its tissues naturally fortified with silica, to scrub dishes.
The brook takes its name from Capt. Samuel Slade (1747-1826), described as a “leading citizen” of Hanover who came to town around 1774 and eventually served as tithing man, selectman, and representative. A Revolutionary War soldier, Slade was part of a committee to raise soldiers for the Continental Army and was stationed at Fort Ticonderoga. He, his wife Sarah, and their 13 children lived one mile north of Hanover Center (house later burned) and were prominent members of the Hanover Center church. His grandson, Samuel Thompson Slade (b. 1810) married a Huntington girl, so the family was clearly frequenting the neighborhood. Generations of Slades are buried at Hanover Center.
Shortly after leaving your car, note a dramatic ravine on the left. This steep, narrow cut was carved out thousands of years ago by Slade Brook as it scoured through lake-bottom sediments left behind by glacial Lake Hitchcock.
Listen as you walk for the Louisiana waterthrush. The male’s song is a musical, distinctive series of descending notes followed by a warble. One of the earlier neotropical migrants to return to its breeding grounds in the spring, this bird often arrives a month or more before other warblers. The hilly forest surrounding Slade Brook offers prime habitat for the waterthrush, as its name indicates.
On a terrace above the brook, the trail follows a very gently rising path that may once have been an old tote road. Evergreen Christmas fern decorates the banks at left.
As the trail bears to the right, the first flume comes into view and the trail heads up a short rise. A second flume appears above the first.
The trail soon levels again and offers a view down onto the floodplain of the brook. The wet, mossy expanse hints at its important function of storing water during heavy rains and snowmelt.
As you continue, the trail moves a short distance from the brook into a grove of hemlock, yellow birch, and white pine. Admire the birches’ glowing papery bark. Some, growing on the rotting remains of old fallen trees, are working on a giraffe imitation as their roots stretch down to the soil. The forest promises a cool retreat when you return on a hot summer day.
About 12 minutes’ walk from your car, you catch the sound of water again, drawing you off the trail a few feet to the right to view the uppermost waterfall. Here, the brook takes two paths down mossy stepped ledges, and then sluices away to the southwest through a short, narrow gorge. The entire flow from the brook’s 1,630 acre watershed passes through this point.
After admiring the falls, continue up the path.
Just beyond the falls, stepping stones lead across the brook to a short (0.15 mile) side trail to the Purling Brooks neighborhood. The public is welcome to use this trail as far as the Natural Area boundary, but may not continue across private land.
That brings us to the story behind the Natural Area’s protection in 2005. When a developer presented a plan for 17 houses in this area, the Conservancy (then the Hanover Conservation Council) proposed an alternative that resulted in 10 homes clustered on 20 acres on the south side of the brook, on the site of a former gravel pit, with the rest of the property left intact. This solution protected the brook and its undisturbed valley, while providing recreational trails for homeowners in the Purling Brooks neighborhood and the wider community. Jim Hornig, former president of the Council, was the inspiring force behind this idea, and the Council gratefully named the Natural Area in honor of Jim (right) and his wife, Evalyn.
Watch for the sharp left turn as the trail heads away from the brook and somewhat steeply up to a plateau. About 5 minutes past the falls, you’ll come to a remnant of barbed wire on the right, marked with flagging, a reminder of the grazing history of this area. This land was once part of the Piper Farm.
The trail continues past the Conservancy boundary to a trail junction. To the right, an old logging road heads 0.25 miles to Route 10. To the left, it leads to private land.
Turn around and head back toward Slade Brook, enjoying the chance to see what’s growing at the top of the steep knolls you saw earlier from below.
Turn right at the arrow and head toward the waterfall. In the afternoon, the sun filters through the hemlocks, illuminating the falls. If you hear voices off to the left, it’s probably children playing near the houses across the brook. Consider how lucky they are to grow up with such a beautiful brook in their back yard, thanks to the foresight of those who protected it.
Slade Brook follows you down to your car before it joins the Connecticut River on its journey to Long Island Sound, hundreds of miles away.
The Hanover Conservancy owns and manages the Jim and Evalyn Natural Area at Lower Slade Brook. The Upper Valley Land Trust holds a conservation easement on the land. To protect the south bank of Slade Brook, the Conservancy holds a conservation easement on parts of eight properties at Purling Brooks Drive.
Note: The Hanover Conservancy is seeking volunteers to advise us on managing the Natural Area, monitor trails, and help out with very occasional work parties. We also warmly welcome donations to our Land Stewardship Fund to help maintain the Natural Area. Learn more about the Lower Slade Brook Natural Area.
Sunday 1/24 – join us to explore the Trescott Water Supply Lands with those who are working to open these long-closed 1,165 acres to public recreation. MORE.
Thanks to KLG Financial Solutions for sponsoring this season’s schedule of free Conservancy adventures.