• Atlantic White Cedar Swamp/Bland Preserve/Gold Star Preserve
• Pound Road, Cumberland, RI
• Trailhead:  41°58’39.3″N, 71°26’08.8″W
• First Time Hiked: April 15, 2013
• Last Time Hiked: December 18, 2019
• Approximate distance hiked: 2.0 miles
• Easy with some slight elevation

This property, actually several properties abutting each other, demonstrates a great example of dedication by the Cumberland Land Trust. Over the last six years I have visited this property on several occasions witnessing its progression and history. My first  visit was in April of 2013 and I had found the single trail (current white blazed trail off of Nate Whipple Highway) to be nice, but it lacked good markings and the trail map indicated a loop at its end, which I found difficult to follow. In the spring of 2015 beavers had built a dam making the property inaccessible. In 2015 the Cumberland Land Trust had created another trail head and entrance along Pound Road at the Gold Star Preserve. The entrance first follows a gas-line easement before turning right into the woods. From here the trails are very well marked with white blazes along the trail that leads north through the property and yellow along a short loop trail. In the summer of 2017, the entrance along Nate Whipple Highway re-opened with a series of boardwalks that loop around the area that was once flooded. Soon after the trails in the eastern portion of the property were developed and blazed. With all of this being done over the years, this property has become one of Cumberland’s premier hiking locations. For a beautiful 2 mile hike park at the Nate Whipple Entrance and follow the white blazed trail as it winds over bog boardwalks. You will notice beaver huts here and there is a small informational sign about co-existing with these “critters”. After crossing the East Sneech Brook, follow the white blazed trail to the red trail on the left. Turn left here and at the next intersection turn right onto the red loop trail. Here you will begin your trek up and down small hills along the winding trail passing stone walls, boulders, and a small pond. The Orange, Green, and Blue trails cut across creating shortcuts. At the northerly intersection of the Red and Green trails is a cellar hole. It is long and narrow, not quite the houses of old, which poses the question of what kind of structure was here. For the remainder of this hike, continue along the red trail to complete the loop, follow  your way back to the white trail and retrace your steps to the entrance.

Trail map can be found at: Atlantic White Cedar Swamp

New Boardwalks By An Area Flooded By Beavers