Phillips Farm | Trails & Walks in Rhode Island

Steere Hill Farm/Heritage Park – Glocester

Steere Hill Farm/Heritage Park/Phillips Farm
Putnam Pike, Glocester, RI
Trailhead: 41°53’38.41″N, 71°36’39.10″W
First Time Hiked: July 13, 2014
Last Time Hiked: November 28, 2021
Approximate distance hiked: 5.5 miles
Moderate with some elevation.

This morning I ventured into another Glocester Land Trust property with some fellow hikers. This property is in fact comprised of several properties including Steere Hill Farm, Phillips Farm, and Heritage Park. We started the hike from the parking area along the Putnam Pike which is at utility pole 70, following the red rectangle blazed Steere Hill Trail. We passed an area of cattails and several shrubs with berries. We then turned right onto the orange triangle blazed Stone Dam Trail. We encountered some warning signs about hunting on abutting properties. I would suggest wearing orange during hunting season. The aptly named trail crosses the stone dam and continues through the woods. At the next intersection we turned right onto the purple dot blazed Ridge Trail which meandered through areas of outcrops and ledges. We stayed on the Ridge Trail to its end, coming across a geocache, before we turned right onto the blue rectangle blazed Cart Path. Then we turned right at the four way intersection onto the red rectangle blazed Steere Hill Trail once again. At the next split we veered right toward the white rectangle blazed Heritage-Steere Trail. This trail connects Steere Hill Farm with Heritage Park and passes first through a field before heading back into the woods. Along the trail we encountered several shrubs of raspberries and blackberries. Needless to say, this was a haven for birds. We then made our way to the purple triangle blazed Inner Loop of Heritage Park for a quick stop by the Shepard’s Hut. From here we headed toward the Heritage Park entrance then continued on the blue triangle blazed Outer Loop West Trail, passing a tree decorated for Christmas, back to the Heritage-Steere Hill Trail. (Heritage Park itself could be a short 1 to 1.5 mile hike for those seeking a shorter walk). We then retraced our steps for a bit before turning right onto the orange rectangle blazed Woodworth Trail. This trail first wanders through the woods before it starts climbing up Steere Hill, passing some old stone walls, a stone structure that may have been used as an animal pen and eventually comes to some open fields. Near the top of the hill there is a tree with a bench. The view from here is spectacular. It overlooks a field of tall grass and flowers and you can see the rolling hills of northern Rhode Island in the distance. Some of the flowers here included thistle, milkweed, coneflower, tickseed, and black-eyed susans to name a few. The trail here was full of butterflies, grasshoppers, and dragonflies. I could also here the songs of crickets in the tall grass. I will return here for the autumn foliage for photography reasons more so than the hike. I think this location could be “that” picture. From here we made our way down the hill following the red rectangle blazed Steere Hill Trail back to the four way intersection. Here we turned right onto the blue rectangle blazed Cart Path through some more fields before passing a stone wall and back into the woods. We then turned right onto the white dot blazed Field Trail towards Phillips Farm. The trail first went through an area of fern covered forest before opening up to the field that was once Phillips Farm. Along the way we stumbled across an old cemetery. The headstones had no markings. At the end of the Field Trail we turned right and made our way back to the parking area. Here we came across a toad on the way out. There are a few stream crossing along this hike. However, it has been fairly rain free the last few weeks (with the exception of the Independence Day washout) here in Southern New England. Some of the streams were bone dry. I do suspect that in times of rain some of these crossings could be a little challenging.

Trail map can be found at Steere Hill Farm/Heritage Park.