Trail Guide - Robert and Emily Cobb Memorial Trail


Cobb Pond

Map

 JPG format (568Kb)

Location

 Extends in a linear pattern from the Pickard Lane Extension on the north, by Cobb's Pond on the east, to Nashoba Road on the South. It abuts the 30 acre town owned Nagog Hill Orchard extension on the west.

Parking

 Located at a small gravel parking lot on Nashoba Road and within the cul-de-sac at Pickard Lane Extension.

Acreage

 31.0

Description

The Robert and Emily Cobb Memorial Trail parcel provides a variety of features within a relatively small area. The land is quite different from other conservation areas in Littleton.

Trails

The Cobb Memorial Trail extends 0.7 miles from Pickard Lane extension to Nashoba Road. The trail mostly follows an old cart road. Brown and white signs saying "Cobb Memorial Trail" are located at each end of the trail which is indicated in the field with red markers. The foot path connects to the "Blue Dot Trail" which leads westerly to Nagog Hill Road, a distance of 0.5 miles. A nearly 100 foot long boardwalk over a swamp is located near the Nashoba Road entrance. This boardwalk was an Eagle Scout project.

Features

Principal features of the Cobb Memorial Trail and the adjoining Nagog Hill Orchard extension are:

  • View of Cobb's Pond.
  • Diverse wildlife (water and forest birds, deer, coyotes, turkeys, beavers, frogs, etc.).
  • Numerous small steep hills (to 50'), vernal ponds, brooks, small swamps, and glacial erratics (boulders).
  • Beaver dam and pond with amazing display of red cardinal flowers in August.
  • Extremely high tree canopy of oaks, white pines and black birches.
  • Wide variety of vegetation types, not yet inventoried.
  • A sunken wooded NE-SW trending bedrock fault zone (to a depth of 30 feet) passes through Nagog Hill Orchard Extension and into the north section of the Cobb Memorial Trail.

Note: The trustees of Emily R. Cobb did not grant use of Cobb's Pond to the public.

History

This land was once the site of a chicken farm and a major producer of eggs and chicks.

Cautions

Some remnants of old barbed wire remain far off the trails.

Managed by

 Littleton Conservation Trust. One section of the land, a peninsula extending into Cobb's Pond is owned by the Town and is under the management of the Littleton Conservation Commission and Littleton Water Department.