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Places We Protect

Moshassuck River Preserve

Rhode Island

A small river flows under a green forest canopy. Gray granite boulders line both banks.
Moshassuck River Preserve The Moshassuck River rises from its headwaters in Lincoln, RI, and flows into Waterplace Park in downtown Providence. © Tim Mooney/TNC

This preserve reveals the beauty of the Moshassuck River, amid boulders and forest.

Overview

Description

The Moshassuck River Preserve has all the right ingredients for a quick escape into nature: a shady canopy of big hickories and oaks, giant glacial boulders, and a meandering river and small streams that invite exploration.

Once used as a Boy Scout camp called Camp Conklin, the preserve features three miles of blazed trails, laid out over 210 rolling acres of New England hardwood forest. Just eight miles from downtown Providence, it has the feel of a hidden gem.

The preserve is located between the Fairlawn Golf Course and the MacColl YMCA, and our neighbors have been generous and welcoming partners. We could not have opened this preserve to the public without their assistance in providing trailhead parking and establishing community hiking trail connections.

Dogs are permitted but must be leashed at all times.

Access

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Trails muddy or wet in places. Please use caution.

Hours

Open year-round during daylight hours.

Highlights

Birdwatching, hiking, historic cemetery

Size

210 acres

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Photos from Moshassuck River Preserve

Tag your preserve visits on Instagram with #MoshassuckRiver to have your photos featured here!

A tight cluster of 3 oak trees, standing by a small river.
Looking down on a large, flat, orange fungus growing from a tree stump.
Eight youth in waders walk waist-deep in a river, with long-handled nets and buckets.
A scientist's hand holds a large, alert, slate gray songbird with a black cap.
A low, loose wall of irregular rocks, with open woods behind it.
Bright red flowers arranged tightly on a single, 2-foot-tall stalk, with green ferns in the background.
Looking way up at a solid, leafy green tree canopy, with blue and white sky peeking through.
A brown, robin-sized songbird, with a white breast covered with black spots. It's beak is open to sing from a leafy branch.
At dusk, the dark surface of a small river reflects the tree canopy above. A cluster of large red maples stands on the left bank.
Looking down on a small orange-brown frog, well camouflaged against a layer of dried oak leaves.
A tight cluster of 3 oak trees, standing by a small river.

Coppice Growth: When you see a tight cluster of oaks like this, they are usually trees that re-sprouted from a common stump. © Tim Mooney/TNC

Looking down on a large, flat, orange fungus growing from a tree stump.

Chicken of the Woods: Please leave fungi undisturbed, so that all may enjoy their spectacular colors. © Tim Mooney/TNC

Eight youth in waders walk waist-deep in a river, with long-handled nets and buckets.

Electrofishing: Students from the Jaqueline Walsh School for the Arts help TNC track how many species of fish are living in the Moshassuck River. © Tim Mooney/TNC

A scientist's hand holds a large, alert, slate gray songbird with a black cap.

Gray Catbird: This chatty songbird might be the first one you hear on the preserve, calling from a tangle of roses and vines. © Kim Gaffett/TNC

A low, loose wall of irregular rocks, with open woods behind it.

Old Pasture: Stone walls recall Lincoln's agricultural past, when the forest was cleared for sheep and other livestock. © Tim Mooney/TNC

Bright red flowers arranged tightly on a single, 2-foot-tall stalk, with green ferns in the background.

Cardinal Flower: Even when you expect to find this common wetland plant, its flowers seem impossibly red. © Tim Mooney/TNC

Looking way up at a solid, leafy green tree canopy, with blue and white sky peeking through.

Look Up: In summer, hike under a shady canopy of oaks, hickories and maples. © Tim Mooney/TNC

A brown, robin-sized songbird, with a white breast covered with black spots. It's beak is open to sing from a leafy branch.

Wood Thrush: A cousin of the American robin, the wood thrush's flute-like ee-oh-lay song is one of the prettiest sounds in the forest. © Jason Major

At dusk, the dark surface of a small river reflects the tree canopy above. A cluster of large red maples stands on the left bank.

Summer Evening: Red maples anchor the bank at a bend in the Moshassuck River. © Tim Mooney/TNC

Looking down on a small orange-brown frog, well camouflaged against a layer of dried oak leaves.

Wood Frog: Dependent on vernal pools to lay their eggs, wood frogs actually spend most of the year away from water. © Tim Mooney/TNC

Visit

  • The parking lot is located on Sherman Avenue, near the intersection with Great Road. Look for an orange and white entrance sign next to the driveway beside the Fairlawn Golf Course’s clubhouse (“Bogeys”). There are two parking lots, and both are shared by preserve visitors and golfers. Hikers may park anywhere to the right or left of the driveway.

  • Note: The trails cross many small streams, and in some places visitors must step from rock to rock where no footbridge is available. Please dress for muddy or wet trails.

    A trailhead kiosk greets visitors with an introduction to the preserve and its 3-mile trail system. Start down the wide lane between the golf course and the woods. Soon you will cross the Moshassuck River and see a stone dam on your right. Proceed ahead on the Blue Trail.

    The 3-mile trail system is divided between the Blue Trail, which loops around the northern half of the preserve, and the Yellow Trail to the south.

    The Blue Trail follows the Moshassuck River, then rises sharply to higher ground, before winding back down to an old farm field, now grown in with small trees.

    The Yellow Trail crosses several tributary streams to the Moshassuck and winds around giant boulders, known as glacial erratics. Parts of the Yellow Trail are on YMCA property. Please respect the signage and keep to the preserve trail system.

  • Here in these protected woods, the hardworking Moshassuck River has a wild and natural feel. Find a riverbank perch and just take it all in.

    Plants: Throughout this mixed hardwood forest, you’ll find a high canopy of oak, pignut hickory, shagbark hickory and red maple. Most of the very large trees are red oaks, which grow well in damp soils. Witch-hazel and spicebush comprise much of the shrub layer, with a few blueberries mixed in.

    Birds: The Moshassuck River Preserve is an important stopover site for many songbirds during spring migration. Scarlet tanagers, blue-gray gnatcatchers and many warblers rely on the preserve to rest and refuel. Many other songbirds are year-round residents or summer nesters, including gray catbirds, Carolina wrens and Eastern wood-pewees.

    Animals: Young American eels (called elvers) swim in from the Sargasso Sea and grow to maturity in the Moshassuck River. The preserve's streams and wetlands provide habitat for frogs and salamanders. Common woodland mammals in the area include white-tailed deer, Eastern coyote, striped skunk and raccoon. If you’re lucky (and quiet), you may find a red fox sharing the trail with you.

  • We hope you enjoy visiting TNC’s preserves in any season. We ask that you please observe the following guidelines:

    • Stay on marked trails, including the portion of the trail system that crosses YMCA property.
    • Dogs are permitted but must be leashed at all times.
    • Respect preserve hours (one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset). Overnight camping is not allowed.
    • Do not ride horses, bikes or any motorized vehicle through preserves or on the trails.
    • Do not remove any living materials from a preserve or disturb any vegetation.
    • Remove any trash you create and, if possible, any garbage that you see left by someone else.
    • In the spring, summer and fall, dress in long pants and socks to avoid deer ticks. After any walk on a preserve, it is a good idea to check for ticks when you return home.
    • Be careful! Your safety is your responsibility.

Explore the Moshassuck River Preserve

Moshassuck River at dusk Two hundred years after the Industrial Revolution, the Moshassuck can still cast a spell at twilight. © Tim Mooney/TNC
Yellow Trail Local Boy Scouts camped in this area for many years, leaving behind trail features like this footbridge. © Tim Mooney/TNC
Stone Dam Built in the 1800s to power a mill, this dam reminds us of the Moshassuck River's hardworking past. © Tim Mooney/TNC
Clear and Cool Quiet pools like this one provide refuge for small fish, frogs, and aquatic insects during the summer. © Tim Mooney/TNC
Split Rock As the glacier retreated 14,000 years ago, it deposited large boulders across the landscape. © Tim Mooney/TNC
River's Rest Find a riverbank perch, breathe deeply, and just take it all in. © Tim Mooney/TNC
× Moshassuck River at dusk Two hundred years after the Industrial Revolution, the Moshassuck can still cast a spell at twilight. © Tim Mooney/TNC
× Yellow Trail Local Boy Scouts camped in this area for many years, leaving behind trail features like this footbridge. © Tim Mooney/TNC
× Stone Dam Built in the 1800s to power a mill, this dam reminds us of the Moshassuck River's hardworking past. © Tim Mooney/TNC
× Clear and Cool Quiet pools like this one provide refuge for small fish, frogs, and aquatic insects during the summer. © Tim Mooney/TNC
× Split Rock As the glacier retreated 14,000 years ago, it deposited large boulders across the landscape. © Tim Mooney/TNC
× River's Rest Find a riverbank perch, breathe deeply, and just take it all in. © Tim Mooney/TNC
Four glacial erratics clustered on exposed bedrock
Glacial erratics The last Ice Age deposited boulders across Rhode Island, but some are perched on bedrock or even propped up on pedestals. © Tim Mooney/TNC

History

The Moshassuck River Preserve is part of the traditional homelands of the Narragansett, Nipmuc, and Wampanoag peoples. Moshassuck, or “Mooshausick,” is a Narragansett word describing “the river where moose watered.”

The Nature Conservancy established the preserve through a series of acquisitions in the 1990s, with the support of the RIDEM open space grant program, the Champlin Foundation, the Bafflin Foundation, and the AMICA Companies Foundation. TNC is grateful to the Conklin Lime Company, Building Systems, Inc, and the Guglielmi family for working with us to help protect the Moshassuck River.

The part of the preserve that was once owned by Conklin Lime hosted a Boy Scout camp for Troop 64, Pack 1, Saylesville. The Scouts maintained the trail system for many years. The Moshassuck River Preserve was formally opened to the public in September 2021.

Sunlight sparkles on a small river passing through oak woods in winter.
Nature is for everyone TNC is exploring the idea of building an accessible trail along the Moshassuck River. But we need your input! © Tim Mooney

Accessible Trail

The Nature Conservancy is exploring opportunities to create an accessible trail at the Moshassuck River Preserve. We haven’t decided what it will look like yet, or exactly where it will go, but our goal is to create a nature trail that everyone can enjoy.

We want your feedback. Take this short survey to weigh in on conceptual designs and trailhead options.

TNC has hired the Horsley Witten Group, an engineering firm, as our design partner. As a first step, they are looking at the terrain and how water moves through the preserve to figure out what is possible. 

As with the Dundery Brook Trail in Little Compton, we want to open this beautiful place to anyone with limited mobility or balance issues, or who uses a wheelchair, stroller, walker, and or other low-speed mobility devices. We are also looking into sensory features, to enhance the trail experience of people who are blind, deaf or neurodivergent. 

We would love to work with you to make this project a reality. What would you like to see in an accessible nature trail?  
 
Questions? Please reach out to jeanne.cooper@tnc.org and watch for an announcement of a community workshop this spring. 

Nearby Preserves

Need more nature? Visit The Nature Conservancy’s other nearby preserves.

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