Folly Hill and Bog Iron Trails

519 Broadway, Hanover, MA 02339, USA

Owned By: Town of Hanover

• Directions
• Trail Map

38 acres of Hanover Conservation land, with 3.6 miles of trails and the occasional footbridge. Wooded trails lead around an extensive network of former cranberry bogs. Iron Mine Brook runs through this property.  The eastern side includes some town Water Protection facilities as well as at least one vernal pool.

Pedestrian entrances on Willow Road, Beechtree Road, and the Legion Senior Housing Complex. Additional trailheads with parking at the Water Department land on Broadway, and behind both the Lutheran Church of the Cross and the Hanover Police station on Rockland Street.

Features

Look for a fallen chimney, the last remains of a long-vanished house in the western corner of the property.

The Single Path, named for Pastor Paul Single from Hanover’s Lutheran Church of the Cross (1969-1981), was added to the property in 2014, with the help of Eagle Scout Christian Lyttle, and officially dedicated in 2019. Single — who was blind — lived on Karen Road and would walk with his seeing-eye dog through the woods to the church along this path.

This land is within the region of the Massachuseuk (or Massachusett) Native American tribe.

Trail Description

This property includes 3.6 miles of intersecting loop trails, with numerous spurs to private property. A map is recommended!

Habitats and Wildlife

The forest here is predominantly pine, with the occasional oak and some holly, birch, beech and maple. There are wetlands around Iron Mine Brook and at least one vernal pool. Can you discern the naturally occurring streams from those cut by cranberry farmers in centuries past?

Iron Mine Brook is a tributary to the Indian Head River, which joins with Herring Brook on the Hanover/Pembroke line to form the North River. The North River is approximately 10 miles in length. It flows through the towns of Hanover, Pembroke, Marshfield, Norwell, and Scituate to the Atlantic Ocean between Third and Fourth Cliffs, draining approximately 59,000 acres along the way.