Spruce Acres Farm in Portsmouth to host open houses Dec. 18-19

Preserved property sits on Portsmouth/Middletown border

By Jim McGaw
Posted 12/15/18

PORTSMOUTH — Gretchen Markert stopped dead in her tracks upon being asked what she found so special about Spruce Acres Farm last week.

“Listen,” she said.

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Spruce Acres Farm in Portsmouth to host open houses Dec. 18-19

Preserved property sits on Portsmouth/Middletown border

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — Gretchen Markert stopped dead in her tracks upon being asked what she found so special about Spruce Acres Farm last week.

“Listen,” she said after walking only a few steps down one of the two trail loops located on the property conserved by the Aquidneck Land Trust (ALT) in July 2017.

“I love how that within a minute, it’s quiet,” said Ms. Markert, ALT’s communications and outreach manager. “It’s on East Main Road, but within a minute after being on the trail, you don’t hear that. You’re surrounded by beautiful nature, you hear birds, you see the wildlife habitat.”

And now, members of the public will soon be able to experience the same open-air tranquility themselves.

After delays in construction due to poor weather, Spruce Acres Farm will be opened to the public starting on Tuesday, Dec. 18.

The 22.67-acre former tree farm, straddling the Middletown/Portsmouth border, will offer 1.5 miles of publicly accessible nature trails and an environmentally friendly parking lot with a rain-penetrable surface. Future amenities include a picnic area, benches, and community gardens.

Two open houses are planned, the first from 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Dec. 18, the second from 1-3 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 10. Staff will be available at both open houses to answer any questions from visitors. 

The property, its entrance located at 1286 East Main Road, Middletown, will be open between dawn and dusk daily beginning Dec. 18. Visitors are asked to respect trail rules by visiting only during the allowed hours, staying on the hiking trails, leaving no trace and being respectful to neighbors. Dogs are welcome but should be leashed and picked up after at all times.

The property would have been developed into 20 house lots had it not been conserved, according to ALT. Traffic experts have estimated each home would have produced nine or 10 car trips a day, further burdening an already busy East Main Road, Ms. Markert said.

The property is also located within the watershed for Sisson Pond, an important source of water for the island, is rich in wildlife habitat, and expands on ALT’s passageway of preserved properties, she said.

“One of the things that give this a lot of value is that it abuts other conserved land. Wildlife wants a corridor; it doesn’t want little patches scattered throughout the island,” Ms. Markert said.

Community project

“Over 500 Islanders, foundations, corporations, municipalities and others contributed to the purchase and conservation of Spruce Acres,” said Chuck Allott, ALT’s executive director, who called the conservation project “an Aquidneck Island success story.”’

Funding toward the acquisition included $300,000 of tax dollars approved by the Portsmouth Town Council. The Middletown Town Council approved an identical amount, and the project also received a grant from the Rhode Island Agricultural Land Preservation Commission.

“It took a while, but we raised over $2 million. That’s a huge success for all of us,” said Ms. Markert.

Since the property was purchased, more than 100 volunteers have made trail improvements, repaired the outbuildings, installed map kiosks and signage. Three local Eagle Scout projects have been completed or are underway, and improvements will continue throughout 2019, according to ALT. 

The Gewirz Trail sign, for example, is the product of an Eagle Scout project by Nicholas Perrotti of Troop 82, said Ms. Markert.

“We have so many large and small volunteer projects,” she said, noting that  students from Portsmouth High and Rogers High school have worked at the site, and three generations of one family spent one day installing trail markers.  

“It just feels very community oriented,” she said.

Delay explained

ALT had come under criticism lately from residents who pointed out the nonprofit said the trails would be open to the public by November. 

The main reason for the delay, Ms. Markert said, was inclement weather “that held up the installation of our parking lot.” 

Also holding up the opening was the late decision to create a separate curb cut further north on East Main Road, she said. “It was determined that would be much safer for people, rather than exiting the entering through the same driveway. So, we had to wait to get approval for that to get done,” Ms. Markert said.

There are 20 spaces available in the new parking lot, but for the open houyses on Dec, 18 and 19 ALT will also use patches of grass for additional vehicles.

“We hope we’re not going to turn anyone away because of parking. If so, we’ll ask them to come back at a different time that day,” Ms, Markert said.

Those who would like to volunteer to help take care of the property and trails are asked to contact ALT at 401/849-2799.

Aquidneck Land Trust, Spruce Acres Farm

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Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.