Phillips Farm / Marshfield

Philips Farm Preserve is a Wildlands Trust property located in Marshfield. The preserve is located in an area of Marshfield rich with conservation sites including some connected to Philips. The original Philips Farm was owned by the Philips family for over 150 years. 

This particular preserve consists of 40 acres that were secured in 1999. Without Phillips Farm, four other properties — Cornhill Woodland, Union Street Woodland, Tilden Farm, and Nelson Memorial Forest — could not have been linked by trail. The preserve was purchased with the support of residents who value the historic country vistas, farm meadows, and historic, classic farmhouses and stone walls. 

Some nature tips from the Wildlands Trust: Listen for scarlet tanagers, hermit thrushes, red-eyed vireos, blue-gray gnatcatchers, eastern wood peewees, and other forest interior birds. As you walk, you may hear the music of the wind moving through the large white pines or inhale the intense fragrance of sweet pepperbush, which blooms in late July. Fall brings visual delights as first the tupelos and then the swamp maples of this mixed hardwood forest splash brilliant red across the landscape. The evergreen hollies sparkle in the gray winter landscape. 

Trail Notes:

• The preserve can be walked in ½ hour but can be easily extended via adjacent trails like Cornhill Woodland or Nelson Memorial Forest.
• The trails coming from Union Street can be quite wet depending on ground water levels. 
• It is easiest to park at the Union Street lot, but don't leave without seeing the fields. They are quite beautiful