Nagog Hill Conservation Land

Nagog Pond Panorama

Nagog Hill Conservation Land’s 170 acres provide trails that are generally wide, well-marked, and in good condition. Much of the area was once cleared farmland, and there are many dry-stone walls delineating the boundaries of the former farm fields. The property was acquired by the town in a series of purchases between 1975 and 2007 using both state and town funds. 

Two accesses serve this conservation land. The main entrance is from Nagog Hill Road, next to the horse corral, one mile from Acton Center, where there is a parking lot with kiosk, trail maps, and other information. The second access is across the street from the Grassy Pond Conservation Land parking lot on Nagog Hill Road. It is marked with an easily seen sign with an attached map box.

Nagog Hill’s trail system consists of a 1.9 mile (yellow-blazed) main loop trail, three secondary (blue-blazed) trails, and a long (red-blazed) access corridor between this conservation land and the contiguous Grassy Pond conservation land. Two large wetland areas in the center of the property are drained by seasonal streams. The main loop trail circumnavigates these wetlands and the perimeter of the large rectangular portion of the property that extends almost to Nagog Pond. This loop trail traverses two large open meadows, a majestic white pine grove, a mixed forest, and crosses the two seasonal streams and several wetlands edges. The land is slightly hilly with mild ups and downs along many portions of the trail. 

Two of the secondary trails bisect the main loop near its midsection, and the third is a short side trail that leaves and rejoins the main trail in the pine grove. The two bisecting trails run roughly parallel to each other and cut the length of the walk around the loop trail down to about half. The southernmost trail crosses one of the small streams. Several boardwalk/bridges make the crossing of certain wet areas easily negotiable.  The long access corridor to Grassy Pond is uphill from the main loop trail and passes through remains of an old orchard before entering a mixed forest.

Special features to look for include a large glacial erratic, called Egg Rock, on the south side of the main trail just north of the most easterly stream crossing. A large vernal pool, just south of the main trail where it crosses the open field beyond the horse corral, is home to many species that breed only in such habitat. At the northern ends of the main trail there are limited views of Nagog Pond which is one of the Commonwealth’s ‘great ponds’, as defined under the State Statutes. Rights to this pond, relinquished by Acton in 1886, were given to the Town of Concord, which continues to use it as a public water supply.

At a junction with the access trail from the Grassy Pond Conservation Land parking lot, marked with a wooden sign, the loop trail continues in a southerly direction through very different habitat characterized by low shrubs, berry bushes, an old apple orchard with entwining bittersweet choking several trees, and a meadow before returning to the area’s parking lot. An ambitious hiker may utilize the access trail to the Grassy Pond Conservation Land to make a circuit of the two properties that is over 3 miles long. On completing the Grassy Pond loop one can either retrace the Nagog Hill access trail, or walk along Nagog Hill Road, back to the Nagog Hill Conservation Land parking lot, depending on one’s preference. This extended loop through the two conservation lands may be walked starting at either parking lot. See the Grassy Pond write-up. 

Nagog Hill Map

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