(2010)
Beech Forest Trail boardwalk.
On the east side of the parking lot at Beech Forest Trail are stone steps that led to the home of Henry and Eva Helmer. He was the superintendent of the Province Lands from the 1940s to the 1960s, when they were under state control. The house was razed years after his death in 1966. The tranquil one-mile Beech Forest Trail begins with an inviting boardwalk through wetlands. (Bring some bird seed, stand still on the boardwalk with some seed in your open palm, and see what happens.) The trail runs through a variety of natural settings around Blackwater Pond. The poet Mary Oliver drew much inspiration from this pond and its environs. If you should find a pencil secreted in the crook of a tree branch, it’s one that she left behind.
¶ Adapted from Building Provincetown (2015).