New Hampton’s Kelley-Drake Conservation Area – Finding Nature & History
PHOTO: Amy’s hiking adventure ends with some paddling on Kelley Pond. Learn about places to put your canoe or kayak in the water at New Hampshire Fish & Game website: https://wildlife.state.nh.us/maps/boatfish/index.html or just Google: NH Fish & Game boat launches and it pops right up.
by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer
There is a good chance you’re going to find an interesting place to visit after clicking on a town’s conservation commission’s link. I did just that for the town of New Hampton and found a gem.
The first thing that caught my eye on the New Hampton’s Conservation Commission’s page was “Enjoy the Outdoors.” And my response was “Right On!” Then I continued to read about the Kelley-Drake Conservation Area–194 acres of forest, wetlands, meadows and Kelley Island in Pemigewasset Lake.
Over the past two years they have cleared the Kelley-Drake farmstead cellar holes and blazed a couple miles of trails on the property. The New Hampton Historical Society donated an information kiosk telling the history of the original settlers.
There is room for maybe six cars at the end of Kelley Pond Road just before the gate. There is a general information kiosk and a box containing brochures and trail maps–take one if you forgot to download the trail map.
Bria and I walked down the road behind the gate and in a few minutes we came to a trail sign pointing left up a bank to a view area and a bit further another sign pointed right to the Ridge Trail. We scrambled up the short path to the view where one can sit on a bench and look out over a meadow and to distant hills.
Then we followed the red blazed Ridge Trail. We climbed up and through a nice mixed forest past an old farm well and along rugged constructed old stone walls. On our left the land dropped off steeply and the ridge followed the rim of a deep gully. As we descended the trail became wider and the footing improved; we were glad we picked the best direction to take this path.
We returned via the Valley Trail and it followed along the bottom of the gully. There are bridges that cross over the small streams that didn’t have much water due to our lack of rain this spring. We saw a couple of Pink Lady slippers and other wildflowers along the path.
We continued down the Farm Road Trail and found the Historical kiosk. Surrounding the farmhouse and barn’s cellar holes was a lovely green meadow spotted with purple Iris flowers.
From the kiosk we learned that the Kelley family arrived from Exeter in 1775 and the family lived their first winter here in tents. Samuel Kelley served with distinction in the Revolutionary War and built New Hampton its meeting house that is still in use today. The Kelley’s sold the farm to the Drake family in 1820. The town acquired the property in 1978.
On our way to the Lake we took a short side path to the cemetery. Granite posts surround the small cemetery and the Drake family members’ headstones were from the mid-1800’s.
The Lake Road ends at the water’s edge of Pemigewasset Lake. Straight across the water we could see Kelley Island, the forested island is 23 acres. The island was our next goal to visit.
We spent about an hour and a half walking the trails. We estimated the walk straight to the lake from the gate to be 0.75 miles one way.
The Pemigewasset Lake Cartop Boat Access, I discovered it on the New Hampshire Fish & Game website, thank you NH F&G. It was late morning and it was hot so getting out on the water was the perfect thing to do after our walking.
I was able to back the truck up fairly close to the water and we unloaded the kayaks. The launch ramp has a bit of a drop off and fine for kayaks and canoes. Parking is limited, maybe ten cars. We were the only car (Thursday, late morning).
We had an enjoyable two hours of paddling on the lake. We went straight to the island and we saw a Loon pop up out of the water not too far from us. We paddled west over to the end of the Lake Road where we had just walked and admired all the yellow Lily-pad flowers. Then we went back over to the island and on the south side we found a small clear area where we decided to beach our boats. There was a sign that read no camping and no fires inland on the island. So we went swimming and dried off in the sun. Then we paddled to the very south end of the lake, there was a small breeze but sometimes bugs buzzed us.
We ended up paddling around Kelley Island before getting back to the boat launch. A family was just putting their kayaks and a paddle board into the water. They asked us if we found a good place to swim and we told them about Kelley Island.
I know all my readers are respectful and always have another place in mind to go if the parking area at the boat launch or trailhead is full. Keep discovering new-to-you places.
Have fun.
Amy Patenaude is an avid skier/outdoor enthusiast from Henniker, N.H. Readers are welcome to send comments or suggestions to her at: amy@weirs.com.
