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Quansoo Preserve

Dog Policy

Size

5.8 acres

Description

One fewer house glints along the edge of the Tisbury Great Pond as a result of the creation of this preserve. Easterly views across the belly of the pond are expansive; more intimate is the northerly view of Town Cove with Indian Hill rising above it. Thick tufts of various blue-eyed grasses sit upright in the pondside field. American hazelnut throws its seedpods around, which dry into whirligigs. Included is a circumferential trail around the Sheriff Meadow Foundation’s abutting 150-acre Quansoo Farm.

Access

Start at the sign, on the South Road, marking the Chilmark - West Tisbury town line; proceed up-island 0.5 miles. Turn left here onto the Quenames Road (it is unmarked). Travel 0.5 miles down the Quenames Road to where the Quansoo Road forks off to the left; bear left onto the Quansoo Road. The road forks again in 0.6 miles where the Black Point Road peels off to the right; stay on the Quansoo Road and proceed another 0.3 miles. The first of two trailheads is located here; it is open year-round and is adjacent to a set of green gate posts. A second trailhead, open from October 1 to May 31, is on the left 0.7 miles farther down the Quansoo Road (be sure to bear right 0.2 miles after the green gate posts).

Historical Highlights

  • Quansoo and Quenames are Wampanoag for “the long fish” and reference the location where Wampanoags caught eels during September and October when eels migrate to the ocean
  • the abutting Quansoo Farm in 1910 was owned by Adelbert Mitchell and Iva West and was primarily used as farm land: it had an orchard with Bartlett pears and Baldwin apples; cultivated fields with pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, peas and corn, wild strawberries and cranberries; and pigs, turkey, hens, 100 sheep, and 25 cows

Trail / Property Map