Tree Society, Boy Scouts help refurbish Canonchet Trail

July 21, 2011

Photo By Shaun Kirby

The town council recognized the Narragansett Tree Society and Boy Scout Troop 2 for their efforts in re-establishing a safe and navigable nature trail behind Canonchet Farm.

NARRAGANSETT—The trail begins at Annie Hoxsie Lane across from the Narragansett Town Beach, unassumingly sliding into the woods. The path is about six feet wide and winds along the Chafee Wildlife Preserve on Boston Neck Road. The underbrush is thick. The ground water gathers at places, saturating the ground. Nature abounds, yet without the work of the Narragansett Tree Society, headed by William Bivona, and Narragansett Boy Scout Troop 2, this trail would have never been accessible.

The town council recognized the Narragansett Tree Society and Boy Scout Troop 2 Monday evening for their efforts in re-establishing a safe and navigable nature trail behind Canonchet Farm. For the past three years, Bivona and the Narragansett Tree Society have maintained the trail, mowing the grass and cutting back thick brush. Bivona thanked the town council for their support Monday evening.

“I appreciate that the town council recognized that the trail is pre-existing and needed a lot of care,” said Bivona. “Now that it is done, [Canonchet Trail] is suitable for public use.”

The trail has been in existence for around 100 years, consisting as an amalgam of cow paths, farm roads, and boundary markers which have been used publicly since the town purchased the land in 1979. Yet the trail has never been consistently maintained.

“The trail has never been properly marked and it is not located on any local maps,” said Bivona. “Walking the path, you’d get about 100 yards in and say, ‘I don’t think I am on the trail anymore.’”

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