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Allyn-Cox Reservation Salt marsh and wooded area with trails, ECGB headquarters, restrooms, and bench at clamhouse landing on Essex River. Entrance off Route 133. Free parking.

Clammer’s Beach Boat launching area. Resident sticker parking.

Cogwell’s Grant Historic farm bordering the Essex River. Limited parking.

Conomo Point/Town Farm Expansive salt marsh overlooking Essex Bay. Street and resident sticker parking on Conomo Point Road.

Front Beach/Conomo Point Landing Boat launching area. Resident sticker parking.

Main Street Town Landing Site adjacent to Essex shipbuilding museum with pier, boat ramp, visitor information booth, and monument. Resident sticker parking. Non-resident parking for boat ramp allowed behind nearby fire station.

North Shore Salt Marshes Expansive salt marsh. Street parking.

Stavros Reservation Trail to top of White’s Hill with great view. Entrance gate on right, immediately after turn off onto Island Road. Street parking.

Water Street Town Landing Small-boat launching area. No street parking.



Crane Memorial Reservation & Wildlife Refuge The 1,400-acre Crane Memorial Reservation was bequeathed by the Crane family to The Trustees of Reservations in 1949. The reservation’s white, sandy, barrier beach stretches for more than four miles along Ipswich Bay and is separated from the mainland by Essex Bay and the Essex and Ipswich River estuaries. The reservation includes a variety of other habitats, including a drumlin (known as Castle Hill), shrub thickets, cranberry bogs, salt marsh, dunes, and forests.

The reservation is open year-round, from 8:00 a.m. to sunset. An admission fee is charged to enter the reservation and varies depending on the season. In the summer, rangers and lifeguards are on duty at the beach, and bathhouses and a refreshment stand are open. A shaded picnic area is also available.

The 59-room Great House on Castle Hill was built in the mid-1920s by Chicago manufacturer Richard Telle Crane, Jr. It is open to the public for house tours on Tuesday afternoons from May through October and by appointment or for seasonal concerts and events. The Castle Hill grounds are also open to the public, except when the property is reserved for special events. Admission fees are charged for tours and grounds visits.

The 680-acre Crane Wildlife Refuge is located in the Essex River estuary, shoreward of Cranes Beach. It includes part of Castle Neck, five islands, and salt marsh along the Castle Neck River. Though concentrations are largest during spring and fall migrations, wildlife use the estuary year-round. Some 180 species of birds have been seen there.

Foot trails on Long Island and Hog Island lead to a visitor center, the 250-year-old Choate House on top of Hog Island. An admission fee is charged. The Trustees provide scheduled boat tours to the island, which is also accessible via private boat.



Photos: Katie Lund (top), Trustees of the Reservation (middle, bottom).