The Lamson Farm Trails at Lamson Farm in Mont Vernon, New Hampshire is an easy 3-mile loop hike that features a peaceful walk in nature along several trails.
Trail name: Lamson
Farm Trails, all trails are named by color: Yellow Trail, Red Trail, Blue Trail, White Trail, Green Trail, Orange Trail, and the unnamed and unblazed Main Trail that heads north from the parking lot.
Location and History: Lamson Farm Road, Mont Vernon NH. The Lamson Farm is a historic farm that was added to the National Register of Historic places in 1981. The farm was founded in the 1770s by William Lamson of Ipswich Massachusetts. Several generations of the Lamson family worked the farm up until the death of William Lamson in 1974. His widow, Florence Brown Lamson, donated the farmhouse and some land to the Town of Mont Vernon and the remaining part of the property was purchased by the town with help from the Federal government. The roughly 300 acre area is overseen by the Lamson Farm Commission of Mont Vernon. Lamson Farm is used for recreation, conservation and farmland and before the Covid-19 Pandemic would host an annual Lamson Farm Day the last Saturday in the month of September. Hopefully the Town of Mont Vernon will be able to once again enjoy this celebration of their town and history in the near future.
Allowed activities: Hiking, Mountain biking, Nature Study
Forbidden activities: Motor vehicles are allowed ONLY on the main trail, no overnight parking, no fires without a permit
Hours: Daylight hours only
Fees and Parking: There is no fee to park or use the trails. There is ample parking just past the trailhead information kiosk. Use caution when turning down the road to park as there was a large rock protruding from the center of the road, and it blends into the dirt road.
Pets: Dogs are allowed on the trails but must remain leashed
Accessibility: The trails are not wheelchair accessible
Sanitation: There are no restrooms or trash receptacles at the trailhead or along the trails. Please carry out what you carry in.
Trail information: There are several interconnecting trails at this site, giving hikers and opportunity to make the hike as long or as short as they wish. There is an information Kiosk at the trail head with a posted map, but at the time of our visit, there were no maps to take along the hike, so be wise and take a picture to refer to.
The route we explored took us roughly 3 miles and the difficulty of the hike was easy. We chose to do the hike as a loop with some side hikes added in so that we could explore as much of the area as possible in one hike.
The trails are named by color, and the blazes along the trails match the name. With the exception of the Orange trail, all the trails that we hiked were well marked, well maintained and well blazed. The Orange trail junction and turning points are not well marked. The loop junction is not clear at all, and when the loop turns, the blaze is off of the main trail in the brush and is difficult to see. An additional problem is that past the turning point there is a trail sign and orange blazes. This is not shown on the posted trail map. If a hiker has not studied the map, and misses the turning point and continues straight, they will ultimately arrive at Route 13 and have to turn around and back track. As mentioned, the actual turning point is not well marked or maintained, and if hikers want to attempt the loop they should be prepared to do some bushwhacking. Getting back to the other side of the loop will be a bit ambiguous as well. Hikers will want to be on the lookout for a rock wall and a house to let them know they will need to turn the head back to close the loop. The trails have changing substrates. Some are wide gravel roads; others narrow single pathways either through the woods or through open fields. We recommend that hikers stop frequently to remove ticks. While there is nothing spectacular along the trails as far as scenic vistas, or bodies of water or streams, it is still a very lovely hike and a great way to immerse yourself in nature.
