With his thick down vest and hiking boots, Dave Anderson looks the part of a true outdoorsman. His clothing implies that he should be hiking the Appalachian Trail, but the forest he stands in today lies within the city limits of Portsmouth. At Creek Farm, the city is a distant memory except for a few houses that dot the opposite bank of Sagamore Creek, and the only sounds are the lapping of tidal waters and birds calling to each other as they continue their autumn migration. A heron shows its white belly as it flies overhead, its wings cutting through stillness.

Located at 400 Little Harbor Road and nestled against the wooded Wentworth-Coolidge historic site, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests recently opened the 35-acre Creek Farm reservation to the public. Dave Anderson is director of education for SPNHF, and leads the many visitors who have come out for opening day for walking tours of the newly finished trails that snake around the waterfront.

Void of development, the forest at Creek Farm has flourished, and it’s one of only a few places in Rockingham County where old- growth trees are present.

Creek Farm is SPNHF’s first property in Portsmouth, adding to the 43,000 acres they already manage throughout the state. Other holdings nearby include 185 acres within the city limits of Rochester, and they are endeavoring to protect 2,000 acres in Nottingham as a working forest where timber is responsibly harvested. The SPNHF is a private, non-profit organization with 10,000 members statewide, a land management staff and many volunteers. They hope to protect an additional one million acres in the next 25 years, promoting wise use of renewable resources and protecting clean water through what president/forester Jane Difley calls “science-based” land conservation. Respect for open space is a top priority.

“It’s important for there to be open lands in every community, to be outdoors and to identify with a piece of land,” Difley says. 

Jack Savage, SPNHF’s vice president of communications, notes that open space of this size is unusual in the Seacoast area, especially along the coast. “It’s part of an intended decision to work to protect land in this part of the state while we still can,” he says. “Once land is residential, it is rare for it to ever be open space again.”  

Creek Farm is one of the few public properties where Seacoast residents can actually see a kingfisher catching dinner at a brackish tidal inlet. The trail system provides access to 1,100 feet of shoreline on Sagamore Creek, with views of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Wentworth by the Sea and the Wentworth-Coolidge mansion, home of New Hampshire’s first royal governor.

Arthur Astor Carey built the picturesque main house and a carriage house in 1888. He hired notable architect Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow to design it, and it’s survived as a singular example of a gilded age “summer cottage” in New Hampshire. In 1957, Lillian and Chester Noel bought the land and converted the main house to 11 apartments, being careful to preserve its elegant architectural details. After Chester Noel died, Lillian wanted to make sure her property could never be developed into condominiums. In 1998, she sold an easement to the state of New Hampshire to protect Creek Farm forever, guaranteeing that the land will always remain open space and much-needed wildlife habitat.

Creek Farm is a perfect example of how land is constantly growing and changing, especially within the confines of civilization. The people of SPNHF are the first to make trails in this forest for public use, though there are signs of history present in half-buried stone walls and in previously cleared areas slowly reverting back to forest. Succession starts with pioneer species like cottonwood, poplar and beech that can only grow in full sunlight. The trees are straight and tall, their branches reaching up to the surprisingly warm October sun.

This new growth ecosystem is different than the red oak grove on the property, which is much older and has established levels of canopy and undergrowth. The functioning forest floor is covered with acorns and sustains all types of wildlife, from foxes and blue jays to squirrels and mice. Old red oak groves like this one are rare; oak is valuable as furniture, veneer and even firewood because it burns very hot.     

Non-native plants and trees that were introduced at the Wentworth-Coolidge site from Europe continue to shape the environment. Autumn olive, barberry and honeysuckle have since crawled all over the Seacoast.  Invasive species are aggressive and compete with native species for water and sunlight, but animals adapt to how humans have changed the land and sometimes even use it to their advantage. Foxes have built dens in the abandoned garden of the main house, and herons feed in the rich waters at the calm tidal inlet that was once cultivated as a swimming hole. At an orchard that was once part of the Wentworth-Coolidge site, trees are still producing fruit that feed wildlife. Small yellow pears litter the ground, as do half-rotten apples that become fodder for small animals.

People have always come into Creek Farm to walk around and view the water, but now it can be enjoyed with the peace of mind that comes with knowing it will be here for many generations to come. However, that peace of mind comes with a price tag.

SPNHF paid $650,000 for the property in 2000, which was then valued at $1.2 million. In the Seacoast’s booming economy, it’s now worth $2.5 million. SPNHF owns and manages the land and the New Hampshire State Department of Resources and Development holds a conservation easement on the 30 acres that are open to the public. The easement guarantees no subdividing and no development on the property, even if SPNHF ceases to exist. SPNHF will manage the land as a tree farm, bird sanctuary and wildlife reservation. They’ll also manage the trail system and public use, including picnicking, hiking, kayaking and canoeing. There is a free carry-in boat launch on Sagamore Creek.

There are also five acres on the property not under easement, located around the buildings and parking lot. The Shoals Marine Lab, a partnership program of the University of New Hampshire and Cornell University, will be sharing in Creek Farm’s riches. The Lab recently signed a 50-year lease on the five acres where the buildings are located. They plan to turn the main house into classroom and living space for up to 20 students and a half dozen faculty and staff, and the carriage house into lab and classroom space. 

Creek Farm will provide a year-round inland base of operations for the Lab, whose main location is on Appledore Island in the Isles of Shoals. “There’s so much more space here than on Appledore Island,” says Laurie Johnson, Admissions Officer at Shoals Marine Lab. “There’s so many more options on this property.”

Creek Farm will be a working site where students can do research in the salt marshes and mudflats, providing a terrestrial research component that’s vital to marine education. The original growth oak forest, as well as many exotic shrubs and trees that line the tidal river, make the aquatic habitat at Creek Farm unique.  There is also a dock for the Lab’s two boats, the 48-foot Kingsbury and the 37-foot Heiser. 

“It’s a win-win-win situation,” Anderson says as he stops the tour group in front of the main house. “The Forest Society, the Shoals Marine Lab and the city of Portsmouth all benefit from this land.”

Though the lab facility is closed to the public, Johnson is optimistic that sharing the rest of the site with the public will work out well. “It’s all educational,” she says. “We can put this land to great use.”

Creek Farm, located at 400 Little Harbor Road in Portsmouth,  is open from dawn until dusk every day. Dogs are not allowed, due to the Noel family’s wishes. For more information, visit www.spnhf.org or contact the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests at 603-224-9945. More on the history of Creek Farm’s conservation is available online at www.creekfarmnh.org.