Sanford Farm may be Nantucket’s most heavily traversed walking trails, but most people stop and the barn and turn around, completely skipping the Ram’s Head and Ocean Walk trail loop which are Nantucket’s most stunning walking trail. The wide, well maintained dirt and mowed grass trail littered with interpretive signage that offer information about the area to the public, and a little something extra for experienced Modern geocachers. The area is popular with birdwatchers, joggers, and dog walkers.
For most of its history, Ram Pasture was a peninsula surrounded by Hummock Pond on three sides (east, south, and west) with a densely- vegetated freshwater wetland known as Trots Swamp to the north. However, the southern end of Hummock Pond, a horseshoe-shaped body of fresh water, filled in with sand due to severe coastal erosion during the blizzard of 1978. Since then, Hummock Pond has been separated into two distinct branches, which are the remnants of glacial rivers that flowed through the area just after the end of the last ice age approximately 12,000 years ago.
Ram Pasture was formerly known as “Nanahuma’s Neck,” named for the Native American Sachem (chief) who lived there in the 1600’s. The name “Ram Pasture” came from the practice of using the lower part of the peninsula for grazing rams to keep them isolated from ewes. This management practice controlled breeding to ensure that no lambs were born during the coldest winter months. The rams were herded to the pastures from other grazed lands along the south shore of the island over a bridge that once spanned the narrowest portion of the east branch of Hummock Pond.
Historic names for the area located between Ram Pasture and Sanford Farm include “The Long Trees,” “Long Woods,” and “The Woods,” which refer to the dense trees and shrubs found in the vicinity of Trots Swamp. Due to high amounts of clay in the soil of this region, it is poorly drained and moist throughout much of the year. Species that are adapted to growing under these conditions occur here, including hawthorn, swamp azalea, sweet pepperbush, shadbush, and highbush blueberry.
Link to trail map and more information about the property: https://www.nantucketconservation.org/assets/2.3.1-Sanford-Farm-Trail-Guide-for-Web.pdf