This 98-acre property was acquired in the fall of 2016 from the Wiley family who summered on the Red Farm along Kezar Lake Road. The Wileys managed the property as a tree farm for several decades. Located within the GLLT Western Wildlife Habitat and Corridor Focus Area, this property is a valuable link in a chain of preserved habitats that offer wildlife sanctuary through connectivity. Situated on Kezar Lake Road at its easterly border, the property includes a 500-yard stretch on both shores of Long Meadow Brook and borders private property that is open to the public under a GLLT conservation easement to the south. The parking lot is reached from Kezar Lake Road via a steep logging road with water bars. It is accessible to regular clearance vehicles under dry conditions. Trails lead to benches with impressive views of Mount Kearsarge North (toward the southwest) and the Baldface peaks (to the northwest).
Early settlers cleared this area 200 years ago and original stone walls are in evidence throughout the property along with a few gigantic “shade trees”— evidence of the pasture lands opened during the 19th century. Remnants of a small home or barn can be found just west of the parking lot. More recently, the land was used as a working forest and dedicated as a “Tree Farm.” Views of the White Mountains to the west are exquisite, as are the opportunities to observe wildlife in the clearings, near the beaver dam, and along the brook. Songbirds, wading birds, and raptors are common and the entire Long Meadow Brook marsh is ranked as “significant habitat for wading birds and waterfowl” by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife