Discovering Dummerston

I spend a good portion of my weekends hiking around the Monadnock Region, which in my mind includes the Brattleboro area. On a cloudy day in late May, my long-time hiking friend, Curtis Carroll, and I checked out two trails and a waterfall in Dummerston, Vt. — a small town that borders Brattleboro. Our first stop was a small Vermont state park, Dutton Pines State Park, located off Route 5 about five miles north of Brattleboro. In 1937, the 13-acre property, a former farm, was purchased by the state of Vermont from Edith Dutton to be developed into a park as a memorial to her father, Myron Dutton. Between 1938 and 1940, a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp based out of Bellows Falls, Vt., completed the development of the property as a day-use picnic area. The park remained a popular picnic and camping spot until the late 1950s when Interstate 91 diverted most through traffic away from Route 5. Dutton Pines was decommissioned as an active park in 1983. Today it is an informal place to walk and enjoy a picnic. There is no fee, and the park is not staffed. We started on the blue-blazed, 0.2-mile Myron Dutton Memorial Loop Trail, which moved under tall pines and came to a picnic shelter with a fireplace. From there, the trail continued to the right downhill past more huge trees. Curving to the left, the trail leveled out and came to a dirt road: Dummerston Station Rd. (Note: Taking a right on Dummerston Station Rd. leads 0.8 mile to the Connecticut River through a tunnel that passes under Interstate 91.) After a left turn and brief walk on Dummerston Station Rd., we turned left again and headed back into the woods. A short uphill climb brought us back to the parking lot. From the Dutton Pines parking lot, we headed out to our next destination: Prospect Hill. Turning left onto Route 5, we drove 0.9 miles to Houghton Rd. and turned right. In 0.4 miles we reached a stop sign. We continued driving straight, and slightly right, on Middle Rd. for 2.5 miles to Dummerston Center. After parking in the town offices lot, we checked out the classic white buildings: Congregational Church, Evening Star Grange Hall, town office and historical society building, formerly a schoolhouse. Then we headed out on foot to the Prospect Hill trailhead. At a four-way intersection, we crossed East-West Rd. and continued walking on Bunker Rd. After 150 yards we turned left onto Park Laughton Rd., lined with ancient maples. A 0.3-mile walk past fields and historic homes brought us to the trailhead — a wooden post in a field on the left of the road — just beyond a house numbered 133. We started on a grassy path spiked with common blue violets and bright-yellow dandelions. Moments later, we crossed a wooden footbridge and continued uphill on the trail, blazed with yellow diamonds. The trail ascended steeply, paralleling a rambling stone wall to the left. "There are not many switchbacks," said Curtis. In five minutes, we saw a tubing system for maple syrup production, the tube lines zigzagging through the woods. Curtis pointed out a break in the stone wall. "That's an opening for a gate. There's got to be a foundation back there somewhere," he said. Twenty minutes from the start of the trail we came to an open field covered with blueberry bushes at the top of the hill. Prospect Hill, (1,168 feet and a former cow pasture) is also known as Blueberry Hill. Here we got a great view of Mount Monadnock (east) and Mount Snow (west), a good site to watch the annual hawk migration. After taking a rest and enjoying the breeze, we started out again on the downhill trail. Shortly we came to a stone wall. A sign beyond the wall noted the way north to the Missing Link Trail, managed by the Putney Mountain Association. We turned right and continued the Prospect Hill Loop Trail. "That's an aspen over there. They are pioneer trees. Aspens get to a certain age and just die. I've got a few of them in the woods in my backyard that have fallen over," said Curtis. The trail rolled up and down through open woods. Soon we came to the end of the loop. Turning left, we continued a short distance downhill to the trailhead. Then it was off to our final destination: Jelly Mill Falls on Stickney Brook. From Dummerston Center, we drove on East-West Rd. for 2.3 miles to the Dummerston Covered Bridge (1872). After crossing that span, we turned left onto Route 5 and continued driving 1.7 miles to Stickney Brook Rd., parking in a dirt area on the side of the road. The name Jelly Mill Falls comes from an old cider mill that produced jelly. These easy-to-reach waterfalls are a spectacular sight and drop 40 feet to the West River. They look like a series of steps with water flowing over the horizontal slabs separating the small cascades. The natural beauty here is on par as any "tall" water drop. The Prospect Hill Trail is 2.1 miles in length and takes between one to two hours to complete. Leashed dogs are welcome as they are at Dutton Pines and Jelly Mill Falls.