A hike through open fields leading to the burial grounds of a North Shore sagamore

One of the most scenic hikes on the North Shore is located in Hamilton just 5 minutes away from busy Route 133 in Essex. The John J. Donovan Reservation & Sagamore Hill Conservation Area is one of the largest properties co-managed by the Essex County Greenbelt. The trails here are wide and well-marked, and for portions of the meadows trails you’ll find yourself walking on broken clam shells, an attractive surprise.

Our 3.25 mile loop starts in the parking lot of the Reservation, located at 473 Sagamore Street, Hamilton. Enter over the wooden bridge and you will emerge from the pine woods as the sky opens up over rolling hills of pastureland. The winding trail to your left will take through wildflowers and bramble that hosts meadow birds in the summer. Your first destination is Willow Hill. A short scramble up will reveal distant views of Crane Beach and the Atlantic Ocean.

Following the trail to the south accesses a woodsy trail maintained by the Essex County Trail Association that leads to Sagamore Hill, the final resting place of Masconomet, Sagamore, or Chief of the indigenous people on the North Shore. Incongruously, since 1966 a government solar observatory shares the hilltop with the gravesite.

if you’re like me, you’ll feel on returning through woods and open fields a renewed appreciation for the special places on the North Shore that have been preserved in perpetuity for everyone to enjoy.