Did you know there is a town-owned pathway from the Library parking lot through the woods all the way to School Street? It is called “Parson’s Walk” or “Parson’s Way.” The MACRIS Form on file with the Massachusetts Historical Commission states: “The Parson’s Walk is named for a pathway from School Street to the back of the 1st Church of Christ (136 Main Street, MHC #239, 1848), connecting it with the historic Parsonage at 14 School Street (MHC #248, ca. 1870).

In the past, the path was used by pedestrians to walk between Town Hall Square and points west and north, the School Street baseball field, grammar school and casino (all now gone).  The area now is heavily wooded and provides a relatively unencumbered natural habitat for flora and fauna. It includes the top of a moderately sloping knoll and a wetland depression. Only the southwest-facing slope of the knoll, as viewed from Water Street, is landscaped.

The 1st Church of Christ uses about 1500 sq. ft. of the area as a playground for its Day School. The balance of the area is primitive with no records of building or agricultural activity in the area since the first European settlement in the vicinity in 1637. Care is provided by the Town of Sandwich under the Conservation Commission. (There is a primitive gravel and granite step path leading from the Library parking lot to the back of the 1st Church parking lot, dedicated to Jack and Clara Field. This path is unrelated to the historic Parson’s Walk. View entire MACRIS form and see a Locus Map of Parson’s Walk