On the east/ocean side of the Center Hill Conservation Area, watch for harbor seals and gray seals swimming in the water or lounging on the rocks. (Per the Marine Mammal Protection Act, remain at least 150 feet away at all times.) It’s important to know that seals and sharks tend to enjoy the same water areas. At low tide, hunt for crabs, periwinkle, and seaweed in the tide pools along the shore. The dunes are prime habitat for shorebirds such as piping plovers. There is also an osprey nest platform. On a clear day, you may be able to see across the water to Race Point in Provincetown.

Some of the west side of the property is a pine barren. The Southeastern Massachusetts Pine Barrens Alliance (SEMPBA) Discovery Center is on site. Some of the trees here include pitch pine, sassafras, oak, birch, white pine, and cedar. Look for white-tailed deer in the woods and all sorts of waterfowl around the old bog.

This large, diverse property offers a 2.4-mile trail network that traverses woods, wetlands, ocean shoreline, and a former cranberry bog. Located on Cape Cod Bay. Rocky, but otherwise suitable for swimming in the summer.

In earlier times, this land was within the region of the Patuxet, members of the Wampanoag tribe, who inhabited the area around the Jones River now known as Duxbury, Kingston, and Plymouth.

The easternmost point in Plymouth is located here. Henry David Thoreau walked through this property during the trek he chronicled in his book Cape Cod.

There are two sides to the preserve, with a total of 2.4 miles of trails.

The 28-acre east side provides a short, winding trail through open woodland, along the edge of a marsh and Center Hill Pond, and then along a boardwalk to dunes and a rocky beach on Cape Cod Bay. The beach itself, with 1/2 mile of accessible coastline, is open to the public, but please be mindful of private property.

The 70-acre west side provides a network of trails through the woods and around an old cranberry bog. The trails are blazed in white. The terrain is a series of rolling hills, with some moderate elevations. There is a wind turbine immediately adjacent.

The AllTrails website has a description and map of a hike at Center Hill Conservation Area.