The Brewster Conservation Trust completed a fundraising campaign to preserve 10 acres atop the highest hill in Brewster. We raised $120,600 to buy this parcel in East Brewster.
You cannot get a nosebleed climbing Brewster’s highest hill. At only 134 feet above sea level, you can barely get out of breath. Still, when we had a chance to buy part of its eastern flank, we jumped at the chance. We thank all our supporters, including the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which provided a grant for half the purchase price.
Huckleberry Hill is our made-up name for this landform located between Baker’s Pond and Nickerson State Park in East Brewster. Take a look at the photo and you will see the knee-high carpet of huckleberry shrubs at the autumnal peak of their color, a wine-dark sea out in the forest.
The 10-acre forest tract is composed of white and black oaks, and pitch pine, with occasional wispy white pines, mockernut, American beech and sassafras trees. It abuts a 90-acre assemblage of town-owned conservation lands. Well-grooved narrow foot trails wend their way through this area. It is a favorite haunt for white-tailed deer. It is truly a forgotten pocket of Brewster, perhaps even more so than the Punkhorn nowadays.