Hanson

Alton Smith Reserve + Sleeper Conservation Area

Easy Hanson Parking

Alton Smith Reserve is a 103-acre retired cranberry bog in Hanson, surrounded by walking trails and wetlands, with a Natural Resource Conservation Service restoration program currently underway to return the streams and bog to their natural state. A network of wide, flat roads makes for easy walking here, with plenty of chances to spot wildlife, and spur trails through the woods connect over to Camp Kiwanee and the J.J. Shepherd Town Forest in Pembroke.

Bonney Hill Trail

Moderate Hanson Parking

The Bonney Hill Trail offers a rare glimpse of Hanson's agricultural past. A wide, 1.1-mile woodland trail leads along the base of Bonney Hill, past the former Plymouth County Hospital property, through a large open meadow, and onward to Wampatuck Pond, with a loop off the main trail offering additional views of the hospital grounds and the historic Bonney home. Most of the trails here are suitable for strollers and horses, and a section of the main trail is part of the Bay Circuit Trail.

Burrage Pond Wildlife Management Area

Easy Hanson Parking

Burrage Pond Wildlife Management Area, spanning Hanson and Halifax, is a genuinely massive property managed by the state as fisheries and wildlife habitat, with 10 miles of walking trails around ponds, marsh, swamps, and retired cranberry bogs. Once logged for cedar and then peat before becoming a large cranberry operation, it is a favorite among birders, especially for the wood ducks that breed here -- plan for a full day if you want to see much of it, since 2,000+ acres is not a quick walk.

Camp Kiwanee

Easy Hanson Parking

Camp Kiwanee is a historic town-owned campground and function venue on Maquan Pond in Hanson, with wooded trails and a genuinely storied past. It opened in 1930 as Camp Kiwanis, later becoming Camp Kiwanee ("spirit of joy and youth"), and the Town of Hanson purchased the property in 1979. Needles Lodge, the camp headquarters, sits atop a glacial ridge with a commanding view of the pond, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. The trails here connect into a longer Native American travel route that historically linked the North River and Taunton River watersheds.

Hanson Veterans Memorial Town Forest

Easy Hanson Parking

Veterans Commemorative Town Forest is an 88 acre conservation property located in Pembroke. The 2.8 mile trail network is next to Silver Lake and the Pembroke Community Middle School.

Indian Crossway Conservation Area

Moderate Hanson Parking

Indian Crossway Conservation Area in Hanson follows an ancient trail that the Mattakeeset used to travel between the North River and Taunton River watersheds, extending through the woods to the edge of the Great Cedar Swamp and into the northern part of the Burrage Pond Wildlife Management Area. Suitable for horses, it is part of the Bay Circuit Trail, and the roughly 2-mile route from the Crooker Place trailhead, around the loop, and through to the Elm Street entrance of Burrage Pond makes for a solid half-day walk.

MAQUAN POND AND CRANBERRY COVE

Hanson Parking

Cranberry Cove is a seasonal swimming beach on Maquan Pond in Hanson, with year-round car-top boat access (gas motors prohibited) and seasonal ice skating. It sits directly adjacent to Camp Kiwanee and the Alton J. Smith Reserve, so it is easy to combine a swim here with a longer walk next door. Families have been enjoying this spot since the 1940s.

Maquan Pond at Cranberry Cove

Hanson Parking

Cranberry Cove is a seasonal swimming beach on Maquan Pond in Hanson, with year-round car-top boat access (gas motors prohibited) and seasonal ice skating. It sits directly adjacent to Camp Kiwanee and the Alton J. Smith Reserve, so it is easy to combine a swim here with a longer walk next door. Families have been enjoying this spot since the 1940s.

Nathaniel Thomas Mill

Hanson

The Nathaniel Thomas Mill in Hanson occupies a genuinely significant historic site: in 1694-1695, Colonel Nathaniel Thomas built the first dam in Plymouth Colony to power a water wheel here, and his son Isaac later built a sawmill on the site. Through the centuries the mill changed hands and purposes many times, at one point adding tack-cutting machinery for the shoe industry, and burning down and being rebuilt along the way. The current reproduction mill building dates to Hanson's 1976 Bicentennial celebration and today hosts community events, farmers markets, and weddings.

Philip Clemons Conservation Area

Easy Hanson Parking

The 26-acre Philip Clemons Conservation Area in Hanson offers a half-mile loop trail through woods and wetlands, with two stream crossings and distant views of Oldham Pond. The land was deeded to the Town of Hanson in 2018, and in 2025 it was officially dedicated to Mr. Clemons, a longtime member and chair of the Hanson Conservation Commission.

Poor Meadow Brook Conservation Area

Easy Hanson Parking

Poor Meadow Brook Conservation Area in Hanson features a 1-mile trail through woods and wetlands, split into two intersecting loops along Poor Meadow Brook and the Shumatuscacant River. There is also water access here for canoes, kayaks, and anglers, making it a nice option if you want to combine a short walk with some time on the water.

Rocky Run Conservation Area

Moderate Hanson Parking

The Rocky Run Conservation Area is a small but fascinating 19-acre property in Hanson, jointly owned by the town and the Plymouth County Conservation Commission, situated at the confluence of the Indian Head River and Rocky Run Brook. It offers about a mile of its own trails, with direct links to the adjacent Tucker Preserve in Pembroke and Hanover's Indian Head River Trails across the water. The remains of three different stone dams here reveal an industrial past -- this was once the site of Barstow's Forge, and later a tack factory. Look for Dwelly Rock along the way, an enormous boulder engraved "Dwelly 1875," and a dry stone well from the 1700s or 1800s, now covered by a safety platform.

Smith-Nawazelski Conservation Area

Moderate Hanson Parking

Smith-Nawazelski Conservation Area in Hanson is the point where the Bay Circuit Trail enters the South Shore from East Bridgewater, crossing Poor Meadow Brook. It is a working link in a much larger regional trail system rather than a standalone destination, connecting onward through Burrage Pond, Indian Crossway Conservation Area, and The Last Meadows.

Webster-Billings Conservation Area

Moderate Hanson Parking

Bordered by residential areas off East Washington, State, and Brook Streets, Hanson's Webster-Billings Conservation Area features 62+ acres of woodlands with established trails. Indian Head Brook flows through the property on its way toward the Indian Head River.

Wompatuck Pond

Hanson

Wampatuck Pond, located next to the Hanson Town Hall, is suitable for fishing, paddling, and seasonal ice skating, with a ramp for small boats (swimming is not permitted). This manmade pond forms a scenic backdrop for the town hall, bordered by a small park, a cemetery, and residential areas, with trail access available at the adjacent Veterans Memorial Town Forest.