Robert F. Smith Cold Brook Preserve

Click to Enlarge

The trails at the Robert F. Smith Cold Brook Preserve at 203 Bank Street will re-open on Earth Day (April 22, 2025), when improvements to the parking area will be completed. Please visit to check out the new views and see how ecological restoration has transformed this site into a wildlife oasis with rewilded wetland and stream habitats and an enhanced visitor experience, including a half-mile wheelchair accessible trail loop. 

Conservation History and Importance: In 2001, HCT preserved 66 acres of wetland and surrounding upland in the heart of Harwich Port. The Robert F. Smith Cold Brook Preserve protects wildlife habitat, water quality, and walking trails. Cold Brook flows through the 66 acres to Saquatucket Harbor on Nantucket Sound. In the fall of 2015, the Preserve was named in honor of Robert F. Smith, HCT Founding Trustee and President for 27 years. The Preserve is a botanist’s delight as it hosts more than 280 plant species. This is HCT’s largest conservation destination and includes a Bluebird Trail with 44 nestboxes monitored by volunteers from the Cape Cod Bird Club and HCT. Enjoy watching the brilliant bluebirds and iridescent blue-green tree swallows, but please keep your distance from their nestboxes and keep your pets leashed.

Trailhead Parking:

• From Rt. 39, take Bank Street 0.5 mile south to the Harwich Harbormaster’s Workshop on the left at #203 Bank Street.
• From Rt. 28, take Bank Street 0.7 mile north to the Harwich Harbormaster’s Workshop on the right.