DeNormandie Woods

This property features miles of interconnected trails that traverse a variety of terrains and difficulty levels (see descriptions below). From wide, grassy carriage roads to narrow, rocky footpaths, all trails are well marked and easy to navigate.

Blue Trail

Length: 1.2 miles

Difficulty: Easy-Moderate

A gentle trail following historic woods roads, it offers scenic views of East Branch Cat Brook, striking rock outcroppings, and a magnificent bridge spanning the MBTA tracks, linking DeNormandie Woods to the Manchester Essex Conservation Trust’s Hooper Trask Pasture Conservation Land.

Orange Trail

Length: 1.3 miles

Difficulty: Easy-Moderate

Starting on a woods road before narrowing into single-track, this loop passes numerous striking glacial erratics, connects to all other trails on the property, and leads hikers to the Gloucester side of DeNormandie Woods.

Pink Trail

Length: 1.6 miles

Difficulty: Challenging

Branching north from the Orange Trail, this challenging single-track route features constantly shifting elevations, navigating over numerous half-buried glacial erratics, ledges, and rocky outcroppings. Adventurous hikers can continue north into the greater Gloucester Watershed lands, eventually reaching Dykes Pond and, farther still, Mount Ann.

Red Trail

Length: 1.0 miles

Difficulty: Moderate

This loop, combining single- and double-track trails, offers a scenic view of Cranberry Pond, a deep marsh encircled by shrub swamp. It connects north to the Gloucester Watershed lands and south to Forest Lane, providing access deeper into the forest or back to the road.

DeNormandie Woods spans 330 acres in Manchester and Gloucester and is part of a vast 1,400-acre protected landscape. This ecologically rich forest boasts a variety of terrains and elevations, with striking glacial erratics, rugged ledges, and rocky outcroppings that help define its natural beauty.

With miles of trails of varying degrees of difficulty, the property is perfect for hiking, mountain biking, leisurely strolls, and a variety of outdoor activities in every season. The extensive trail network, which links Hooper Trask to Cranberry Pond and Dykes Pond, offers a mix of wide carriage paths and winding trails. The property also encompasses the headwaters of East Branch Cat Brook and Wolf Trap Brook, playing a vital role in preserving local water quality.

This property was permanently conserved by Greenbelt in 2025, completing a decades-long effort to protect this remarkable landscape. Generous support from a Commonwealth of Massachusetts Landscape Partnership Grant, Manchester-by-the-Sea Community Preservation Act funds, the Manchester Essex Conservation Trust, the City of Gloucester, foundation grants, and many private donors made this final achievement of forming a greenbelt stretching between Route 128 and the MBTA Rockport line.

The conservation effort began in the 1980s and reached an early milestone in the late 1990s, when local citizens, the Manchester Essex Conservation Trust, and others joined forces to protect 120 acres under a conservation restriction.

We are grateful to the DeNormandie family, whose 25-year commitment to assembling and stewarding these 330 acres made permanent protection possible. To the north, conservation of the Cranberry Pond area was made possible through the generosity and foresight of Steve and Marion Hall, who partnered with Greenbelt over more than 40 years to protect nearly 100 acres through six separate donations of land and conservation restrictions.

Flora

This mixed hardwood forest features oak, maple, and American beech trees, along with a large number of graceful Hemlocks. The understory is dotted with a variety of wildflowers and shrubs, including mountain laurel, while the wetland areas along the brooks are home to plants such as skunk cabbage and cattails. To the northwest is Cranberry Pond, a beautiful marsh teeming with aquatic plants and grasses, surrounded by a rich, open forest primarily made up of beech trees.

Fauna

The forest supports a rich variety of wildlife, including numerous mammals, birds, amphibians, and insects. Conifer stands provide shelter for songbirds, while wetlands attract migrating species and support frogs, salamanders, and pollinators. Owls, woodpeckers, and birds of prey are often seen or heard overhead, contributing to the area’s ecological diversity.