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MADRID TOWNSHIP — Nestled in Madrid’s Intervale, the low-lying area between Saddleback, Saddleback Junior and Mount Abraham, is the Perham Stream Birding Trail and Museum, a merging of history and nature, that’s open year-round and free to visitors.
Carson Hinckley, the owner and proprietor, invites the community to enjoy the 2.2-mile trail network, which winds nature enthusiasts through five birding sub-habitats, offers panoramas of the valley and unique opportunities to enjoy the history of one of Maine’s many unorganized townships. The trail is wide and maintained with a mower biweekly, is easy to navigate, and is suitable for all ages. Pets are welcome but must be leashed.
Though teeming with history, the valley is mostly barren of homesteads. Once home to 68 buildings, only a few stands today. A cemetery, maintained by Hinckley, speaks to the generations who built their lives in the Intervale, where there was no store and bartering was the way of life.
The nuseum hosts a collected of historic farming equipment that was used in the Intervale as recently as the last decade. Hinckley has been collecting and sharing his collection with visitors for many years. As he says, “If the barn door is open, the museum is open.”
To visit the Perham Stream Birding Trail, go north on Route 4 to Phillips, turn right onto Route 142 in Phillips. Foll Route 142 for 2.5 miles, turn left onto the East Madrid Road. The trail is 4.7 miles from this turn, stay straight through the intersection, cross over Perham Stream, arriving at 658 East Madrid Road, a red farmhouse. The trailhead and kiosk are on the left.
PHOTO: Birders from the Rangeley Birding Festival visit Perham Stream Birding Trail. (Submitted photo)
