The best walks and hikes around West Falmouth

Built around 1690 by the Bourne family, it's one of the oldest surviving English Colonial houses in Connecticut. The farmhouse originally served as a homestead and remained in the Bourne family for over 200 years. Today, the Bourne Farmhouse stands as a living history museum, offering educational programs and events.

Long Pond has served as the primary source of drinking water for the town since the late 1800s, making it a unique feature among Cape Cod ponds. The Water Division Building, situated on the southwest corner of Long Pond, stands between Long and Grew's Pond. While cycling in this area, it serves as a distinctive landmark to admire.

At the edge of Wind Pond Woods is a working cranberry bog. This iconic Massachusetts berry is harvested in the fall by flooding the bogs, which then cause the ripe fruits to float off their stems for collection. This spot is on a section of trail takes you up on a causeway overlooking one of the large bogs. This quintessential Cape Cod view is lovely all year round, but particularly beautiful in the fall when the ripening berries turn the fields a bright red.

The Wing Pond Herring Run is where herring swim up Herring Brook from Buzzards Bay at Old Silver Beach into Wing Pond to spawn in the freshwater before returning to the sea. These fish are a vital food sources for many other larger fish, whales, and coastal birds. Its amazing to watch these fish swim upstream to their breeding grounds in the spring! Even when the herring aren't "running," this is still an enjoyable, peaceful woodland spot near Wing Pond.

This old tunnel passes below what is currently the Shinning Sea Bikeway, but what used to be a railroad and is how livestock at Bourne Farm got from the barn to the pastures safely. This tunnel is a tight squeeze, but a neat way to experience some of the history of the area.

Bourne Farm was established in 1775 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This restored, original farmhouse was one of the seven initial houses in West Falmouth. Visiting this beautiful spot is a great way to start your walk at Bourne Farms.

On the eastern side of Long Pond you can visit the Sphagnum Bog where in the fall, winter, and spring you can frequently find a vernal pool. Also known as ephemeral pools, autumnal pools, and temporary woodland ponds, these pools fill in the autumn and winter and are usually dry by the middle of the summer. These pools are vital parts of the New England woodland ecosystem. Many amphibians, from Spring Peepers and Wood Frogs to Spotted Salamanders, and insects, like fairy shrimp, breed and lay their eggs in these pools. This vernal pool is a great place to stop for anyone interested in ecology of the Outer Cape.

Miles Pond, or Ice House Pond, is a small, 7-acre kettle pond on the edge of Beebe Woods near the Peterson Farm. Ice House Pond provides a secluded and peaceful spot to enjoy the water. Ice House Pond was a source for ice in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, hence its name. Today, it's a great place to swim, fish ( with a valid Massachusetts freshwater fishing license), canoe, and even ice skate during the winter months.