Venture into Portland and you’ll encounter lots of cars, lots of buildings, lots of pavement. That’s to be expected in Maine’s largest city.
But behind the asphalt, the streets and highways, the countless traffic lights, and the hubbub of the city landscape lies a network of nearly 100 miles of walking trails that offer a more serene and peaceful side of Portland.
The pathways are part of Portland Trails, an urban land trust with trails that pass through woods and marshes, across fields, alongside rivers and the ocean waterfront, on boardwalks and, yes, even along city streets. The trail
network is a quick and easily accessible way for people to get in touch with nature and leave behind the everyday worries of city life.
Mary and Chris Copeland are regular users of the trail system, calling it a vital resource for the city. The ready access to the trails in Portland is a marked difference from when they lived in Brooklyn, New York. There, they had a very limited selection of outdoor green spaces to use.
“When you’re in a place where it isn’t easy to do, it becomes such a stark contrast,” Chris said. “Here there are trails everywhere, and there’s urban planning for the integration of trails. And if you go somewhere where that isn’t the case, it becomes abundantly clear.”
What further resonates with them is that the trails are there for everybody, Mary said. “The Portland Trails system, there’s no barrier to entry,” she said. “You can just go and enjoy the trails, and it doesn’t cost anything.”
Portland Trails’ vision is straightforward: to cultivate “a healthy, inclusive, and vibrant community, enriching the quality of life for all.”
The numbers tell part of the story of how Portland Trails has become rooted into the fabric of the city since its founding in 1991. According to the organization, 95 percent of Portland residences are located within a quarter-mile of a trail in the network. Each year, there are more than 1 million visits to the walkways.
Portland Trails has more than 1,200 members and hundreds of volunteers who help maintain the network each year. Its annual budget is approaching $800,000. Fifty-five percent of its revenue comes from individual donations and memberships, and 40 percent from corporate contributions and grants and investments.
The trails range from as long as 5 or 6 miles to as short as 50 feet or so, said Bailey O’Brien, Portland Trails’ communications and events manager. Those short trails serve as connectors between urban neighborhoods, providing short-cuts to make it easier to move about the city. “That’s one of the cool things about being an urban land trust,” O’Brien said.
The two most popular trails are owned and maintained by the City of Portland but are still part of the Portland Trails walkways network. The most-used trail is the 3.5-mile Back Cove Trail loop around the city’s Back Cove, which has great views of the city’s skyline. Next up is the 2.1-mile Eastern Promenade Trail, which follows the shoreline from the city’s east end to the ferry terminal.
On its trail map, Portland Trails provides detailed descriptions of 15 of its more popular trails, many of which are suitable for both walking and biking. They go by names such as Canco Woods, East Bridge Trail, Evergreen Woods, Fore River Sanctuary, Presumpscot River Preserve, Riverside Trail, Stroudwater River Trail, Thompson Point Trail, and the Viriginia Woods & Graves Hill. Beyond those trails, there are dozens more that are part of the network.
Portland Trails was incorporated 34 years ago, but its origins go back decades earlier, to when Tom Jewell used to explore what is now the Fore River Sanctuary when he was growing up in a nearby neighborhood in Portland. Jewell was one of Portland Trails’ co-founders, along with Nathan Smith and Dick Spencer.
That personal connection he felt as a youngster with the sanctuary’s fresh- and saltwater marshes, forests, and Portland’s only natural waterfall (now called Jewell Falls) set in motion Jewell’s determination to somehow preserve Portland’s natural beauty.
That original vision has grown to include trails in Portland, Westbrook, Falmouth, and South Portland. While Portland Trails itself owns about 150 acres of land, the rest of the network for the most part is owned by municipalities or private landowners. In many cases, Portland Trails has negotiated easements with property owners granting public access on the trails.
“It was all volunteer for a while. Then we hired a part-time director and a full-time director. Now I don’t even know how big the staff is,” said Jewell, who’s now 73. “It’s certainly grown way beyond my expectations. But it’s been rewarding to be part of the effort.”
Reflecting back, Smith said it’s more important than ever for people —children in particular—to maintain a connection to the outdoors and all it has to offer.
“This is part of the layering and depth of living in the world, to appreciate the richness of what’s around us,” he said.
Nowadays, Portland Trails has an office in Portland’s East Bayside neighborhood that it shares with the Bicycle Coalition of Maine. It has nine employees and is headed by Jon Kachmar, who has decades of experience in natural resource management and who became executive director in 2023.
Beyond maintaining its network of trails, Portland Trails also serves as an advocacy group. It works on initiatives such as improving pedestrian and bicycle safety and raising awareness among low-income and immigrant communities of the benefits of the trails and outdoor spaces.
Besides having an appreciation for all Portland Trails has to offer, Mary and Chris Copeland also have a soft spot in their hearts for the trail network. After all, it was on the Eastern Promenade Trail where Chris pulled out a ring and proposed to Mary.
Later, it was shortly after walking that same trail, that Mary went into labor with their first son, Teddy, who is now closing in on 5.
“I don’t know if it was intentional that we were on the trail system during these big moments in our lives,” Mary said. “Maybe there was a natural gravitational pull because we like being outside and are active people.”
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Clarke Canfield is a longtime journalist and author who has written and edited for newspapers, magazines, and the Associated Press. He lives in South Portland.
For more information
Visit Portland Trails online at trails.org.
