For more than a year now, Medway & Millis News has privileged us, the stewards of all things Medway trails, to get the word out about the hot button town trails' news items. Traditionally, the spotlight has highlighted one trail per month but recently there have been a few updates about trails that have already been highlighted in the past though future issues will also include articles about current trails again and include a future trail in the works.

In October, it was mentioned that Hoag Woods was dedicated by the Upper Charles Conservation Land Trust. In September's issue, the privately-owned property known as the Willows was highlighted. There are certain categories that our trails fall into besides private versus public and some of these category's overlap. Currently, trails are also categorized as walking trails, water trails, historical trails and agricultural trails. Eventually, we will list all that Medway residents have access to by easement or town ownership,

A recent walk around the parcels that comprise the Briggs property, which were approved for purchase at the Spring 2026 town meeting, opened the possibility of divvying the parcels into agricultural and/or walking trails or just overlapping them as both. There is still work to be done there before it is open to the public though Select Board members have hired a local farmer to do some haying for this year. Once 2027 comes, expect to see more information about the progress of the new trail as currently, it is not ready for public access. When it gets completely cleared out, it will connect with both the red trail in one area and the high school trail in another.

Meanwhile, the new Miyawaki Forest is not a trail but is at the Idylbrook Conservation area, which includes a walking trail adjacent to the new forest, so that addition could be considered agricultural. Medway's multiple trails can be considered multi definable.

Submitted by Medway Open Space Committee and Medway Trail Club