The Windham Rail Trail passes through the woodsy periphery of Windham in southern New Hampshire, but it sits in the heart of the future cross-state Granite State Rail Trail. Its connections to the Derry Rail Trail in the north and the Salem Bike-Ped Corridor in the south make up the longest paved section—10 miles—of a future 125-mile route between Massachusetts and Vermont that will combine several trails.
The trail follows a railbed taken out of service by the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1980. Rail service first came to Windham in the 1840s with the Manchester and Lawrence Railroad, which carried freight and passengers to the growing industrial belt. A 3-mile section through Windham cost the most to build because of extensive rock cutting and the filling of lowlands. The Boston and Maine gained control in 1887. After the line fell into disuse, it became a gravel multiuse trail; Windham finished paving the path in 2016.
At the northern trailhead near the Derry town line, explore the Boston and Maine Railroad C-16 caboose and the restored 1849 Windham Depot and freight terminal. The station served the busy junction between the Manchester and Lawrence Division and the Worcester, Nashua & Portland Division of the Boston and Maine Railroad. Today the trailhead serves as a rail-trail crossroads with the Rockingham Recreational Rail Trail (Fremont Branch), see page 139, heading northeast and the future Windham Greenway heading west.
You’ll meet the Derry Rail Trail 0.2 mile northwest of the trailhead. That paved trail continues north 4 miles into downtown Derry. In the other direction, the trail passes between the old station and freight house and enters a wooded area that borders most of the path.
You’ll pass two marshy areas as you follow Flatrock Brook and cross over Mallard Road in the first mile. Mitchell Pond comes into view on the right in 0.8 mile. This area presented problems for the railroad builders as the railbed kept sinking into a meadow. Not far past the pond, you’ll fall into the shade of the first pass through rock, which also slowed railroad construction.
Length: 4.3 miles
Trail end points: Derry Rail Trail at N. Lowell Rd/Windham Rd at Brown Rd and RSalem Bike-Ped Corridor at Range Road at SR 28/N. Broadway (Windham)
