"Having this trail … really connects quite a distance," Trails Committee member Linda Chuss told the Hopkinton Independent in early October. She was talking about a new stone-dust path running out from the Hopkinton Public Schools complex on Hayden Rowe Street.
Six days later, the 26.2 Foundation held an opening celebration for a half-mile trail on East Main Street. It sits on the ground where the foundation plans to build the International Marathon Center. This October, Hopkinton's trail network added three new paths in two places: two on the Hayden Rowe Street school campus and one on the future marathon center site. Each place has another main use, and each set of paths keeps that use's schedule.
A Third of a Mile That Starts at Field 11
The campus path starts on Loop Road near Field 11 and runs about a third of a mile to Chamberlain Street and the Berry Acres trail system. The Independent reports it is 10 feet wide, flat and surfaced with stone dust, like the Center, Hughes Farm and Echo trails.
Most of the cost is hidden under one crossing. Chuss said the project cost almost $100,000, and a big share went to a contractor who built an 8-foot-by-24-foot bridge over a ditch. Volunteers build most of the committee's bridges themselves. This one "required much more serious engineering," she said. Construction started this summer, with funding from the Community Preservation Committee.
The path matters because of what it links. According to the Trails Committee's description, the Berry Acres link opens a walking connection to:
- The Windsor Apartments off Lumber Street
- The mall at 77 West Main Street
- A stretch farther up West Main Street, across from Ice House Pond
A second path by Field 13 gives the Hopkinton High School cross-country team a course on campus. Trails Committee chair Peter LaGoy told the School Committee in May that he thought it would beat Hopkinton State Park, where the team runs now. Team members helped clear rocks and debris from the course.
The Same Campus, With a Bell Schedule
The new link starts on school grounds, and school grounds follow school hours. On October 1, the Town Manager's weekly update carried a notice from the superintendent. It asked residents to stay off the turf fields and away from school buildings during the school day. The Hopkinton Independent reported that more school-day dog walking was part of the reason. The paper also noted that Loop Road is still open to the public.
The notice gives no clock times and doesn't mention the new paths. It covers the same campus, though, so the Loop Road start of the new route sits beside fields the district has asked the public to leave alone until classes let out. The town's trail guide already handles this tension for the Center Trail next door. It lists parking in the Loop Road lots only outside school hours.
In practice, the simplest time to walk the full link is a weekend or after dismissal. Going west from campus, the route reads like this:
- Start on Loop Road near Field 11, behind the school complex.
- Cross the new 24-foot bridge over the ditch.
- Come out at Chamberlain Street and the Berry Acres trail system.
- Keep going through Berry Acres toward West Main Street. The town guide puts the main Berry Acres trailhead on West Main Street, with parking in the pond lot across the street.
If you'd rather leave campus out of a weekday walk entirely, starting from that West Main Street trailhead and walking east reaches the same bridge from the far side.
Across Town, a Half-Mile With an End Date
The East Main Street trail answers to a different partner, and its limit is a matter of months or years. In 2021, the town finalized a 99-year lease that gives the 26.2 Foundation a 19-acre site on East Main Street, Route 135. The site is on the Boston Marathon route, less than two-thirds of a mile from the starting line.
That ground now has a half-mile trail. Kim Chisholm, the foundation's executive director of development and institutional advancement, told the Hopkinton Independent that it was built with the Hopkinton Trails Committee and Athletic Brewing Company. The brewery's Two for the Trails conservation program paid for clearing the trail and the signs, and it helped fund an equipment shed. Chisholm called it "a preview of what's to come." She said it connects to the town's wider trail system and that the foundation hopes the center will become a "trails hub" once it opens.
The signs are the reason to make the trip. They were made with the Ohketeau Cultural Center and cover how people used this land, Nipmuc culture and traditions, and how those connect to running. A display at the opening said Hopkinton was the site of a Nipmuc village called Magunkaquoq, which translates to "A Place of Great Trees." Ohketeau representatives said the Marathon course follows much older Native trails that once connected Nipmuc communities across the region. At the Sunday ceremony, Larry Spotted Crow Mann of the Ohketeau Cultural Center sang an honor song while LaGoy looked on.
Chisholm said the trail stays open until construction on the center begins. That isn't imminent. The project is still in the leadership phase of its capital campaign, and new gifts are paying for site plans and traffic studies. "Once we do those things, we can start moving forward with the permitting process," she said. When the town announced the lease in 2021, the plan called for a marathon museum and hall of honor, conference facilities, an auditorium, research space, classrooms and function rooms. No published construction date exists yet. For now, the half-mile is open, and nobody has said for how long.
Two Partners, One Trails Committee
Side by side, the Berry Acres link and the East Main Street trail show the same approach. The Trails Committee builds where another institution's plans leave room, and accepts that institution's terms.
| Campus link to Berry Acres | 26.2 Foundation trail | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Loop Road near Field 11, Hayden Rowe Street campus | East Main Street, Route 135 |
| Length | About one-third of a mile | About one-half mile |
| Whose ground it shares | The main Hopkinton Public Schools complex | Town land leased to the 26.2 Foundation |
| Paid for by | Community Preservation Committee | Athletic Brewing's Two for the Trails |
| The condition | School-day request to stay off fields and away from buildings | Open until International Marathon Center construction begins |
The committee doing this work is new too. Chuss said the campus paths began as an idea from the Trails Coordination and Management Committee. That group was disbanded in 2025 along with the Upper Charles Trail Committee, and the two were rebuilt as today's Trails Committee. The campus project also involved the School Committee and the Conservation Committee. Both of October's openings depended on partners, and every new path will keep its partner's calendar.
What Is Still Unfinished
The campus paths are open but not quite complete, and November should settle a few loose ends.
- Names. Neither campus path has a name yet. Proposals will go to the School Committee first and then to the Select Board for final approval, and the committee may ask the Open Space Preservation Commission for input.
- Markers. The heavy construction is finished, but trail markers were still on the to-do list in early October.
- The East Main Street clock. The foundation's next steps are site plans, traffic studies and then permitting. Those decide how long the half-mile stays open.
For the campus link, the simplest plan is a Saturday or a late afternoon after dismissal. Plan to walk the East Main Street trail while it's still there.
A new path near your street changes how a neighborhood works day to day, and that is often the part buyers ask about first. If you'd like to know how Hopkinton's growing trail connections figure into your home's value, Steve Leavey can walk you through it, from the Berry Acres side of town to the Marathon corridor on Route 135. Request a Complimentary Market Consultation, or learn more about the town on our Hopkinton neighborhood page.
