James Farm Ecological Preserve

Beautiful park with a fantastic bayside beach. The trails are not very extensive; I think we did all of them in less than 2 hours, and we were strolling leisurely and stopping to take lots of pictures. They are beautiful trails, just not extensive enough for a day of hiking. I wouldn't plan on spending the whole day here unless you plan on going to the beach too.

It's a narrow beach, especially at high tide, and you have to walk pretty far out, even at high tide, before the water gets deep enough to swim. This makes it an ideal place for small children who are still learning to swim. But it's great for adults too, if you want to avoid the surf and have a calm, relaxing swim. You just need to walk out for awhile until it gets deep enough.

I even saw a lone dolphin swimming out there!

Just off the beach is a shed where you can rent kayaks and/or paddleboards, but nobody was there on a Sunday afternoon. Not sure how it works, maybe you have to book online ahead of time, and maybe nobody booked that day? That's hard to believe, on a Sunday during peak beach season, but who knows. The business is called "Ecobay Kayak & SUP," if you want to try calling to inquire.

There is no parking or entrance fee, no tickets to buy. I only mention this because Google is asking me if I recommend buying tickets in advance.

Liking this trail a lot!! Considerably less people traffic and just feels more like a nature trail. Plus it has beach access. Lot of ticks though.....

The beach was one of the only beaches in the area that allowed dogs during the summer season. The parking lot seems to fill up fast but we got a spot as someone else was leaving. The walk to the beach is short and shaded. The beach is on the small side but great for what we wanted to do which was take our dogs to the beach for the first time. They had a blast swimming and running in the sand. The beach wasn't very crowded,mostly just children and people renting kayaks. The only downside was the inconsiderate people who let their unleashed dog come growling and running at us as we were walking by. Luckily our reflexes are fast as we were able to pick up our dogs quickly as their dog went to grab ours,but there was no recall or attempt to help us get their dog away from ours. Not even a sorry,they actually got nasty with us when we reminded them that their dog should be on a leash.

Overall it was a good experience,but just be careful if you have small dogs or any dog for that matter as there will always be people who think the leash rules don't apply to them.