Conservation Lands
Cardoza Farm
An abandoned farm is a superb habitat for many types of wildlife, and with most of the farm fields in Massachusetts sold for development or left alone to revert to forest, abandoned field is now rare habitat. The field at Cardoza Farm in West Falmouth is one of three fields on town conservation land (the others are at Sea Farms Marsh and Coonamessett Reservation). The town mows them every year to make sure they remain open.
Bare branches, Maple tree in abandoned field, Cardoza Farm.
The town purchased the 45-acre farm in 1999, the first year Land Bank funds were available.
A path winds from the parking area through the field to the woods beyond. A rough trail in the woods leads to the back of the property near Quaker Road. Easier walking is available on a narrow trail heading north just before the railroad tracks, which will soon become an extension of the Shining Sea Bikeway. The trail connects to the back field of Bourne Farm, owned by Salt Pond Areas Bird Sanctuaries, Inc., and to other paths in the woods on the west side of the tracks, also owned by Salt Pond. Those trails connect to the north to Wing Pond, another town conservation parcel.
The previous owners, Manuel and Joanna Cardoza, had farmed the land since the 1920s. Pio Cardoza said that his father would get up early to take care of the farm animals, eat breakfast, then go to his full-time job as caretaker on the W. Wood Smith estate in North Falmouth. The farm chores started all over again when he returned in the evening.
The Cardozas grew long rows of vegetables and strawberries in the front field and sold the produce at a farm stand by the road. Most of the back lot was wooded, with some open field where the children would take the family’s two or three cows to graze, leading them across the railroad tracks every morning and afternoon.
Since the farm is one of the few points of public access to the railroad tracks, the town plans to make a bike trail from the small parking lot to access the new bike path.
The entrance to Cardoza Farm, on the west side of Route 28A, is difficult to spot because it looks like a private dirt driveway and it is sandwiched between a condominium development and a private home. A boulder with the name carved on it is at the top of the drive. There is no access to the property from Quaker Road.
