Conservation Lands
Trotting Park Fields
Trotting Park Fields is the home field of the Falmouth Soccer Club’s numerous teams and Falmouth’s two teams in the Cape summer lacrosse league. Besides two full-sized soccer fields, three smaller ones, and a Pop Warner football field, the 23-acre complex also has a skate park and a walking path around the playing fields.
The path, which follows an original horse track, is dedicated to Justino Simoes and his wife, Maria Argentina, who used to farm strawberries on these fields until their deaths in 1968. The Simoes family sold the land to the town in 1994.
The skate park is open during after-school hours and on weekends.
The complex is on the site of the 1896 trotting park. At the time, horse racing was a popular pastime and spectator event. Between races, bicyclists and runners also competed on the track. The high west bank was used as a natural grandstand. A tall judges’ platform was constructed alongside the track. Just as quickly as it had emerged, the popularity of horse racing declined and soon pitch pines and family farmers took over the land. Mr. Simoes preserved the oval shape of the track, farming around and inside it.
Trotting Park is next to the town Little League fields, both of which are accessible by Gifford Street.
