Walk the Middleton Rail Trail on a September evening and you'll cross paths with dog owners cutting through from Creedon Lane, a couple of mountain bikers testing the boulder section near Sharpner's Pond Road, and, if you're out early enough, a beaver working the floodplain along Boston Brook. None of that is new. What's new is the completion of Phase 3, between Perkins Road and the Danvers line.

The trail has been under construction, in pieces, since 2018. That piecemeal pace isn't a funding problem or a town-hall slowdown. It's a property problem, and understanding it tells you more about how this trail will actually finish than any groundbreaking announcement will.

The stretch that just closed

The Middleton Rail Trail Alliance, the volunteer nonprofit that has driven this project since it revived a stalled 2013 plan, confirmed that Phase 3 construction between Perkins Road and the Danvers line is complete. Combined with the earlier phases, the route now covers 2.2 miles between Essex Street and the Danvers town line, with a short Maple Street detour near the Ipswich River that I'll get to.

Along that stretch, the landmarks are specific enough to give you a reason to go. Mortalo's Canoe Landing sits on Maple Street between Kenney Road and the Ipswich River bridge, a small put-in built for kayaks and canoes. The trail passes behind Middleton's Old Town Hall and the Tramp House on Maple Street, then climbs briefly over Webb Street behind the Congregational Church before dropping back down. Past Central Street, where a right turn takes you into Middleton Green and onto Route 114, the trail runs alongside the recreational fields at Howe-Manning School, the site of the old Central Street train station, before continuing east through farmland toward the former Howes station near Gregory Street.

That last detail matters more than it sounds. This corridor was the Essex Railroad, chartered to run freight and passengers from Salem to North Andover, with three stops inside Middleton alone: Howe, Middleton, and South Middleton. Trains stopped running in 1926. The rail bed sat unused for nearly a century before the town started stitching it back together as a trail, and the stitching is the whole story.

Two rights holders on one trail

Here's the part that doesn't show up in a trail map: the Middleton Rail Trail isn't owned by one entity. The Middleton Electric Light Department holds the leased rights to the rail bed from the Danvers/Middleton line north to Essex Street, because MELD's sub-transmission and distribution lines run along that exact corridor. It's classified as critical infrastructure. National Grid holds the rights to the separate stretch from Essex Street north to the North Andover line.

MELD trucks routinely drive the easement for line inspection, maintenance, and repair, and when a segment is posted closed for utility work, pedestrians aren't allowed through until it reopens. Phases 1 through 3 are on the MELD portion. Phase 4, the section from the west side of Essex Street to Sharpner's Pond Road in North Andover, still has no start date and sits on National Grid's portion.

The half mile you still can't avoid

Even along the 2.2-mile route, there's one gap that construction alone can't close: the short section between Oak Street and Perkins Road, where the trail crosses the Ipswich River. Right now, that means walking a narrow sidewalk on Maple Street, Route 62, and crossing the road bridge over the river rather than staying on the rail bed. The trail entrances at Oak Street and Perkins Road are both visible from Maple Street, so the detour is short, but it's the one spot where you're sharing space with car traffic instead of walking the old rail bed.

Unlike the electrical easement issue, this gap is a river-crossing problem, not an ownership problem, which is a different kind of fix and a different kind of timeline. If you're planning a longer walk or a bike ride with kids, budget for that one on-road stretch rather than assuming the whole route stays off-street.

A second trail opened nearby, and it's easy to miss

While MiRTA has been finishing the rail bed, a different access project wrapped up quietly to the south. In November 2025, Bostik completed a rail bed conversion on the site of the old Salem-Lowell line, capping two years of work with the fire departments of Middleton, Lynnfield, and North Reading. The project compacted roughly 1,000 feet of former rail bed with stone so fire apparatus can reach the more than 600 acres of Willis Woods, land partly owned by Bostik, the Lynnfield Center Water District, and the Town of Lynnfield. The town of Lynnfield's own announcement framed it as serving two purposes: emergency access to a stretch of woods that has seen repeated brush fires, and a new trunk trail for passive recreation.

That's a second, separate connection into open space near Middleton's edge, built for a different reason but usable the same way. If you already walk the rail trail on the Gregory Street end, Willis Woods is now easier to reach than it was a year ago, and it connects toward Greenbelt's 21-acre Richardson Green parcel in Lynnfield as well.

What to actually do with this

If you're mapping out a fall walk or bike ride, here's how the trail breaks down right now.

A few practical notes worth carrying with you. The surface is unpaved gravel, not friendly to road bikes but fine for hybrids, strollers, and running shoes. Dogs are welcome but the Town of Middleton requires a leash at all times off the owner's property. There's no dedicated parking lot, though a lot at the end of Central Street serves as overflow on weekends when it isn't being used for Howe-Manning Elementary staff parking during the week. And if you want a reason to walk the full stretch, Richardson's Ice Cream sits about half a mile from one of the trailheads, which multiple trail users have pointed to as the actual finish line.

MiRTA has also just launched an engraved brick program, letting residents fund an engraved brick placed in an open area along the trail. For a project that has been built almost entirely through volunteer fundraising and grant writing rather than town budget dollars, it's a direct way to put your name on the ground you're already walking.

The trail isn't finished, and its route crosses utility rights held by different entities. That's a useful thing to know the next time you hear talk of Phase 4.

Middleton keeps building this way, section by section, sometimes with years between phases, and the trail is better for it than a rushed version would have been. If you're curious what else is changing around town, or just want a local perspective on the neighborhoods near Howe-Manning School and Middleton Green, the Nikki Martin Team lives and works this stretch of the North Shore and is always glad to talk through what's on the ground here.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.