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Photograph of Atkin's Bay from Cox's Head Summit by Tim Richter
by Tim Richter, Member, Phippsburg Land Trust Board of Directors
A wonderful and generous new gift has been presented to Phippsburg. The Phippsburg Land Trust wishes to welcome everyone to our newest property, generously gifted by the Rankin family. The Wilbur Reserve at Cox’s Head is rich with natural beauty, as well as Historic, and economic significance.
 From the Kennebec River or Fort Popham's parking lot, the new property appears just to be a wooded hilltop. However, take the 1/4 mile walk up to the summit of the new Wilbur Preserve at Cox's Head and you will be rewarded with a beautiful walk and stunning views.
Best of all this 10 acre wild gem is now protected for all time through the generous donation this week by a longtime seasonal residents of Phippsburg, Don and Kathy Rankin.
 The gift includes Kennebec River shore front, an old Orchard, a stunning rock outcrop, and beautiful natural diversity. At the summit, which rises about 100 feet from the parking area, there is a spring fed pond, and Trout Lilys along the path.
The Phippsburg Land Trust will establish improved parking in the clearing off the road. The established trail travels approximately ¼ mile from the clearing to the summit and gently rises just over 100 feet of elevation.
The gift was the result of extensive conversations between the Rankins and Dan Dowd, Land Trust Conservation Chair, regarding an interest in preservation of that property. The Rankins are long time seasonal residents of Phippsburg and supporters of the land trust. This past fall the Rankins notified Dowd of their plans to donate the property.
“This beautiful green parcel will greet boaters as they enter the Kennebec River, and provide and opportunity for visitors willing to walk to the summit to take in one of the most spectacular views in this part of Maine.” Dowd comments.
Along with its natural beauty and ecological value, the Wilbur Preserve has and interesting and potentially unique historic value to Phippsburg as well. During the period of the Revolutionary War, Phippsburg Militiamen patrolled Cox’s Head and established a lookout there, to compliment the then much smaller fort across Atkin’s Bay at the site of the now familiar Fort Popham. By the War of 1812, as reported in Phippsburg Fair to the Wind, a significant garrison house, and possibly cannon existed near the Wilbur Preserve. Later, as sail driven ships gave way to steam power, a coaling station operated on the site; remnants of the dock can still be seen on the Kennebec side of the point. The Phippsburg Land Trust works to preserve land which contains habitat for wildlife and which allow visitors to enjoy nature in its pure and undisturbed state. The Land Trust owns outright nearly 500 acres, and holds easements on another 300 acres, most of which provide for public access. The Land Trust also produces maps and guides to the more than 31 miles of walking trails developed by the land trust and other conservation groups in the community.
The Land Trust encourages you to visit this new preserve, and to share it with your children and generations to come.
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