The Hopkinton Trails Club had its beginnings in 2005, when Liisa Jackson approached the Town to find out who was in charge of the Town’s trails. She was interested in exploring the existing trails and advocating for the development of new paths. At the time, no single entity within the town government had responsibility for the trails, and a suggestion was made that a trail committee be formed. Liisa became a member of a group formed to research the idea, make recommendations, and develop a trail use policy. This group did develop a policy, and recommended the establishment of a Town trail committee, but no action was taken at the time.
In the meantime, Liisa created the Trails Club, along with Matt Zettek and Beth Rohlfs. The goal was to bring together residents interested in the trails and pursue Liisa’s original goals of exploring the existing trails and advocating for new trails. The group was intentionally informal, with a focus on activities such as trail walks. The idea was to build support for trails by getting people out walking on them. Liisa, Matt, and Beth served as co-Chairs, leading walks and conducting monthly meetings, but primarily acting as facilitators for the group’s activities.
The group held its first walk at College Rock Park in November 2005. The event was publicized in the local media and about a dozen residents attended. Since then, the monthly walks have continued with only a few breaks over the years. We’ve also organized individual walks for the Girl Scouts, the Senior Center, and the Public Library. Monthly meetings have continued as well, moving through a number of locations. We currently meet at the Hopkinton Public Library. The Club established a website soon after it formed, and also has a Facebook page and other social media accounts, along with an email list with more than 300 subscribers.
Liisa eventually resigned as co-Chair, followed by Beth a few years later. In 2017, Matt stepped down, and for a time, the Club continued without any formal leader. There was a discussion about keeping that arrangement, but the group (in its first and only vote) decided to elect two new co-Chairs. Steve Frohbieter and Peter LaGoy stepped into those roles. Steve resigned in 2025 and John Ritz took over his position (Peter remained as co-Chair).
The Trails Club remains an ardently informal group. There are no actual “members”, and other than the co-Chairs, we have no titles, committee assignments, etc.. Instead, there’s a core group who attends meetings, and plans & leads walks and other activities. The Club does have a bank account, but no expenses. Funds raised from periodic collections of redeemable bottles and cans go to donations to trail and conservation groups.
Despite the informality, the Club has an impressive list of accomplishments. With funding from Community Preservation Funds, the Club developed the Center Trail, an immensely popular path along an abandoned rail line, and part of the planned Upper Charles Trail. Subsequently, the Echo Trail and the Hughes Farm Trail were developed by the Club. All three trails are multi-use stone dust paths, suitable for a range of activities. The Club also initiated an annual Town Trail Forum, bringing together a range of trail users - walkers, runners, bike riders, horse riders, etc. - to discuss trail-related matters and to review the State of the Trails in the town over the previous year. Those forums have been paused however since the 2020 pandemic.
The Club played a key role in persuading the Town of Hopkinton to establish the Trails Coordination & Management Committee (TCMC). Club members conducted research on trail committees in other towns and presented that information to the Town Manager, leading to the creation of the TCMC. We also use our experience and expertise to advise & mentor Scouts for their service projects (Eagle Scout and Gold Award), and respond to folks looking for trail recommendations.
Finally, the Trails Club conducts trail maintenance. While we’ve always done some trail work, in 2021 we started a monthly trail workday, in a collaboration with the Town’s Trail Committee. As of the end of 2025, volunteers had contributed nearly 1700 hours of work, representing an in-kind donation to the town of over $66,000.