The Norman Bird Sanctuary in Middletown boasts beautiful views of its 325-acre property year-round. Now people with wheelchairs, walkers, and baby strollers will be able to enjoy the wildlife sanctuary with greater ease. The wildlife sanctuary unveiled its first accessible trail this week.
Joseph McLaughlin, the nonprofit’s director of properties, said the accessible trail is the first of its kind on Aquidneck Island and in the state.
“The sanctuary is trying to welcome all people and bring people with disabilities, enable them to get out into the woods and to experience nature in ways that are not usually accessible,” said McLaughlin.
McLaughlin said the trail starts from the parking lot, past the welcome center, “where it brings you through fields, through a woodland, and then out onto an observation deck, which looks over a red maple pond.”
The trail, under a quarter of a mile, was paved with materials that will allow rain to percolate through the surface to control runoff and help preserve the trail from storms and heavy rain.
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