Royal River Park Loop

With a beautiful paved path running the length of the park along the river and parallel to the heart of the village, this is one of Yarmouth’s most beloved parks, owned and managed by the Town. Highlights include views of three waterfalls, two at old dam sites and another at a historic mill site. There are picnic tables and open fields as well as floodplain forest and a 75- to 200-year-old stand of hemlock. Most of the park is built on former industrial and mill sites. The Middle (or Third, counting upstream from tidewater) Falls with its brick remnants and Factory Island was once completely spanned by the massive Forest Paper Company mill complex in the early 1900’s. The primary path through the park runs from East Elm Street, near the Upper (or Fourth) Falls, down along the river through open fields to the Third Falls overlook. It then descends by brick mill remnants and enters a stretch of basswood and locust floodplain forest, followed by hemlock and pine forest, before meeting the Beth Condon Pathway, where a pedestrian bridge crosses the river. It continues south under US Route One to the final dam and the Second Falls (the “Cotton Mill Falls”) at Bridge Street. Historical interpretative signs are stationed alongside the path. There are several connections to Main Street from the path. A second path extends from East Elm Street and the upper dam along a small peninsula between the river and an old mill sluiceway. From here, you can look over to Gooch Island which you can also view from a pathway between Park Street and Forest Falls Drive.