Just east of Bartlett Village on Route 302, a gravel and clay loop runs three-quarters of a mile through the woods. It is 6 to 8 feet wide, wheelchair accessible, and it crosses slow streams on wooden footbridges. Along the way are ten fitness stations. On the eastern parcel stand two evergreens that Stoney Morrell planted with his children, Taber and Halie.
This November the Morrell Family Community Complex gets a permanent memorial bench in his name. The Town of Bartlett's event listing set the unveiling for Sunday, Nov. 1, at 11 a.m., followed by refreshments in the Josiah Bartlett Elementary School Community Room. The invitation calls him "a quiet benefactor and true friend." The bench honors a gift. It also sits in a park that is still only partly built, and one that Bartlett has paid for almost entirely with its own fundraising.
A park that ran on cupcake sales
The complex covers about 22 acres made up of two lots, the former Schultze property to the east and the former Nickerson parcel. Stoney Morrell bought both in the early 2000s. In 2011 the Morrell Foundation donated the land to the town. That gift came from his wife, Foley Wright, his sister, Nancy Morrell, and his children, Taber and Halie.
Owning land and having a park are two different things, though. The nonprofit Bartlett Athletic and Recreation Association, known as BARA, manages the property, and it started fundraising for improvements in the fall of 2011. Nancy Morrell gave $1,000 at the July 2019 groundbreaking to spur community giving, which brought the total to $67,000. By the time phase one opened, the total had reached $150,000, according to the Conway Daily Sun's 2020 report on the opening. BARA director Annette Libby told the paper where the money came from:
"That's a lot of bake sales and cupcake sales. This has all been fundraising, with no taxpayer money."
The same article lists the volunteer work behind the trail. Civil Solutions LLC donated engineering. DragonFly Aerials LLC donated drone photography to document progress. A.J. Coleman & Son did the site work, and a long list of neighbors put in their own time. Libby described what the volunteers were building as "a great, safe place that people of any age will be able to go to and enjoy a walk and get some physical activity in a natural setting without having to walk up and down the road (Route 302)."
Who the bench is for
Plenty of people in the valley know the Morrell name from Story Land. Bob and Ruth Morrell opened the Glen park in 1954, and their son carried on the family business until he died in 2006, according to Story Land's own history.
Stoney grew up in North Conway and played shortstop on Kennett High School's 1974 state championship baseball team. He joined Story Land as a manager in 1978 and was working there year-round by 1982. He went on to lead both Story Land and Heritage New Hampshire. When he died, Story Land's staff wrote that he channeled "generous contributions to community organizations with little or no fanfare." The Northern NH Charitable Trust also honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The staff remembrance, published by the Conway Daily Sun, describes a man who loved the New Hampshire woods and would drive a farm tractor or a team of horses when he got the chance.
That love of horses showed up at the groundbreaking. Stoney had logged with horses, so a horse logger from Freedom came with his 14-year-old Belgian draft horse, Rex. Rex hauled a 12-foot log out of the woods to where the guests were standing. The idea of a memorial goes back a long way, too. Before construction started, Libby told the Conway Daily Sun that one was being planned on the site between the two evergreens Stoney planted with his kids.
Still phase one, and growing
The garden beds are the clearest measure of how much the park gets used, and their count has grown at each step.
- 2002: A town recreation committee looked into the land with Stoney Morrell.
- 2011: The Morrell Foundation donated the land, and BARA started fundraising.
- July 2019: Groundbreaking. According to the Sun's groundbreaking report, the plan at the time called for 30 raised garden beds.
- May 2020: Phase one opened on about 7 acres. It included the trail, a pavilion, grills, picnic tables and 25 raised beds rented at $35 a year. Libby estimated the site had room for about 75 beds.
- 2024: The recreation report in Bartlett's annual town report for 2024 counted more than 60 raised beds. Each is 4 by 12 feet and costs $35, and gardeners have a 7-foot fence, a tool shed and a solar-powered well.
In four years the gardens went from 25 beds to more than 60, closing in on the roughly 75 Libby thought the site could hold. BARA's fundraising profile on Mightycause lists garden plots for the 2026 season, with tools and water included. The $35 fee is the most recent one in the town report, so check with Bartlett Recreation before next spring.
The bigger pieces are still waiting. When phase one opened, the next step was supposed to be clearing land for a multipurpose field for soccer and football, a softball field and a Little League field. In the 2024 town report, the recreation department said it had worked with the Selectmen on a memorandum of understanding for the complex. Once that agreement is final, it plans to start writing grants to pay for the property's build-out. So the fields are still a plan, and the people who keep the trail and gardens going are the same ones lining up the next round of funding.
Using the loop once the snow comes
Snow doesn't close the complex. When phase one opened, the plan was for the trails to be used in winter for snowshoeing and ungroomed cross-country skiing. On packed or icy days, the loop is one of the few places in town where you can get a full walk without following the shoulder of Route 302.
A few practical points:
- Parking is at the complex entrance just east of Bartlett Village, at 1211 US Route 302.
- Traction: The MWV Age Friendly trail guide recommends microspikes, YakTrax or snowshoes in winter.
- Dogs: The same guide says to keep pets leashed unless signs say otherwise and to bring bags for pet waste.
- Trash: The complex has a carry-in, carry-out policy.
- Who can use it: Everyone. Libby told the Sun the land "is public land, open to everyone, residents and non-residents alike."
The new bench gives a winter loop somewhere to stop. Walk out to the evergreens on the eastern parcel and you are standing on land Stoney Morrell chose and his family gave away.
December on the Bartlett Rec calendar
The same recreation organization runs Bartlett's December traditions, and two of them fall in the weeks after the dedication. Youth basketball starts first.
| Date | Event | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Monday, Nov. 30 | Grades 4–6 basketball | Boys' and girls' sessions start at the JBES gym. Registration is open, with practices two days a week at 5 p.m. |
| Friday, Dec. 4 | Children's Shopping forms due | Return the form and payment to Bartlett Rec. |
| Sunday, Dec. 6 | Bartlett Tree Lighting | JBES musicians perform in the school gym at 3:30 p.m. At 4 p.m. everyone heads to Gazebo Park for the tree lighting, the reading of the memory lights and a visit from Santa. |
| Tuesday, Dec. 8 | Children's Shopping | Students shop during their Unified Arts block. Every item is $2, and gifts are wrapped and delivered before Christmas break. The snow date is Dec. 9. |
The memory lights at Gazebo Park come a month after the bench dedication. The two events are separate, but both are ways the town remembers its people.
If you'd like to know more about Bartlett's public land, starting with the Morrell loop, Saco Valley Real Estate is happy to share what we know. Start Your Local Search with someone who walks these places in every season.
